GLENDALE Womens Lamar Jackson Jersey , Ariz. (AP) At the start of some practices, Arizona Cardinals coach Steve Wilks calls out the name of one defensive player and one offensive player to go at it one-on-one in front of everyone else.

Once it was left tackle D.J. Humphries against defensive end Chandler Jones. Another time defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche took on right guard Justin Pugh.

”I like it a lot,” Humphries said. ”It’s like old school, Pop Warner stuff.”

A week into Wilks’ first training camp as an NFL head coach, an overriding theme has been tough, physical play, especially on the offensive line.

”Really it comes back to my defensive background,” Wilks said before the team took the field for another practice in pads Thursday. ”There’s nothing more demoralizing than having an offense just run the ball. Coming off the ball up front, being physical, it just really takes the air out of you.”

While most of the training camp takes place in the air-conditioned comfort of University of Phoenix Stadium – the Cardinals’ regular- season home – Wilks moved the team outside into the desert heat for practice on Tuesday. They’ll be outdoors again Friday.

”Hopefully it’s a little hot out there so we can make sure we’re locked in and focused,” he said.

Wilks believes battling the heat helps build mental toughness.

”It’s all about mental with me. These guys have the skill set. They’re physical. They work out all the time. They train their bodies. It’s about this here,” he said, pointing to his head, ”and being outside creates that element, particularly in the heat.”

Wilks has spent his NFL coaching career on defense Jay Novacek Jersey , with stints as secondary coach for the Chicago Bears, San Diego Chargers and Carolina Panthers. Last year, he was promoted to defensive coordinator in Carolina and, after just one season, was hired to replace the retired Bruce Arians in Arizona.

Arians was all about offense, the big-play ”no risk it, no biscuit” approach. Wilks, by contrast, wants a team that runs the ball with authority and a defense that just as naturally stops the run up front.

”We get pretty physical out there,” Humphries said. ”Our defensive line, both of us know what we’re trying to do, what we’re trying to get done. It’s something that’s being preached to us and it’s something that we’re soaking up and buying into for sure. Most of us it’s second nature. We don’t have no softies on the O-line. Most of us, it ain’t hard to get us going, so it’s good fun.”

Defensive players appreciate a coach with roots on that side of the ball.

”It’s great,” said safety Antoine Bethea Womens Tyler Eifert Jersey , a 13-year NFL veteran. ”He gets it. Not saying other coaches don’t, but him being on the defensive side of the ball the majority of his career, he just gets what it means to be a defensive player, coming downhill, attacking.”

But it’s the offensive line that’s been singled out for praise by Wilks for its physical approach early in camp.

And the line loves the idea of blowing open holes for David Johnson, one of the NFL’s best running backs who returns after missing virtually all of last season with a fractured wrist.

Offensive linemen, in general, love to run block.

”It’s different when you’re locking a guy up in pass (blocking). You get them frustrated,” Humphries said. ”But when you block a dude, you pound on him during the run game, you demoralize them. You take their heart. `’

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Unsure of Kirk Cousins’ future, the Washington Redskins scoped out the quarterback market and saw a lot of unknowns.

They knew Minnesota’s Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford were set to be free agents, scouted top draft prospects Baker Mayfield Carl Soderberg Jersey , Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen, had veteran backup Colt McCoy under contract and were well-aware Kansas City had first-round pick Patrick Mahomes II waiting behind longtime starter Alex Smith. Washington turned its attention to the Chiefs, acquired Smith, signed him to an extension and handed him the keys to the starting job.

“We needed a guy that could come in here and stabilize this whole situation,” senior vice president of player personnel Doug Williams said. “And we felt like that one guy that can do that was Alex Smith.”

The Redskins on Sunday hosted the New York Jets for the first of three joint practices, the scene of a contrast between two organizations that took divergent paths to solve their quarterback situations. While Smith is established as the guy for the Redskins, the Jets took Darnold third overall, signed Bridgewater, re-signed incumbent Josh McCown and put them into a three-way competition that makes training camp and the preseason a day-to-day evaluation.

“It’s just a matter of splitting up the reps and when to give what guy what and what guy the other stuff and who sees what in practice and who’ll see what in a game,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said Sunday. “They’re all different types of quarterbacks. If you have to play one in a game, you always try to tailor things to what they can and can’t do. We’re just tailoring things right now and finding out more about them each day.”

Redskins coach Jay Gruden remembers having Andy Dalton as a rookie QB when he was Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator, but that was different because the 2011 second-round pick got all the first-team snaps as the prospective starter. Bowles is playing the delicate balancing act of splitting up practice time between Darnold, Bridgewater and McCown and could wait until after the fourth preseason game to name his starter.

Smith didn’t play in Washington’s preseason opener at New England and could see only limited work Thursday against the Jets. Meanwhile, New York rotated all three of its QBs against Atlanta Authentic Conor Sheary Jersey , and Darnold could see the most action moving forward after an impressive debut in which he was 13 of 18 for 96 yards and a touchdown.

“As he plays, he gets experience,” Bowles said. “I can get a fair evaluation of Josh. I’ve seen him play quite a bit. I’ve seen Teddy quite a bit. Sam’s the one that has to catch up.”

Darnold got plenty of first-team snaps Sunday — taking the majority of the reps for the first time this summer — and got to show what he could do in the rain against the Redskins’ first-team defense. With buzz building up about the Jets’ QB of the future, the more work he gets against the NFL’s best on his own roster and others should show how ready he is to be their signal-caller of the present.

“Working with the first team, it just gets me more comfortable with those guys, and I think they get more comfortable with me and the way that I like to play,” Darnold said. “But no matter who’s out there, you’ve got to run the play.”

Bowles wouldn’t reveal his plans for the second preseason game other than to say “all quarterbacks need to be ready to play.” After starting 13 games last year, the 39-year-old McCown figures coaches have a pretty good idea of what he can do at this point, and Bridgewater is cherishing any chance he can get.

“I look at it as I love the opportunity to show what I can do as a quarterback and as a leader,” Bridgewater said. “Whether it’s two reps or eight reps, I want to maximize and capitalize (on) each rep and take advantage of it.”

Gruden’s job with Smith as the starter and McCoy as the backup is more clear-cut. He’d still like to get Smith enough action to be comfortable for Week 1 but doesn’t envy the situation Bowles is in with three starting candidates and only one football.

“They’re in competition,” Gruden said. “They have three very good quarterbacks. They’re trying to find out. So it’s probably difficult for them to get them all equal reps and see what they can do.”

NOTES: The Redskins say RT Morgan Moses is OK after he was knocked down in a post-play fight during 11-on-11 drills Sunday. …. Washington OT Ty Nsekhe aggravated what the team called a lower-extremity injury. … WR Robert Davis is out for the season with knee and leg injuries. … Bowles said RB Isaiah Crowell (concussion) and OT Kelvin Beachum (foot) were among the Jets players left at home.
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