VIENNA, Va. (AP) -The Arizona Cardinals’ home-away-from-home is more like an old home for an old Hog.
Arizona’s nine-day stay in the D.C. area between games against the Washington Redskins and New York Jets puts offensive line coach Russ Grimm back in the city where he won three Super Bowls and began his coaching career. All that’s missing is a chance to visit old buddies and tell long stories about Joe Gibbs or creaky RFK Stadium.
“You know, I don’t really have a chance to see as many people as I’d like to see. It’s business first,” Grimm said Thursday. “With the schedule the way it is, with the meetings and the practices, you know. There’s an offseason for that.
“But it’s good to get back here.”
d since 1978.
“We’re getting better,” Grimm said. “We’re not where we need to be yet, but again, we’re just trying to improve and try and get a ‘W’ this week. It usually takes a little bit of time to put a new system in, but they’ve picked it up pretty fast and we’re a lot further ahead this year than we were last year.”
Sixth-year guard Reggie Wells, one of the team’s captains, said the hard-nosed mentality Grimm had as a player on one of the best offensive lines in NFL history with the Redskins in the 1980s and early 1990s has carried over to this unit.
“That old-school attitude is what he brings,” Wells said. “Especially the offensive linemen, he really expects us to take that approach into our preparation. You know, ‘Come ready to play.’ I think that’s the main thing he’s been preaching to us. Prepare in the weight room, prepare with the films, and that way when you go out there, you can just play your heart out.”
Grimm spent 20 years with the Redskins, 11 as a player (1981-91) who went to four Pro Bowls and nine as an assistant coach (1992-2000). He beefed up his coaching resume three years ago when he coached the offensive line that helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win a Super Bowl.
The next logical step would be a head coaching position. He interviewed for vacancies in each of the past two offseasons.
9-year-old Grimm said. “I’m in no hurry.”
Wells thinks that time will come sooner rather than later.
“No doubt about it. Not only do these players love playing for him, but he’s very underrated as far as his preparation level,” Wells said. “He’s so smart, and he knows so many different things. He’s prepared in all aspects of the game, so I think it’s only a matter of time.”
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