Arizona Cardinals Training Camp Notes: Offensive Formations And Patrick Peterson

You may know that Monday's afternoon practice was rained into NAU's Walkup Skydome. As a result, I could not go. I did, though go to the morning walk-through. As such, I will give you my camp notes from what I saw in the morning and then some of what others said about the afternoon practice I could not attend.

As I was there in the morning, I decided to pay attention to the offensive formations the team was running. Since I had given it some thought and decided to give you all my thoughts as to what changes could be happening offensively, it probably wasn't a bad idea. 

What did I discover? Well, I felt pretty smart. No, Todd Heap had not arrived yet, but with the exception of a couple of plays, what I saw was a consistent use of either two tight ends or two backs. The fullback was used quite a bit. I even saw one play with two tight, two back, one wide. 

I didn't see every single play (courtesy of two boys I must track down from time to time), but I saw only one with a four-wide set. However, it was not four receivers. It was three wideouts and a tight end. 

Again, this look still can lend itself to a pass-heavy offense. That seems to be what the team likes and also what Kevin Kolb likes about the Cardinals. But the formations will lend themselves to more balance and protection for the quarterback. In fact, it helps someone like Beanie Wells, who is reputed for being weak in blitz pickup.

As for Patrick Peterson, he was on the field on the morning. He did not run any drills. That came in the afternoon. At first, I thought he was being lined up at safety. Turns out he was checking everything out from behind the defense, probably to look at coverages.

Rookie DeMarco Sampson stood out again. He is making some very nice catches. 

In the afternoon, it was the first real hitting of camp.

Here are a few of Kent Somers' and Darren Urban's tweets of practice:

Somers:

Peterson running with first nickel. No serious drills yet, Ray Horton going over coverages

Now Marshay Green as nickel corner. Cards mixing guys in and out

TE Rob Housler is tall and looks thin. He could split wide some this season if he gets playing time (side note...I'm smart again)

P Peterson blt more like corner than safet, contrary to some opinions. maybe im used to bigger safeties like wilson, rhodes

Fitz open deep, Skelton overthrows him, saw that last yr

Sampson great rout against Peterson. Bartel places ball on the $ (side note...Sampson has already had my attention)

Skelton bounces with a great sideline throw to Fitz

Urban:

Peterson working as wide blocker on return team for this punt drill. Roberts back to return.

7th rd WR DeMarco Sampson has made some plays already. Worked with Fitz a lot in offseason; Fitz is high on Sampson's ability. (See...I'm not the only one saying it)

Skelton complete to Fitz in front of Peterson. No chance. Nice throw, good route.

Lastly...since we couldn't be there, how about a video of what happened?