His recent health scare was the last thing on the mind of Bruce Arians following Arizona's 19-3 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Friday.
"I'm fine," the Cardinals coach said. "Just pissed."
Arizona came out of the defeat injury-free, leaving Arians to quip, per the team's official website: "That's about the only good news."
Problems for the Cardinals were largely centered around an offense that ripped through the league last season but looked flat against San Diego's underrated defense.
Veteran quarterback Carson Palmer completed 4 of 8 passes for just 37 yards with one devastating mistake. The signal-caller could only watch as his first-quarter screen pass was yanked out of the air by blitzing cornerback Brandon Flowers, who easily raced into the end zone for a 25-yard pick six.
Second-year star runner David Johnson, meanwhile, was held to just eight yards on four touches. The backfield trio of Johnson, Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington managed only 18 yards on 10 carries.
"We'll go back to work," Arians said. "That's why you play the preseason. These don't count other than you find out a lot about yourself."
Said Palmer: "Every part of you says it's the preseason because it is the preseason. We have to continue to work. You don't let it frustrate you. You look at the areas that are good with the areas that are bad, evaluate them, and move forward."
If there's a team we refuse to panic over, it's the Cardinals. Arians is a top-three NFL coach and his offense will return every one of its skill players from a year ago. Palmer's laced with weapons through the air and David Johnson has "megastar" written all over him.
Still, don't expect Arians to sit back and gush over Friday's half-baked effort.
"A veteran team should show up," said the coach. "I didn't like the way we started the game and that set the tone the whole game."
