OTAs coming to a close for Cardinals

 TEMPE, Ariz. - Organized Team Activities are coming to a close, meaning there will be a substantial amount of time before the Cardinals take the field together as a team again.

But, even with training camp being months away, Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt says the last few weeks of practice could not have gone much better.

"It's been very good, a lot of fun these last few weeks," he said. "I hate the fact that it's coming to an end."

Whisenhunt has not held back in his praise of the participation from the team and the tempo the players have practiced at, and Wednesday said he could see an improvement on the field.

"We've come a long way, especially from the aspect of team chemistry," he said. "These guys have worked very hard for a long time; they've been working at it for 12, 13 weeks straight now.

"That's a pretty long stretch, and to get the kind of production that we've gotten out of the OTAs as well as the attendance has been very good."

Whisenhunt said he thinks the effort and attention to detail the team displayed will help as they head into training camp, and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald said it will be important for the team to sustain what they learned the last few weeks.

"It's important for us to try to keep the cohesiveness that we worked on all week and throughout the OTAs and mini-camp and we've got to continue to make progress."

One player both Whisenhunt and Larry Fitzgeraldsaid has made significant progress is quarterback Matt Leinart. Leinart is expected to take over for the retired Kurt Warner, but has yet to prove that he is capable of being an effective NFL quarterback.

Whisenhunt said the quarterback showed up at the team's training facility at 6:30 a.m. every day for months preparing, studying and doing his workout before practicing.

"I have to give him credit," he said. "His dedication has been very good."

Fitzgerald said he has seen Leinart progress over the course of the off-season.

"He's getting better every single day and that's all you can ask for," Fitzgerald said. "Matt doesn't have to go out there and do anything spectacular, he has a lot of great talent around him; we're all going to work together to make his job as easy as possible."