HC Jonathan Gannon On Final Prep For Cowboys – 11.1.25 | AZ Cardinals

HC Jonathan Gannon On Final Prep For Cowboys – 11.1.25 | AZ Cardinals

You know, looking at the week of work today, Kyler is not going to be ready to start the game. So, Jacobe will start. Obviously, feel good about Jacobe. Um, I do want to give it the next couple days to see if Kyler could possibly have a role on game day. So, that’s with that. Um, Garrett and Walt are progressing well. Um, got to see him practice today. Um, and we’ll make that decision in the next 48 hours. BJ had a really good day. It was good to see him out there. He looked really good to me. Um, honestly, but he will not be uh up and playing. Other than that, I think everybody’s out there. Um, we had a really good day yesterday. It was spirited. It was fast and aggressive. So, that was good to see coming out of a buy, you know, when you’re going and I know we had the bonus day, but you’re always looking to kind of see our tempo, you know, coming out of the buy. Um, now sitting back there with Monty, it was it was a good day of practice. So, we got to follow that up today and then, uh, got to play good football to win a game here. Is Kyler’s injury is there potential to be longterm? Yeah, I I don’t you know what what does that really mean? You know what I mean, Josh? I I um everyone’s different, you know. Uh every player, every injury is kind of unique. Um and he’s been pushing, we’ve been pushing. Um he’s he is getting better. That’s he’s had some more work this last week. Um but he’s like I said, it he’s just not ready to to go yet. But uh as far as you know, obviously that position is a little bit different because you got to you know, have a plan ready. That’s why I’m just saying, you know, Jacob’s starting, but if he can have a role, he can have a role. But you take it one day at a time. But I know he wants to be out there and he’s doing everything he can. Just he’s not quite there yet. Why could that be the case where he’s ready to be active but not ready to start? Yeah, that’s a good question, Teao. Um, you know, I’m not trying to be koi, but there’s a lot of um different scenarios um that can happen in two days that um you would make the decision what’s best for the player and best for the team to that be the case. You know what I mean? So, you probably don’t know what I mean, but I think you do know what I mean, you know? So, um, weird things have happened, um, outside of your control, outside of your control for 48 hours leading up to a game and things change, you know. And, um, so that’s that’s kind of the reason. Is is IR on the table for him? Um, as I sit here today, no. Is it purely health related that that he would not start? Yeah. with um Odelari. Is three weeks enough time for him to get back into full football shape to to the point where he can play? Yeah, I mean, you’re not going to like this one, but we’ll see, you know. I mean, I I hope. that that it’s you know with with all our guys coming back from injury you know and certain guys that you know all the different designations if they get hurt during the you know Garrett as you know different than BJ different than Walt you know um down the road Trey Benson LJ Kier you know those guys like it’s it’s different you know so you don’t know you just take it one day at a time but uh you know he definitely u like I said I he he had a good day. It was good to see him out there. Um I was actually a little bit surprised how fast and how he I guess for a better lack of term cut it loose yesterday. Um I thought he did a good job. How is Trey Benson doing? He’s doing well. He’s he’s getting better. Um he’s back into the mold of not just you know our return to play things. You know there’s you know early return to play. you’re just in the training room the whole time with the performance staff and with the athletic training staff and then as they get closer start assimilate them into meetings again, you know, so they get their mind back on football a little bit too, but he’s at that point right now. So, we’ll see how it goes. Is uh is Amari Demarcado ready to play? Yeah. How has he handled everything since the Titans game in terms of comes to work? I mean, he he’s a pro. He does his job and tries to get better every day. He’s a good teammate. Does um does Michael Carter being on the practice squad impact how you would deploy him if he is elevated on game day or do you do you treat anyone who’s active on the roster on game day the same? Same. That’s why I say that that’s a good question. like our practice squad guys know like you know you’re there’s a it’s a moment’s notice you know um things could change today like what I just told all you guys you know right now that could change here in two hours you know what I mean but that’s the reality of the NFL so um because you’re going to go practice for an hour and a half and I don’t exactly know what’s going to happen you know with our health but uh you know they they have to prepare um like they’re going to play just like everybody on our team does. That’s what I want their mentality to be like, you know, um roles change