Arizona Cardinals - Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt - Ingles

Post-practice Press Conference – Wednesday – 9/14/11

On LB Daryl Washington’s status:
“He’s improving. We will see how it progresses later in the week.”

On facing Tim Hightower:
“From my perspective, Tim [Hightower] is a good football player. I’m happy to see that he is having success in Washington. We’ll look forward to facing him on Sunday. Every week you play, you are going against good football players. If I were him, I’d look forward to playing our defense the way we played last week as well. Hopefully we’ll get a little better this week.”

On if Kevin Kolb’s familiarity with Washington will help on Sunday:
“A little bit, just in talking about schemes and what they have done against him in the past. It’s all part of the preparation. Washington is doing a good job. They are playing their defense very well. It’s not completely different from what we have seen from our defense in practices this summer, a lot of the same schematic things. From a standpoint of input from Kevin [Kolb], he definitely helps as far as just talking about the personnel and the things they have done against him in the past.”

On if the high amount of returns for touchdowns in week one was a product of not enough special teams work in a shortened offseason:
“I don’t know if it’s a function of good players back there that made a play like, for instance, our return for a touchdown. It was a block after doing a nice job of making a guy miss and sometimes that’s just the way it works out. I don’t know if it’s just what happened the first week or if it’s a function of anything else. I don’t know if it’s tied to the lockout. We’ll see over the course of time.”

On LB Reggie Walker’s improvement:
“He’s made a tremendous improvement from when he first got here as an undrafted free agent, and I think the biggest thing for him that he hasn’t had to fight this year has been nagging injuries. Usually what has happened the past couple years is he’s had something where there was a hamstring or another little nagging thing which has affected his play. Really what you ask of a young player is when they are forced into the lineup you expect them to be successful, and he did that last week. The question with Reggie is can he continue with that. The arrow is definitely going up on him, and that’s a good thing.”

On if they paced Early Doucet differently in camp because of his injury:
“We did this year, but it was more of a reflection of his injury last year and getting healthy back this year. We were a lot more conservative early in the camp with Early [Doucet], and hopefully that will pay off. It was nice to see Early have success in the game last week.”

On FB Anthony Sherman’s performance Sunday:
“He played like a rookie. He did some good things and struggled with some other looks, but that’s his first live action in a regular season NFL game. We have a lot of young players that are having to adjust to the speed of the game and their assignments and how you have to play. Anthony [Sherman] is going to be a good football player for us and he is going to make contributions, not only on offense but on special teams. That’s part of the process of these young guys growing up.”

On if the defense is anxious to get back on the field and prove they are better than how they played Sunday:
“I sure hope so. I think we have to play better pass coverage than we did in that game. We did a good job against the run. We did a nice job getting the pressure on the quarterback. We can’t give up those big plays. Some of it was technique, some of it was mental lapses or busts, so I’m sure they are wanting to get back on the field. It certainly felt that way on the practice field.”

On what LB Paris Lenon brings as a captain outside of his production on the field:
“Leadership, the way he works, maturity in that position. I think he’s a great example for our younger players. Whenever you are trying to build a team, you have to have some guys who are your leaders, ones that show the younger guys how to do it the right way. That exemplifies what Paris [Lenon] is, good football player, does it the right way. Maybe Reggie Walker’s improvement has to got something to do with looking at Paris, how he prepares and works, and that’s all you can ask for.”

On if the amount of busted plays in week one is a product of no minicamps and OTAs:
“I know it’s a factor with us. When you have a new scheme, you are trying to get everyone on the same page, and you don’t have a long time to do that. It’s probably close to a thousand reps that we missed, where you get an opportunity to go through different looks and talk about adjustments and make those corrections. Those things are going to happen. It’s part of growing as a defense. Our hope is that our guys will work at it this week in practice to improve and have a better day Sunday. That’s all you can ask for.”

On Patrick Peterson’s performance as a rookie Sunday:
“You know what, he had up and downs in preseason. He got a number of snaps in the preseason, because we rotated against the ones. That’s a product of being a young football player. We talked about that today. The speed of the game is different in the regular season. The quality of the athlete you are going against is certainly different and they know what they are doing. They know how to run routes. They know how to put pressure on you. The thing I like about Patrick [Peterson] is that he is a fast learner. He has a lot of pride in what he is doing, a lot of confidence in what he is doing. He’s definitely not out of place on the football field, as you could see by the punt return. He’ll improve as we go.”

On if the approach as a defense is different going against a mobile quarterback:
“I think part of your defensive scheme has to account for that. Our guys, when they want to get to the quarterback, they are trying to get to the quarterback because they like to get those pressures and those sacks. I think you certainly have to be more disciplined about your rush lanes when you have a quarterback that can hurt you with his feet. When you face more of a pocket passer, your rush angles and your rush lanes can be a little bit different. But just because he’s not a Cam Newton doesn’t mean he can’t run and make a first down, so you still have to be disciplined. What we are trying to preach to our guys is that we have to play a disciplined scheme. That’s what hurt us last week, and our guys have to learn that.”