Cards settle in for weeklong stay on East Coast

 The Cardinals today begin their season’s most unusual week.

Instead of flying back to Arizona after Sunday’s game, they stayed in their suburban Virginia hotel where they’ll stay for the week.

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They’ll practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in preparation for Sunday’s game at the New York Jets in suburban New Jersey. To get there, they’ll take a train on Saturday.

To keep things familiar, “We stick to our schedule,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said.

That means they’ll hit the practice field at about 1 p.m., same as the usual 10 a.m. Arizona time practice starts.

“We’re trying to keep everything about the same, keep the routine the same as much as possible.”

The whole point is to avoid an extra round trip to the East Coast, which takes about five hours heading west, then about four hours coming back east.

“This is a tough schedule,” said Bertrand Berry, the veteran defensive end/linebacker.

“Coach Whisenhunt is doing the best he can to make it doable for us. Coming from Arizona to the East, it definitely takes a toll when you lose hours and you get up at different times.”

Staying in the East is a plan that should help, but “It’s up to us to take advantage of it.”

Not that everyone is keen on the idea.

“I don’t like it,” quarterback Kurt Warner said.

“It’s hard for a guy who’s got a family. You don’t want to be away for 10 days.”

“But if it works, we’ll take whatever we have to do to win.

“In the big picture, it’s only 10 days.

“I’m all for what’s beneficial for the team. But is going to be hard, tough not to see the family and be away from my little ones for 10 days.”