Bob McManaman

azcentral sports

When an NFL coach puts a player in his doghouse, it's not unusual for the player to respond by tinkling on the carpet. Hey, there's nothing like a little rebelling when you're already in trouble, right?

But that doesn't happen here. Not with the Cardinals. Not under coach Bruce Arians.

"He doesn't doghouse you. He believes in you," outside linebacker Sam Acho said. "A lot of times when you make a mistake, you'll see a coach just keep ragging on you. But B.A. believes in you. He's a great motivator, and he believes in his players."

Arians got this team to believe in itself when no one else would. A year after guiding the Cardinals to a 10-6 record in his first season as an NFL head coach, he has them at 11-3 and in position to win the NFC West and the No.1 playoff seed in the NFC if they can beat the Seahawks on Sunday night in Glendale.

Whether or not they win this game, Arians is the hands-down favorite to capture his second Coach of the Year award in the three seasons. He won it as an interim coach for the Colts two years ago, and his players believe he should have won it again last season.

His record speaks for itself, but so does his sense of style and the way he protects, encourages and motivates his players.

Not many coaches can rock the "Gatsby" cap look with black-framed glasses and knee-high compression socks and still come off as both credible and cool. Except for this guy, the man who waited his whole life to be a head coach.

"There's only one person that does it like that, and it's him," rookie quarterback Logan Thomas said. "You gotta love him."

Oh, they do. Like when he revealed that all three of his quarterbacks on the active roster might have a chance to see some action against Seattle. Arians reiterated Friday that third-stringer Ryan Lindley will start but said the injured Drew Stanton might be able to play in relief if needed and that Thomas has looked great in practice running the package of plays that have been designed just for him.

Was it gamesmanship? Not if you know Bruce Arians. There's no B.S. with B.A. He tells it likes it is, whether you want to hear it or not.

"He does such a great job keeping everybody bound together as one," left tackle Jared Veldheer said. "Having that 'Next man up' mentality really stems from Coach Arians, and he really turned it into a fact, not just a saying. Whenever he says something, it's always backed up. It's not fluff. It's always real. Guys respect that, they gravitate towards it, and I think that's one of the big reasons why we've had so much success."

Tonight, Arians will gather the entire team around a projector screen and show them highlights from last week's victory at St. Louis. Each week after a win, he selects a handful of players to pick songs to play along with the footage.

Want to know how popular Arians is with his players? After each win, they now ask him to pick the last song.

"Last week it was something from some old guy I've never really heard of before," linebacker Kevin Minter said with a smile.

Arians wouldn't divulge the song he picked out for tonight's viewing other than to say it was a little ditty from a Baptist preacher. Then he said it might be something from Bruce Springsteen. How can you not love this guy?

"My favorite thing about playing for Coach Arians is he's not the typical coach you would think," safety Rashad Johnson said. "A lot of guys will yell at you, but Coach Arians is really cool. He has a great persona about him that allows him to reach his guys. I love how laid-back he is, but also how he can flip the switch and be serious when he needs to and also be a cool person in the locker room, a coach that can come in and hang out and laugh with the guys as well."

Safety Tyrann Mathieu said Arians has "made me a better person." Center Lyle Sendlein said he's heard people talk about straight-forward, tell-you-like-it-is coaches, but "Unless you've played for B.A., I don't think you've played for one."

The most recent time the Cardinals played the Seahawks, defensive end Calais Campbell sacked Russell Wilson three times. Arians said it was good, but not good enough, that Campbell should have had five or six sacks. Campbell didn't get upset with that comment. He agreed with it.

"He was right. I didn't play well enough to help us win that game," Campbell said. "Normally when you get three sacks, it's awesome, but not when you could have had more."

Arians likes to be known as the cool uncle with whom you can hang out and have drinks. He had one of those, too, until his uncle Gus passed away this season.

"He can be a lot of fun, just like a cool uncle," Minter agreed. "Just don't mess up, though. He may not be that cool anymore."