Gannon: Cardinals’ 2024 failures ‘an indictment of myself’
Dec 23, 2024, 4:14 PM
TEMPE — There’s still plenty of meaningful football to play with the regular season winding down. That is unless you’re the Arizona Cardinals fresh off a 36-30 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers.
After building confidence and expectations on their way to a 6-4 mark heading into the bye, Arizona failed to get the job done when it mattered most and have been eliminated from playoff contention with two games to play.
A lot of the blame has fallen on quarterback Kyler Murray and the offense for the Cardinals’ downward trend since the off week.
But in Arizona head coach Jonathan Gannon’s eyes, it all falls back on him.
“I’m not satisfied with the performance of the team,” Gannon said Monday afternoon when asked if he was satisfied with the offense. “That starts with me. What I’m really saying is that’s an indictment of myself. I’m not satisfied with myself.”
Whether it be the mountain of penalties that are occurring on a near-weekly basis, losing the turnover battle or struggling to stop the run, the Cardinals have plenty to clean up these next two weeks and beyond.
So, while the Cardinals may no longer playing meaningful football in December — something that has eluded this franchise more times than not in recent memory — two chances remain for Arizona to instill some of that confidence that has been leaking out the sides of the organization since Week 12.
“Love that we get to go play two games. We have two more opportunities,” Gannon said. “It’s obviously not the outcome we wanted. We’re not going to be playing in mid-January, but I’m excited for these two opportunities. I understand how a lot of people think, but when you’re in our seat, the joy is competition.
“Last year we weren’t playing for anything. We made a lot of hay and got a lot better. We did a lot of good things last year that I felt we built on and followed us a little bit into this year. They’re learning opportunities for us and we’re going to go play a really good team (this week). The competitor in me can’t wait to play on Saturday night. I wish it was here.”
If Cardinals players are healthy, they’ll play
When a team is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention with games still to play, there are a few avenues it can take the rest of the way.
One of those centers around getting young players more reps and giving known commodities time to rest and avoid any potential late-season injuries.
That’s not how Gannon is operating down this final stretch, however.
“I always think about the player health first and then for us. If they’re healthy enough to play, they’ll play,” Gannon said.
“We’re going to play who we think gives us the best chance to win,” he added when asked if young players might get more looks the rest of the way.
These next two weeks won’t be easy feats by any means.
In what had the makings of a division-deciding tilt, the Cardinals now head into L.A. looking to play spoiler against quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Rams.
A Cardinals win would at the very least rid Arizona of the bad taste that remains from the Carolina debacle. It would also make Week 18’s tilt between the Rams and Seattle Seahawks that much more interesting with the NFC West title likely on the line.
And while the San Francisco 49ers look dead in the water after being eliminated from playoff contention last week, they’re still very much a tough out with linebacker Fred Warner still on the prowl.
