FLAGSTAFF -- Thunder and lightning and pouring rain moved Cardinals practice indoors within the confines of the Walkup Skydome at NAU Sunday, and both footballs and players were flying around.
Too bad for the fans, who can’t go into the dome when the weather forces practice off the outdoor fields.
So we’ll try to give you a snapshot of what happened:
1. Larry Fitzgerald sets the tone. He runs out catches as far as the end zone in front of him, and defenders have to chase until each of them that was in pursuit of Fitz taps him on the jersey or pads so that it is known that they hustled after a play the way No. 11 did.
2. A couple of scuffles broke out in Sunday’s practice, one in which the Cardinals were out to correct some mistakes from the Oakland game. It’s clear that competition for jobs is going to become more fierce, because there are only two preseason games left for most guys to make their case to be on the 53-man team. One tiff involved LB Paris Lenon, who is on the No. 1 defense, and Fitzgerald excitedly jumped on top of the combatants while others were trying to separate players.
3. Kevin Kolb hit Fitz for a long TD pass, Fitz beating Greg Toler in one-on-one coverage.
4. RB Ryan Williams put a move on CB Bryan Nnabuife that had to be seen to be believed. Williams shifted his hips on a run and left Nnabuife in his wake, which drew plenty of catcalls from teammates watching.
“He’s done something spectacular in practice every time he touches the ball,” Fitzgerald said of Williams, the second-round pick from Virginia Tech this year. “He’s going to help us tremendously, a nice change-up to Beanie.”
5. Current No, 2 QB John Skelton threw two picks, one to Matt Ware and one to Patrick Peterson.
6. RB Beanie Wells made a very sharp one-handed grab of a short pass in traffic.
“Coach gave us two days off, that’s unheard of in the NFL,” Fitzgerald said. “The best way to show Coach that we appreciate that is come out and work hard for him. I think guys understood that. They knew that we needed to come up here and give it our best and I think we did that.”