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Thursday before the Chargers

The work in San Diego is almost over. The Cardinals have their preseason game against the Chargers Friday night, and to be frank, the attention has shifted from what the team might do this week and to what Bruce Arians might do after his health issues. The reality is that offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin was already set to call plays, and Arians had joked previously that he doesn't have much to do during a game in those cases anyway. Still, all eyes are going to be on B.A. That's only natural.

-- Because of Arians' illness, there wasn't much discussed about the how the game will play out in terms of snap distribution, but the first units will probably get a chunk of the first quarter you'd figure. It always depends on how they perform, but maybe two or three series, depending on the number of plays. I'd expect this game to be a lot more Drew Stanton at QB, as Carson Palmer's big third preseason game looms and the fourth game likely will be all Matt Barkley and Jake Coker.

-- Another big game for CB Brandon Williams. Also curious to see what veteran Mike Jenkins can do now that he's back on the field, albeit with a cast.

-- Another guy to watch is DT Corey Peters, who returns to a game for the first time since blowing out his Achilles after just one preseason game in 2015.

-- Not only were there no fights during the two practices between the Cards and Chargers, no situation really ever came close as far as I could tell. Don't know if it was because Arians and Chargers coach Mike McCoy made such a big deal about no fights or if the Arians situation changed how practice was approached. Question is, does Friday night get chippy at all?

-- Arians has said there are four inside linebackers fighting for one spot, which includes Chargers castoff Donald Butler. But you figure the Cards are going to have Deone Bucannon and Kevin Minter in there. I'm guessing Chris Clemons, who has been working behind Bucannon, likely is in. So that would leave Butler vs. Alani Fua vs. Gabe Martin vs. Lamar Louis. So again, a battle to watch.

-- One more week of training camp to go. Four more open practices.

ThursBeforeCharegers
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