Cardinals Had a Great Training Camp — Mike LaFleur Knows There's Still Work to Do

GLENDALE — Mike LaFleur knows what a good training camp looks like.

After spending ample time under two of the NFL's best coaches in Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, LaFleur's has a solid idea of what to expect walking into camp, how to navigate the dog days of summer and how to feel departing.

Yet LaFleur also knows what unsuccessful camps look like, too. His two-year stint as the New York Jets' offensive coordinator yielded forgettable results before being fired and eventually landing in Los Angeles under McVay.

The dust is now settling on LaFleur's first training camp with the Arizona Cardinals, one that was inspired by his time with the Rams. LaFleur says his four-day "block" setup of practice days was taken from McVay while other wrinkles such as utilizing instant replay during camp were also borrowed from prior stints.

What's one common denominator of a successful training camp — and did the Cardinals have one?

"They compete, and they compete the right way. It's like you got to be able to toe the line even with your brothers, and it's got to be physical," said LaFleur. "But it can't be reckless, and you got to take care of each other. So that's an ongoing process with every group I've ever been on. Even you know some of the best ones.

"That's the biggest thing. Just go out there, compete. Compete against your brothers, toe the line, play with that play style and go for it."

Whether the Cardinals had a successful training camp remains up to personal opinion. The offense and defense largely had respective ups-and-downs, though such is life during camp. Arizona emerged somewhat unscathed when it came to injuries, save for injured reserve additions such as Kaleb Proctor and Joey Blount.

It's especially difficult when LaFleur's balancing roster evaluation with installation of his first-year offense, one that admittedly has produced more promising days than negative ones. The run game has transformed and receivers are often open thanks to scheme and play-design.

"He's got a plan, and it's good to see. Not only just the offensive side of things, which obviously he's putting a lot of focus in there, but really the big picture and the whole team," said Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort on LaFleur.

LaFleur, who admitted he was still figuring out minor details like where to stand on the sidelines while juggling attention to both sides of the ball now as a head coach, liked where his team was at overall, though there's still several strides to be made.

"They are where their feet are. They come to work every single day. They want to improve," he said when asked about what he's most pleased with.

"Again, I thought our operation was good — got a long way to go. I thought our play style was good — got a long way to go. And then they also know that we have a long way to go once that ball snapped in terms of details, fundamentals, all those kind of things within our scheme. So again, I was pleased with the work that we put in within that time, but a long way to go."

The Cardinals do have a long way to go, both physically and metaphorically. We're over a month removed from their regular season debut against the Los Angeles Chargers — which is just under 400 miles one-way.

Preparation for Week 1 is already well underway, and quite honestly it has been for awhile. The Cardinals admitted so back in June. Arizona will be far from a complete team at that point in time, though it will be a good starting point where wins and losses begin to matter.

There's plenty to be excited about regarding the Cardinals as they depart from camp with preseason battle No. 2 ensuing on Thursday. After returning from Las Vegas, they'll return to their home base in Tempe to get settled in before the regular season begins.

The offense looks promising in a multitude of ways while Arizona's defense will be tested. There's hope coordinator Nick Rallis — with a fresh but short leash after Jonathan Gannon was fired — will be able to right the ship with player health hopefully on his side.

As cliché as it sounds, only time will truly be able to tell how LaFleur's first training camp went. Arizona has a grueling regular season schedule, but excuses are like podcasts — everybody has one. The Cardinals have to be ready at SoFi Stadium on Sept. 13 and build off each performance that follows.

The heat in the desert is unique. It's not quite humid like parts in the Southeast while it reaches temperatures some along the West Coast wouldn't dream of.

While LaFleur says the team successfully kept his guys out of the scorching sun, soon he'll face a different kind of heat when records begin to matter.

"Absolutely. I think first and foremost, like we talked about, the weather and just keep these guys out of the heat," said LaFleur when asked if he accomplished what he wanted to in camp.

"We got to go battle it when we get back to Tempe, we'll be smart about that, obviously, but we are going to have to be out there at some point for obvious reasons. That was first and foremost, and like I said, we took it one day at a time, one block at a time, and I thought there was improvement, but still a long way to go."

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