Bruce Arians doesn't mince words or hide behind passive aggressive language. When the Arizona Cardinals coach takes a shot, it's in your face or across your bow.
On Monday, Arians aimed at his receiver corps. After watching the group stink up training camp, he regretted the praise he lavished on them in the spring.
"I must've been seeing things back in the spring when I said we had had 12 guys who could play in the NFL," Arians said, via the team's official website. "We might have two."
Those two are future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald and fifth-year pro Jaron Brown. The rest of the group -- John Brown, J.J. Nelson, Brittan Golden, Aaron Dobson, Jeremy Ross, Chad Williams, etc. -- has dealt with either injury or inconsistency during camp.
Arians isn't going to sit around and watch his receiver corps continue to struggle.
"We'll look around, see who is available," Arians said.
Aside from the injuries, Arians added that the problems for his receiver corps are simple execution errors.
"Assignments, catching the ball," he said. "The main things the receivers have to do, they are not doing."
The quad injury that has hampered John Brown is perhaps most disconcerting after the speedy wideout dealt with nagging issues last season. Brown, Williams and Dobson each returned to practice Tuesday.
"It's a concern," Arians said of John Brown. "He's not available. You're only good when you're available."
The players say they received the message.
"Loud and clear," Jaron Brown said.
"I've been cussed out plenty of times in my three years here," Nelson added. "He's pretty much saying it in a nice way right now but he's still getting his message across. It's up to us to respond."
