It will be hot in the ‘east’ when Cardinals travel for training camp practices against an AFC team in August
When he met with reporters at the NFL meeting in March, Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon revealed that the team will practice against an unidentified team during training camp.
The only clue Gannon gave was that it would be a very good team from the AFC.
Last season, prior to their road preseason game against the Vikings, the Cardinals practiced for two days with the NFC North team.
Earlier this week, when Gannon talked to the media at the opening of the team’s offseason program, he was asked if he was ready to share which team it will be.
He said, “Honestly I would, but I don’t know if that’s set in stone yet because the NFL has a say on that.”
The NFL involvement is because in conjunction with the teams, the preseason game schedules are set and the league decides which matchups will be national TV games.
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The Cardinals will have two have road preseason games, and ideally the practices will be before a game in Week 2 or Week 3.
Gannon did provide some more information when he said, “So it’s an AFC team and it’s out east so I’ll just hold on that for a little bit until it gets finalized. I don’t want you guys guessing.”
After a pause, he added, “OK, here’s the deal: I’m 99 percent sure when we’re doing it and who we’re doing it with, which means I’m not sure. I got that from (former NFL coach) Frank Reich, (who would always say), ‘You’re 99 percent sure, you’re really not sure.’ So that’s where I’m at with that.”
Some laughs ensued when a reporter asked, “When you say out east, like midwest out east?”
To which Gannon replied, “Any time I get on a plane and go east that’s east to me now. That’s where it’s at.”
He then said, “It’ll be hot,” paused and said, “Ooooh.”
Does that mean Kansas City? Cincinnati? Cleveland? Yes, we’re guessing.
Of course, anywhere in the midwest or east it will likely be hot in August. Even Minneapolis was unseasonably hot last summer.
The weekly slots for preseason games are expected to be announced when the regular-season schedules are revealed in May.
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