Bruce Arians' long-awaited opportunity arrives

At 60, Bruce Arians is finally get the chance to run his own team in the NFL.

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After the debacle that was the Cardinals' quarterback depth chart last season -- four starters producing just five wins -- Palmer will be the big story in Arizona's camp. Acquired for next to nothing from the downtrodden Raiders, Palmer hasn't played like the guy who went first overall in the draft a decade ago for quite a while now, but Arians is just confident enough in himself and his coaching talent to look at his new quarterback and see closer to the 2005-09 Palmer than the 2010-12 version who has won four games as a starter in each of the past three years.

Arians and Chuck Pagano were a winning combination in Indianapolis last season.

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In Arizona, the task of rapidly changing the Cardinals fortunes for the better is at least in the hands of a coach who has his own recent experience with that kind of transformation. We witnessed it in Indy last year, but let's see if the Arians touch works once again in 2013.