Kyler Murray’s work, leadership praised by Jonathan Gannon, Budda Baker

Kyler Murray continues to get high marks for his work behind the scenes as a player, teammate, leader.

To say that Kyler Murray has been a lightning rod since being selected No. 1 overall by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2019 draft would be an understatement, judging by the persistent outside noise that was often over the top but also at times justified.

It also appears clear that the torn ACL Murray suffered late in the 2022 season humbled him, coupled with the arrival of general manager Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon early in the 2023 offseason.

Murray attacked his rehab and learning a new offense with a vengeance and then performed well in the final eight games of the season.

Gannon has had nothing but praise when talking about his quarterback and reiterated those thoughts Tuesday morning while speaking at the NFC coaches breakfast at the league meetings in Orlando, Fla.

“Everything that we’ve asked of him, he’s went above and beyond,” Gannon said. “If you watch the tape, you know why I’m convicted. But it’s not only the tape at that position. The other things that he brings to the table as a person, as a teammate, as a competitor, I absolutely love. Saddle me up; let’s go. Just from a standpoint of respect and love and care and developing that relationship with him we kinda like hit it off. So feel really good about where he’s at and where he wants to go.”

In comments Cardinals safety Budda Baker made on the Up & Adams podcast with Kay Adams, it was clear he agrees with Gannon’s assessment.

Baker said, “It’s night and day from his rookie year until now. Always a great player. (But now) a guy you can talk to, any of the players can talk to whether it’s the practice squad guys or the best players on the team. He’s around us. He jokes, cracks jokes, he talks. He’s a great leader, so definitely excited for him to continue to grow, continue to get better and lead this organization.”

Gannon can’t wait to get on the grass when the offseason program begins next month when Murray can focus on football, not rehabbing from a major injury.

The coach said, “That’s why I’m super excited about spring, getting to go through spring and then training camp with him because there’s some things that we want to explore that we think he can handle and there’s some things that he has brought up (and) that he wants some things added that he likes and he is comfortable with. So that’s always a coach and player thing, player and coach, which I love and I just think that him being in the spring and going through spring is really gonna help his development within our system with him as a player.

“I mean we changed his stance, how he took the snap and he took to it and understood the why behind it and he likes it now, but he’s gonna bank all those reps in the spring. So that’s why I say his best football is head of him, which is interesting to say because he’s played at such a high level.”

Moving his hand upward, Gannon concluded, “I really think he’s gonna keep going that way.”

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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NFL owners make it easier for coaches to get extra challenge

The NFL approved a proposal to give coaches a third challenge if they are successful on at least one during the game.

The NFL owners voted to make a couple of rules changes at the annual league meeting on Monday in Orlando, Florida. One change is a tweak to coaching challenges.

Proposed by the Detroit Lions, the owners voted to make it easier to have a third coaching challenge.

Previously, coaches would get a third challenge if they were successful on both challenges during the game.

Now, under the new change, coaches will have a third challenge if they are successful on one of their first two.

This probably won’t do much for the Arizona Cardinals. Head coach Jonathan Gannon only challenged one ruling on the field all season. If that continues in 2024, Gannon will have no use of an extra challenge. He never once ran out of challenges in a game.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Want to know who might start for the Cardinals? You have to wait

Jonathan Gannon is not going to know who his starters are until the Friday before Week 1.

The NFL offseason means projections of signings and selections in the NFL draft and then projections about what positions players will play and who will start. It is no different for the Arizona Cardinals.

Writers, analysts and fans want to get a glimpse of what could be.

But Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon isn’t having any of it. He will not even give a guess or vision.

When he and general manager Monti Ossenfort spoke with reporters this week, he tried to preemptively quash any present and future questions about starters, roles and position. He gave an answer, knowing he would get asked about it “132 times” over the course of the offseason.

“We will know who’s playing where the Friday before we play Week 1,” he said.

In other words, don’t ask about Jonah Williams and Paris Johnson and who will be the left and right tackles. Don’t ask about what Mack Wilson will play. Don’t ask what roles or positions players will be asked to have.

It won’t stop the questions, of course, but it shows that Gannon isn’t into sharing what expectations might be. After all, that might mean a player might be seen in a negative light when expectations don’t match reality.

He prefers a more deliberate approach.

“We’ve got to them on the grass,” he explained, referring to actually having practices and drills.

“When you watch the tape, there is a role and a vision for each player that we sign up, and then it’s up to us to integrate them, catch them up to speed, how we do things all those things like that and then ultimately and then go out and it’s a production business to help us win,” he explained.

