Carson Palmer used to say he liked to play in the preseason, because he needed to be hit. A quarterback was going to be hit, he posited, and he needed to start getting his body used to it.
Jacoby Brissett likes that idea. "For sure," the 2026 Cardinals QB starter said.
Like the rest of the starters, Brissett found out Tuesday he will be playing in Thursday's preseason game against the Raiders. He looks forward to getting hit, but mostly getting a chance to work with a new coach and a new system in an actual game.
When training camp started, Brissett wasn't even doing much as he waited for a new contract. He was behind, having missed all offseason.
Now, "I'm catching up," Brissett said. "I feel like I have made leaps and bounds."
The Cardinals are still a month away from the first game of the season. In the last open practice on Sunday, the offense struggled, with coach Mike LaFleur acknowledging that the operation was good but the Cardinals just missed passes down the field.
"That happens," LaFleur said. "Steph Curry doesn't go 10-for-10 every day. I wouldn't say (I was) pleased but I wouldn't necessarily say not pleased."
That's what camp is for. Brissett is still learning daily. LaFleur's process has Brissett making the same playcall three to four times a day when meetings and walkthroughs are included.
The QB is going to figure out the offense on his own. Now, absorbing a hit? Brissett needs games for that.
-- Training camp is not over. The rest of the preseason, albeit back in Tempe for a bit, and then Green Bay before wrapping in Tempe, is still an "extension" of the work, LaFleur said. The Cardinals won't even use scout team looks until Sept. 7, the Monday before the opener. Until then, LaFleur said, he wants good versus good.
There will also be an acknowledgment of the heat. The Cardinals will now have some morning practices, at least until the return from Green Bay.
-- LaFleur reiterated that his message about sidelined linebacker Josh Sweat isn't different than what GM Monti Ossenfort said the day before -- that Sweat is in a good spot.
LaFleur did emphasize that Sweat rehabbing his knee on the PUP list is a "collective" decision, one that Sweat and the team have made not only with those inside the organization but people Sweat has on the outside.
"It's good to have other people not affiliated with the Arizona Cardinals to give their opinion," LaFleur said. "I respect that."
-- Defensive lineman Walter Nolen III had a wrap on his left hand, but LaFleur said "he's good."
-- Jeremiyah Love's receiving abilities are the real deal.
-- Brissett was one of the veterans who visited the Hall of Fame on Thursday before the game, seeking out his own jersey.
"It was sweet," Brissett said. "We were scrounging around trying to find it. It was kind of tucked away, which is OK. That's my second time (at the Hall) but the first time my jersey was there. Guys were like, 'Jacoby, where's your jersey?' That meant a lot. ... I saw Trey (McBride)'s jersey there and I was like, 'Damn, we're in the Hall of Fame.'"
-- New play-by-play voice J..P. Shadrick arrived at State Farm Stadium for the first time since getting the job. He will be on the radio call with regular-season analyst A.Q. Shipley for the Raiders game on Thursday.
-- LaFleur, on the viral no-look pass Beck threw at the end of Sunday's practice:
"You throw the no-look, you better make it happen," LaFleur said.
(His serious expression made me think of a high school basketball coach that has a hops-challenged player considering dunking if he gets a breakaway in a game.)
LaFleur said the TD pass to Reggie Virgil was the right read, regardless of delivery.
"(Coach) didn't show it, but it's all over Twitter," wide receiver Kendrick Bourne said. "That stuff is impressive. ... It's instinct and it's natural, and that's what makes it cool."
