The Arizona Cardinals did something a little unconventional on Wednesday. Teams never have a full practice the day before a game. But that is what the Cardinals did on Wednesday before getting on a plane to head to Cleveland. They will play in the Hall of Fame Game on Thursday against the Carolina Panthers in Canton, Ohio.
Not only was there practice, it was with full pads.
That never happens, but that is for good reason.
Head coach Mike LaFleur explained the plan before they practiced.
"That first group (starters) will be out there," he said, indicating that running backs Jeremiyah Love and Tyler Allgeier would split reps. "It's full speed, padded. It's a practice for us. We'll get that quality work in."
The reason is because the starters won't
play in the preseason opener. LaFleur said 30 or so players between the offense and defense would not play. So the idea was to get the starters full football reps without having to play in a game. The guys who will play on Thursday didn't practice because their reps will come under the lights and on television in real NFL action.
LaFleur said the plan would be to get starters some work in the preseason game next week against the Las Vegas Raiders and then the next one.
On a normal week, teams practice Wednesday through Friday, have a walkthrough on Saturday and play on Sunday.
This arrangement keeps starters focused so it isn't like another day off.
This is probably a one-time thing, though, because the Hall of Fame Game is an extra preseason game. That won't happen every year.
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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Arizona Cardinals make unconventional practice move ahead of preseason opener