We all have questions. We want to know what the team thinks they have in certain players. Who are the guys they envision starting? Yes, competition will play out, but we all want to know something.

It is understandable what Gannon is doing.

It just isn’t any fun.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Monti Ossenfort, Jonathan Gannon believe setting culture will lead to wins

The Cardinals GM and head coach spoke about what they consider other than on-field performance when looking to add a player to the team.

Like a broken record throughout every day of 2023, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort talked about the process of getting the right people into the building with establishing a “culture” more important than ability.

Culture can be an elusive goal and most every NFL team strives for it. There’s no question Gannon and Ossenfort believe in it, and that continued to be evident when they met with the media last week at the Combine.

Asked what they look for at Indianapolis, Gannon said, “If they love ball and if they’re team guys first. It’s awesome meeting with them, getting to start to know them as people before you really start diving into the tape. Really looking for what I call, ‘The price of admission,’ whether they fit that.”

In lockstep with Gannon, Ossenfort said, “Anytime we add a player to our building, we’re going to talk about the fit, not only on the field but off the field as well. That’s why this week is such a big process, is we can meet with players, we can compare the information we have coming in here to our take once we get the chance to sit down across from them.

“Ultimately, we owe it to the locker room to bring in people that have the right mindset and are going to do the things that we ask them to do to put our team in the best position to win. I would put the character and the football makeup of a player (just) as much important as the on-field ability.”

The Cardinals won only four games last season, three with Kyler Murray at quarterback, but Gannon emphasized how the team’s year-long competitiveness was the result of the groundwork being laid.

“I’ve told you guys four games isn’t winning enough,” Gannon acknowledged. “But I do think we have a good plan in place to improve our players and get better and what it speaks to is kind of the culture in the locker room, the kind of people in the locker room. It’s people and how you behave, that’s it. It’s not some fancy word. It’s like, ‘Hey, who do you have and how do we behave on a daily basis?’ It’s my job to hold them to that, like, ‘This is what we want and let’s make sure we do it.’

“When it’s right, we point that out and when it’s not right, we point that out. Ultimately, the locker room took that over this year. We got good guys in the locker room and that’s why Monti and I are so convicted. Anyone we put in this locker room, they’ve got to fit that. It’s not for everybody and like I said, that’s OK. It’s what we value as an organization.”

Concluded Ossenfort, “I think really the culture when we talk about it is guys that are willing to put the team first, guys that are going to put winning above any individual interest because ultimately, if we win, individual accolades, individual success is going to follow. Guys that have that mentality, that are mature, accountable, dependable, guys that are going to attack their job with the goal to win, those are the types of guys that we’re going to add.”

The Cardinals, of course, aren’t alone in that line of thinking.

Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said last week, “The best parts of the Combine are those interactions with the players. The on-field stuff is easy to see. Now it’s on high-def TV; you can see movement. But getting to know the ball player, what he’s about, what’s his why, what are the things that drive him. If there was something that had jammed him up in the past, who would be coming with them, if they moved to the city. Just knowing their family backgrounds.

“The evaluations with Adam (general manager Adam Peters) and his guys on the physical traits of the players; that’s going to stay consistent no matter where we’re at. But finding who the person is inside the helmet, inside the rib cage; that starts in moments like now.”

Lions general manager Brad Holmes was asked how emphasizing intangibles had evolved since becoming the club’s general manager in 2021.

“If anything, it’s taught us to make sure you put even more focus in on them,” he said. “Not saying that we ever ignored intangibles, but maybe if you said, ‘Well, he has this X amount of talent, ability, and say that the intangibles aren’t on steroids, but just needs a little bit of work.’ And you learn some lessons along the way. But I still am a firm believer that is the true separator of success at this level.

“I can name countless examples back from when I was with the Rams and countless examples even now within these three years that we’ve been building, where we look at our top players that have been really core foundational players and they have the intangibles that we’re looking for, so it’s not a surprise they’ve had the success they’ve had.”

As Gannon said, “I just feel like if you have enough of those guys, you’ll win.”

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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Cardinals HC gives great answer to question about players in 2024 draft

Jonathan Gannon’s favorites players in the draft are…

The 2024 NFL draft is several weeks away and the Arizona Cardinals are right in the middle of their evaluation of draft-eligible players. Surely through film study and the interviews the team has had with players in the process thus far, different guys have their favorites.

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, though, gave the perfect answer to a question he was asked at the combine this past week.

He didn’t say Marvin Harrison Jr., a player coveted by most Cardinals fans. He didn’t say any player at all.

