The emotion erupted twice, in back-to-back plays, near the end of the Cardinals' joint practice in Green Bay Wednesday against the Packers.

First, Marvin Harrison Jr. high-pointed a 2-yard touchdown catch to finish off the first-team offense's two-minute drill in a scenario where the Cards were down seven in the waning moments against the first-team Packers defense.

The Cardinals sideline erupted, all the players running out to the other side of the field to meet Harrison and celebrate his catch.

Then the Cardinals "went for two." This time, Trey McBride "won" the game. And the sideline erupted once again.

"That's our mindset," linebacker Zaven Collins said afterward. "For us, we know how it has gone for us in the past, just being real. Our mindset is that we have to have each other's back out there. That's what matters, what is out between the white lines."

Before Wednesday's workout, in a perfect, breezy 77 degrees on the practice fields across the street from Lambeau Field, Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur said -- again -- that the workout was just about getting in important practice for his team. Nothing more.

"We're not here to try and win the practice," he said. "I don't even know what that means."

A fair point. But after recent years in which the Cardinals didn't have the greatest joint practice performances, this one was different. It didn't start that way. The Cardinals, in fact, started slow. But it changed significantly by the end.

"That's the game of football," wide receiver Michael Wilson said. "It's not going to be perfect. There are ebbs and flows. As a coach and a player, I like Mike's verbiage of that: You can only do the next right thing."

The first plays from the first-team offense included a few runs that went nowhere, and drops by both Wilson and Harrison. Defensively, the first unit got beat up pretty good by quarterback Jordan Love. At least initially.

It all flipped by practice's end. Collins had an impressive interception, one of four by the Cards (Elijah Jones, Dewey Wingard, Kitan Crawford had the others.) QB Jacoby Brissett had a pick early but then settled in and was sharp.

Everything trended up culminating in the final two-minute situations. The Cardinals stopped both the Packers' first- and second-unit offense. The Cardinals got the MHJ touchdown and followed with a Gardner Minshew-to-Simi Fehoko TD to "win" the second unit try as well.

All the while, it was chippy. No fights, but several scrums and yapping.

"It always ups the ante," cornerback Max Melton said. "I've never seen a joint practice where they weren't fighting at some point. It gives you a little more juice."

Yes, a good day for the Cardinals.

-- LaFleur said the starters will not play Friday night in Green Bay, which was expected. Quarterback Carson Beck is still sitting out with his sore ribs, so it looks like a Minshew-Kedon Slovis QB combo again for the Packers finale.

-- Cornerback Garrett Williams, just off the PUP list, was back getting a little bit of 11-on-11 work for the first time.

-- Less good news for running back James Conner, who now isn't practicing.

"We're going to lean on him and how he feels," LaFleur reiterated, adding it was too early to tell if Conner can be ready by Week 1 before acknowledging "it's starting to creep up."

-- Starting right guard Isaiah Adams did not make the trip. LaFleur said he was day-to-day with a knee issue. Cornerback Will Johnson, who is on the trip, did not practice either. His malady is not yet public.

-- All the scrums came with the Cardinals' defense and Packers' offense, at least until the final moments, when Wilson made a catch and was "tackled" by defensive back Keisean Nixon. Nixon didn't let go, and the two had words before the sidelines started to empty again.

"Me and him got a little bit of beef going back to my second year in the league," Wilson said. "Every time I see him, I'm not going say it's smoke, but I'm not too fond of him and I don't think he's too fond of me."

-- Melton had a couple of pass breakups in the final sequence as both he and Denzel Burke finished strong. Each are fighting for a starting job.

"For them to throw the ball my way, I think I got three or four targets today, it felt amazing," Melton said.

-- Running back Trey Benson, who was waived/injured on Monday, cleared waivers on Tuesday and reverted to the team's Injured Reserve. He is out for the season. The Cardinals still have an option to release him on an injury settlement as they have with a handful of players already this camp.

-- Linebacker Josh Sweat is on the field and in uniform, but isn't in 11-on-11 yet.

"It was great to have him out there," LaFleur said before practice. "You get some of those pieces out there and you can feel it with the other guys too."

Sweat's work is "according to plan. It's right on schedule."

-- LaFleur said again how he had actually reached out to the Vikings to get a joint practice before ending up with the Packers and his brother. It didn't work out, but it would have been fascinating to have the Cards in Minnesota during Kyler Murray's first year with the Vikings.

That's all for today. Preseason finale on Friday.