quickly, you know, and I even think like too like if you’re we got guys some some guys know that they’re backups, but they prepare to be the starter. Like you got to you don’t know when that’s your role is going to change like that. So, they got to prepare like they’re going to play and they got to go in and play well. Paris was saying earlier this week that um among the offensive line, they’ve talked a lot about wanting to get back to being road graders in the run game and kind of get back to that identity. I’m curious like is that something they’re talk amongst themselves? Is that something you’ve tried to make a priority coming out of the buy again? Yeah, I think um that’s a cool storyline, but uh I think coming out of the buy, there’s two things um that Coach Fry and Coach Cook when we looked at the seven games um what we thought would be the biggest return on investment where we wanted to put emphasis. Um and one of them related it to the run game and the other one the pass game. But uh yeah, I mean I want our O line to play with a a lot of effort and violence and block the right people and get on people and move them laterally and vertically. Um so that we can run the ball efficiently, you know, but it takes all of those guys and then it then it goes inside out. It goes what’s the quarterback doing? What are the tight ends doing? The receivers doing what are the backs doing. So you need all 11 to play well to have a productive play. With Kyler coming back on Monday, were you anticipating that he’d be healthy enough to play and this is something that kind of progressed throughout the week or did you kind of have that sense back then that there’s a chance he might not? No. Well, I mean what I say is what I said. I mean, you know, um just take it one day at a time with them. You hear a lot of coaches talk about the u it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon munch or whatever comes to the season. Other coaches say it’s 17 consecutive sprints. curious how you view a football season. Sprint today. That’s what we’ll be doing. I know that you got to maximize a day, you know. Um, you know, I was actually thinking about your question the other the other day. Um, you know, because it’s like, wow. Like that that kind of is the truth. Like what does separate winning and losing, you know, and it’s like the week of prep? Um, that’s why every day counts, every second counts. This day is just as important as the bonus Tuesday to yesterday to tomorrow. Even though we’re not, you know, going fast on the grass, that walk through and meetings, like those are important. Um, and then all the different things of psychological prep, prep, your health bucket, your physical bucket, all those things matter throughout a week. And then when you get a game day, you got 60 minutes. May maybe if you go in overtime a little bit more, but um it truly does come down to collectively can you play better than the other team, you know, and that’s that’s what it takes. So, uh to me it’s a 60minute sprint, you know, but today’s practice is a sprint, too, you know. You got to have urgency. You got to be on edge the right way without getting anxious. But, um it everything matters with the running backs. Obviously, Amari has a unique skill set. You guys like him as a pass catcher, third down type of back. Um, how do you see uh Mike and and Bam’s skill sets being different or similar? Yeah, I mean, they’re they’re all three of them are a little bit different players what they bring to the table, but I love how Autry trains those guys. Like, all three of those guys. Um, I feel good about playing on first, second, third down. I really do. Um, now do each of them bring a little bit different skill set to what that role looks like? Yes. Um, but I don’t hesitate to put any of them out there and any down in distance. Talks about he basically went two years without regular season reps just because of injury and his situation, you know, and he’s found sort of a rhythm and comfort, you know. Do you see that over these last couple games? Yeah. Yeah. over the last couple games and in practice it shows up like he you could tell he’s a little more comfortable just the more touches that he gets, you know. Um so it’ be good to see he’s he’s doing a good job. What do you like about how Jacobe operates the offense? He’s got really good command. Um understands what we’re trying to get done with each play and he’s a vet that it’s it’s he doesn’t really get fooled a lot, you know. W with Bam. Do you do you see him as the starter right now until Mike or sorry until Trey gets back? Yeah, I don’t I mean I guess yeah, because he’ll be the first one that goes out, but all three of them to me are are have their own role and um you know, we’ll see who’s who’s running it well and that guy will probably honestly get a little more touches, you know. So, um I like our plan going into the game, but you got to be able to adapt in game by what your eyes see too, you know, by what you see. Denver had a a lot of success slowing down this offense last week. How much can you take from that tape for, you know, the Cowboys offense? