TEMPE, Ariz. -- If Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer was a baseball player, he'd be a fireball Hall of Famer who knew how to get batters out.
In other words, Palmer would be Nolan Ryan -- or at least that's who Pete Carroll, the Seattle Seahawks coach and Palmer's college coach at USC, compared him to before the Cardinals' Week 10 game in Seattle.
During their pregame conversation, which was captured in Episode 3 of "All or Nothing," the eight-part series documenting the Cardinals' 2015 season, Carroll and Cardinals coach Bruce Arians talked about the type of season Palmer, then 35, was having at that point -- when he had slowly crept into the MVP conversation. Carroll talked about being "so happy" to see Palmer on a winning team and in a position to make a run in the playoffs. Arians talked about how Palmer shows the enthusiasm every day of a young kid.
"He's something," Carroll said. "He is a marvel of freaking throwing the football machine. He's perfect. He's like Nolan Ryan was in baseball. He's going to be able to throw a football forever."
To which Arians responded: "If you're going to build one, you'd build him."
"Exactly like that," Carroll said.
What else we learned in Episode 3:
Arians understood how his emotions and temper could run out of control at times. He made sure to tell team president Michael Bidwill during an executive meeting before Arizona's Monday Night Football game against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 7 that he'd work on controlling himself. "I've got to do a better job of keeping my emotions on the sideline because I lost it on those guys."
Former British discus thrower Lawrence Okoye, a Cardinals practice squad defensive end, was cut for parking in the wrong space.
Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald showed how rigorous Arizona's practices can be, telling defensive coordinator James Bettcher, "You practice so hard you can't wait to get to Sunday."
Arians denied a request by strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris to reduce the intensity during the last two periods of a practice leading up to the Ravens game because the players' "loads" were getting too high.
Outside linebacker Dwight Freeney keeps a running tab in his head of which offensive linemen he has success against. After executing a spin move past Ravens left tackle Eugene Monroe to sack quarterback Joe Flacco, Freeney came to the bench and boasted: "I've been abusing that boy since 2005." One problem: Monroe came into the league in 2009.
During another memorable rant toward his defensive line, coach Brentson Buckner reminded his players that they just can't "turn it on" and if they could, why haven't they? Then he dug deeper, referencing Marshawn Lynch's epic 79-yard touchdown run. Buckner said the run will "go down in infamy" and will be shown at Lynch's Hall of Fame induction ceremony -- should he make it -- which means one thing: "Everybody on that will get a chance to be in Canton."
The Cardinals' penchant for blitzing doesn't just come from their defensive coordinator. Bettcher informs Arians that a play in the second quarter is third-and-26, to which Arians instructed, "blitz that m-----f-----."
The appreciation after safety Tyrann Mathieu was drafted by Arizona 69th in the 2013 draft was apparent during a scene from his draft party three years ago. After talking with Bidwill, who had stipulated a drug testing program and bonus restructuring in order to draft Mathieu, the Honey Badger was thankful. "You got my word," Mathieu said. "Thank you guys, man."
Palmer is well aware of his lack of swiftness. After running for a touchdown in Cleveland that was later overturned, he said to running back Chris Johnson: "Can I be any slower?"
Once he heard that the Cardinals had signed guard Mike Iupati as a free agent in 2015, Palmer called Iupati nearly immediately.
Arians, who now sports a bald look with a goatee, once had long hair. But he admitted he cut it in college after he was tackled by it. Even his wife, Christine, didn't know that.
Throughout the series, it's becoming clear that Mathieu enjoys talking smack to the crowd. After the win over the Cleveland Browns, he looked at the fans behind the bench and proclaimed: "I didn't even make a play and we still won."
Even though he did not record a snap as a rookie in 2015, linebacker Shaq Riddick still impressed Arians. "I like where your head is," Arians told him. "What I like about you is you're practicing your ass off."
