It was on the opening day of training camp a little more than two months ago that Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon met with the media for the first time since the one minicamp practice in mid-June.
At one point, the session turned into a discussion of the importance of details in every practice, in every game, on every day.
When teams win or lose in the NFL, the narrative is usually consistent. It’s the play-calling or the quarterback, or on a bad day, the all-encompassing “analysis” that one or both sides of the ball were awful.
That, of course, is simplistic and fails to account for the fact that all 11 players on the field have a task that they usually need to get right for any given play to work. Be where you’re supposed to be and then execute the play.
Or as the sign in the locker room when Bill Belichick was the coach of the Patriots said, “Do your job.”
I’m waiting for the day when the critics will say, “Player A didn’t execute on that play.” That’s considered boring, and frankly, most everyone watching doesn’t know what probably went wrong, and that includes the geniuses at analytics factories like Pro Football Focus.
So it was that Gannon said that day about the details, “That’s what separates the great from the good, the good from the bad is the details. That’s my opinion, there might be some people who don’t think that, but I do. There are details in a line assignment, key technique, details what’s going on in your brain, what your eyes are perceiving. Details are everything.”
That has become a persistent theme through the first four games of the season.
Wide receiver Michael Wilson said the offense was lacking the details in the Week 3 loss to the Lions. Linebacker Zaven Collins said this past week, “We have to play fast and stick to our rules.”
Even Gannon conceded recently that it might be boring to talk about the details, but doing things correctly is what results in consistency.
“That’s all of us,” he said after the game against the Lions. “Coaches, players, all three phases. You’re looking for that consistent game. Doing what we’re supposed to do all the time, which leads to playmaking and winning one-on-ones. You’re just looking for consistency and that’s why there’s a lot of things that we have to do a better job of to put us in a better position to win.
“I was talking about it yesterday: There were a couple of plays here and there. Just (needed) consistency and that’s why I’m enthused because I know we can do it. We’re not asking the guys to do something they can’t physically or mentally do. Our guys have shown that they can, so it’s about coaching them up, playing good ball and being consistent.”
When asked about the down-to-down challenge of being consistent with the reality that’s what the opponent is also striving for, Gannon said, “It is a challenge and what’s challenging is each game materializes differently because your opponent’s different and the game flow is different. Different things pop up at different times, but here’s an example for you guys. There’s a coverage that we played in the game and it’s really a Day-1 coverage for us. Day-1 install. I would call it kind of a routine play. We’re two yards not in the right spot. We’re a yard-and-a half not deep enough and you could argue it’s a huge play in the game where we don’t get the ball back with a chance to win the game.”
It’s believed the play he was talking about came with 2:20 remaining in the game with the Lions facing third-and-12 from their own 28-yard line and leading 20-13. Quarterback Jared Goff completed a pass to wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown for 18 yards and the Lions ran out the remainder of the clock.
Would the Cardinals have been able to tie the game if the play had been stopped? Doesn’t matter. What matters is they didn’t get the chance.
Gannon continued, “That can happen with anything or anybody or any unit, but we have to play that coverage correctly. That’s what you’re trying to figure out. There are going to be things in a game that pop up on all three phases that you haven’t seen; a play you haven’t seen or a look you haven’t seen, and you have to handle it. When I say easy, they’re not easy, but things that we’ve put a lot of time on task with we have to execute. We have to coach that better and we have to execute those plays better to give ourselves a chance to win.”
Safety Budda Baker reiterated the importance of executing the details this week when he said, “The details of our defense or any situation, offense defense, special teams, the details really matter pre-snap and then during the play. In order to execute those things, you have to be on the details. So the biggest thing is executing whatever call it is and by executing you understand, you know-know what to do each play, each player and you execute it. So, that’s the main thing.”
Also asked about the challenge of doing that when the bullets are flying during the game, Baker said, “That comes with being a pro. We’re professionals for a reason. We work throughout the week and understand we have certain rules for certain calls and there’s certain details with certain calls as well. And in order to execute that we have to be on those details and just play fast.”
Former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth worked the last two Cardinals games for FOX. He knows and understands and lived the intricacies of the game. He studies the tape. He knows a great playcall might not work if any one player is off on the details or that great players can sometimes overcome someone else not honed in on the details.
He talked about that this past week on ArizonaSports 98.7 when he was asked what he thinks about the Cardinals at this stage of the season.
He said, “I think the Arizona Cardinals are a team that on film, on tape, they play hard, they are aggressive but still lack some individual talent that would get you out of some tough situations. When I look at the Kansas City Chiefs, in critical moments, they turn it over to their best player and they say, ‘Go win.’ Patrick Mahomes, ‘Go win.’ Travis Kelce, ‘Go win.’ Chris Jones, ‘Go win.’ And when I look at Arizona, they’re doing it in some form or fashion, they’re doing it with, like especially on the defensive side of the ball, let’s outscheme you. Let’s pinch and scrape and let’s create some negative plays and let’s lead the league in tackles for losses.
“But in doing that, there are going to be times when you open up; guys get a little too far. Guys pinch and they get a gap-and-a-half removed and so all of a sudden instead of a tackle in the backfield, it’s a 14-yard gain. And there are too many of those 14-yard running plays, those eight-yard running plays where the back gets to the second level before that back gets hit. And that creates an issue.”
In Year 2 of the rebuild undertaken by general manager Monti Ossenfort and his staff, there is still work to be done. But we knew that didn’t we? We also knew the first six games of this season would likely be rough. That’s mostly forgotten now (collective amnesia) during the emotion of the season.
Schlereth’s comments removed the emotion.
He said, “So they don’t have the talent to play people straight up and say we’re going to thunder-punch you in the throat and kick your (expletive). They don’t have that kind of talent, so you’ve got to make up for it with scheme and when you get a little bit out of whack or a little bit out of where you’re supposed to be in just pure scheme form, they don’t necessarily have the talent just to respond to that.
“I think their interior offensive line is big and strong, but I think they lack a little bit of just pure technique and talent there as well and so I think there are some issues there.”
Finally, he concluded, “I think they’re an improving football team. I think they’re made up the right way and they play hard. I think they still lack some NFL talent both offensively and defensively that costs them.”
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