He kept it simple and made sure his words couldn’t be used against him later.

Does he have favorite players in the draft?

“Anyone that we draft. That’s my answer to that one.”

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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Seahawks vs. Cardinals: Behind Enemy Lines for Week 18 game

To learn more about Arizona, we spoke with Cards Wire editor Jess Root.

The Seattle Seahawks have one more game to play on their 2023 regular season schedule. Their final opponents are the Arizona Cardinals, who were eliminated from playoff contention several weeks ago but would love to play the spoiler against a division rival. Winning won’t guarantee Seattle a place in the postseason tournament, but losing would shut them out no matter what happens between Chicago/Green Bay.

To learn more about Arizona, we spoke with Cards Wire editor Jess Root. Here are a few questions he answered about his team.

The Eagles’ defense is a disaster, and they’d better fix it with a quickness

The Eagles’ defense hit rock bottom when it got pushed around by the Arizona Cardinals. Is there any hope for improvement before the postseason starts?

The defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles currently rank 27th in Defensive DVOA after finishing third last season, which isn’t good enough for anybody in the building. So, the team made the decision in mid-December to replace first-year defensive coordinator Sean Desai as a play-caller  with senior assistant Matt Patricia, whose experience with the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick from 2004 through 2017 held some weight.

Or, the Eagles were just throwing stuff against the wall to see what would stick. At this point, either explanation is equally plausible.

Not that things have gone any better with Patricia at the helm. The Eagles were profoundly embarrassed last Sunday by the Arizona Cardinals in a 35-31 loss that saw their defense allow 221 rushing yards, 5.5 yards per attempt, 130 yards after contact, 14 first downs, and a league-worst (for Week 17) 0.18 EPA per attempt on 40 carries. That this all happened to a team that counts former Philly defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon as its head coach put some extra sting on it.

“I do believe,” head coach Nick Sirianni said post-game after the run defense debacle. “I still believe in the guys in that locker room, the players. I still believe in the coaches. I think we’ve got the guys in this place to get turned in the right direction. We don’t have much time, obviously, right. We’ve got one more game before playoffs starts, and we’ve got to do everything we can do to get back on track this upcoming week.

“I think there’s been spurts, obviously, the last couple games where we played good ball on defense. Tonight wasn’t one of those times.”

As Sirianni said, there isn’t much time before the postseason begins, and if this is the state of the Eagles’ defense, they’ll be lucky if they aren’t pushed around from start to finish — and it could be a very early finish.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys got into the reasons for these issues from a formerly great defense.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Now, let’s investigate why Philly’s defense has fallen apart this season.

Eagles PFF grades: Best and worst performers from 35-31 loss to Cardinals

We’re looking at the highest and lowest graded players in the Philadelphia Eagles 35-31 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 17

The Eagles no longer control their destiny for the No. 2 overall seed and NFC East after a 35-31 loss to the Cardinals at home.

In Jonathan Gannon’s return to Philadelphia, Arizona rushed for 221 yards, with James Conner logging 26 carries for 128 yards and one touchdown.

The Cardinals’ win put the Cowboys in the No. 2 seed entering Week 18, and a victory over Washington would give Dallas the NFC East.

With fans and pundits outraged by the loss, we’re looking at the highest and lowest-graded players via PFF. 

NFC playoff picture: Eagles fall behind Cowboys after shocking loss to Cardinals

We’re looking at an updated NFC playoff picture after the Philadelphia Eagles shocking 35-31 loss to Arizona Cardinals

The Eagles entered Sunday controlling their own destiny in the NFC, while still having opportunity to move up as far as No. 1 with help.

That plan was demolished, as Arizona upset Philadelphia 35-31 at Lincoln Financial Field, upending the NFC race, while sending Nick Sirianni’s team to the No. 5 seed, and a date on the road against the NFC South’s division winner.

With fans and pundits in shock, here’s an updated look at the NFC playoff picture.

National reaction to Eagles shocking 35-31 loss to the Cardinals in Week 17

We’re looking at the national reaction of the Philadelphia Eagles shocking 35-31 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at home in Week 17

In what can only be described as a shocking performance, the Eagles no longer control their destiny after a 35-31 loss to the Cardinals at home.

In Jonathan Gannon’s return to Philadelphia, Arizona rushed for 221 yards, with James Conner logging 26 physical carries for 128 yards and one touchdown.

The Cardinals’ win put the Cowboys in the No. 2 seed entering Week 18, and a victory over Washington would give Dallas the NFC East.

With the outcome now final, here’s the national reaction to the Eagles’ stunning collapse.