Cardinals Rested, Ready to Work After Long Weekend

After a long weekend following their Thursday night win, the Arizona Cardinals are ready to get back to work.

Donnie Druin | Oct 24, 2022

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After defeating the New Orleans Saints on Thursday Night Football, Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said he was looking forward to getting some sleep over the weekend.

While approaching the podium for his typical Monday press conference, Kingsbury confirmed he did just that.

"Good, could use some more," he joked. It was the first time they haven't played on a Sunday this season.

The Cardinals were able to have a few extra days of rest before their next week of preparation arrived in the form of the Minnesota Vikings, a team that's just lost one game all season.

"I think Kevin [O'Connell]'s done a great job. You can tell all their guys are having fun. I mean, they're flying around, great energy. It's a different culture there's no question," Kingsbury said.

"Tremendous offensive skill, Kevin's a great offensive mind, was with Sean [McVay], played quarterback. I've been a big fan of what he's done and then defensively, great front. They mix up their coverages. We're familiar with a lot of the players on that side of the ball and they're playing at high level. I think complimentary football is kind of their deal right now and they've been kind of rising up together for the critical moments."

Arizona was able to grab a crucial victory to stay within reach of the NFC West's top spot, but the NFL is a constant rotating wheel of only caring about the next task at hand.

Celebrations are over, and the mini bye week proved to be a good opportunity for Kingsbury and the rest of his coaching staff to dive into necessary issues.

"We took some downtime. Just a little break and just kind of see where we're at, schematically things we've been doing well, things we got to get better at and then personnel as well, getting some bodies back [and] where does that fit moving forward," Kingsbury said.

"Some of the position rooms that are now getting crowded, seeing how that rotation goes, but I think from an offensive perspective, the big plays are way down. I think that's an area we got to try and manufacture more of them. Getting Hop [DeAndre Hopkins] back is gonna help, you saw what he was able to do. But we got to be able to make some bigger plays down the field."

That challenge will come against a Vikings offense that features the likes of Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and Dalvin Cook among others.

Yet it's been a weird year for football, where the mantra "any given Sunday" really has a truthful meaning behind it.

A slow start for the Cardinals has been met with similar records across the conference.

"I think across the entire NFC really, you look at some really good teams, really good quarterbacks are all just kind of hanging around the same record and battling it out. Last year at this time, we were 7-0 and didn't play very well down the stretch. So hopefully we can flip that and be better later on," Kingsbury said.

"You never know in the NFL, how it's gonna go. A lot of football left to play and it's really who stays healthy and who gets hot late that usually ends up in the big game."

The big game might be a far stretch for this Cardinals team, but after hopefully turning the tide and getting some extra few days of rest, Arizona marches forward to a different beat for their next matchup.

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