With a scheduled heavyweight bout against the Seattle Seahawks looming Sunday night, Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians wasn't about to downplay the matchup. Instead he pumped it up.
"Oh, yeah, man! You don't get to play for the damn things very often!" Arians said during a conference call Wednesday, per The News Tribune.
It's not the first time this season that Arians embraced a big-game with verve. He similarly amped up the showdown of division leaders when Detroit visited the desert in Week 11. The Cards defense dropped the hammer in a 14-6 victory.
The enthusiastic, presumptive Coach of the Year said he believes the Super Bowl champs will be equally exuberant.
"You know, it's not like Seattle's played for them for 100 damn years!" he said of division championships. "So I'm sure they're embracing it, also."
Unlike Arians, the Seahawks took more of the traditional route: downplaying this week as anything more than one game against rivals.
"The field's the same size. The goal posts are the same height. Nothing's really different," Richard Sherman said. "... I don't think the stadium changes (things for us).
"I mean, maybe if we went on the moon and the gravity changed it'd be something to adapt to."
Arians added that even with third stringer Ryan Lindley starting, he's still going to "sling it" all over the field.
Deep shots, stout defense and boisterous confidence from the coach have worked all season for the upstart Cards. The coach isn't going to change the formula now.
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