News And Events

Lyle Sendlein walked off the field frustrated Tuesday afternoon.

The Cardinals’ starting center hurt his left calf the day before, and now was going to be sidelined for about three weeks. Sitting and watching a training camp practice for the first time was difficult.

“It’s not a comfortable situation for me,” Sendlein said.

The fortunate part is Sendlein is expected back before the end of the preseason and coach Bruce Arians is not concerned about Sendlein missing some time. It actually worked out OK last season for the Cardinals when veteran guard Daryn Colledge missed  some time and allowed Paul Fanaika to get first-team reps. Colledge came back, but when Jonathan Cooper went down for the season, Fanaika was ready to step in.

In Sendlein’s place is veteran Ted Larsen, who has been working mostly as backup guard.

“It’s a blessing in a lot of ways,” Arians said. “(Lyle) stays healthier and young guys get a lot of good reps.”

Larsen and quarterback Carson Palmer had a misfire on their first snap together Monday, causing a fumble, but the two have ironed out issues.

“I’ve taken so many snaps with Lyle you get used to one guy and then another guy comes in and you just have to find out where you put your hands and where he snaps the ball,” Palmer said.

“Lyle is as integral part of this offense as anybody. … When Lyle gets back, it’ll make (Ted) a better guard.”

Sendlein understands the idea of getting reps for others, but he has a hard time seeing any benefit in missing time.

“I don’t know,” Sendlein said. “That’s not usually how I plan being ready for the season.”

ABRAHAM STILL ABSENT; RETURN UNKNOWN

Starting outside linebacker John Abraham still has not arrived at training camp, and Arians said Tuesday he did not know when Abraham will arrive. The news broke that Abraham had been arrested for a DUI in Georgia in late June, but other than acknowledging he knew about the arrest, Arians declined to comment on whether the arrest was connected to Abraham’s absence.

Alex Okafor has been working with the first team in place of the 36-year-old Abraham, who led the Cardinals with 11½ sacks last season. Abraham sat out almost all of the offseason’s voluntary work, although he was frequently at the team facility working out.

“It can be a distraction, but the guys on this team won’t let it be,” cornerback Patrick Peterson said. “John is taking care of himself and whenever he comes back, he’s going to be welcomed with open arms. He made a mistake, and he’s still our brother. We have to love on him, have to care for him, and hopefully he won’t make this mistake again to put this negative light on the Arizona Cardinals football team.

“We’re looking to move forward from it. We can’t wait to get him back to see what kind of health and condition that he’s in, and we’re hoping he can put up another double-digit sack season.”

INTERCEPTIONS COME OFTEN

Tuesday’s practice was punctuated with four interceptions, with cornerback Teddy Williams, safeties Deone Bucannon and Tony Jefferson and linebacker Kenny Demens all getting into the act.

Earlier in the day, Arians had shrugged off too many concerns about the defense coming out ahead.

“The defense should dominate,” Arians said. “They’ve been looking at the same offense for 18 practices. They ought to know what the hell is going on.”