Gannon Sends a Message to Kyler Murray! Good Quarterbacks are on Good Teams

For two years, I have been trying to get comfortable and confident in head coach Jonathan Gannon.

When the Cardinals rolled off their four-game winning streak —- with the defense suddenly dialing up successful blitz packages and becoming stingy in pass coverage —- and with Kyler Murray playing his best football since the first 7 games in 2021 —- my confidence in Jonathan Gannon and the direction of the team was at an all-time high.

Then came the bye week.

Ugh.

To watch Jonathan Gannon get summarily outcoached by first year defensive-minded head coach Mike Macdonald twice in three weeks while a panic-stricken Kyler Murray was gift-wrapping interceptions to Seattle’s ball hawks —- was dispiriting.

To watch the Cardinals play so well for three quarters in Minnesota only to see Jonathan Gannon opt to kick a field goal on a 4th and 3 in the redzone while clinging to a 3-point lead only to discover his late game defensive plan was to play a version of soft-zone prevent defense to the point where NFL All-Pro Justin Jefferson was essentially left uncovered, even on a 4th and 7 with the game on the line —- was demoralizing.

After the bye week, when, after three straight losses, the Cardinals dropped to 6-7, and had plummeted out of first place in the NFC West, for the first time in two years, Jonathan Gannon and his assistant coaches publicly questioned their players’ effort on a Monday where Jonathan Gannon inexplicably gave the players the day off.

But —- even then —-the Cardinals still had the fate of the division in their own hands if they could win their remaining 4 games and if the Seahawks were to go 2-2 in one of the toughest parts of their schedule (which they did).

Alas, all hopes were dashed when the Cardinals lost to a 3-win Panthers team in Carolina 36-30 (OT).

What was different after the bye week?

The most telling difference was the Cardinals’ QB sudden penchant for turning the ball over.

Some fans` were blaming Kyler’s interceptions, you guess it, on the offensive line and the OC.

Um, not so fast.

As ROTB’s RedC so aptly highlighted on the “Petzing is a budding star” thread.

The Arizona Cardinals’ strong performances in the last month have seen them climb inside the top 10 in our NFL OL rankings. They sit first over the past four weeks, with back-to-back games that have graded as an A- or better and a game that graded as a B in Week 17. It is crazy to think that despite the play of this line, the Cardinals are 1-3 in that stretch.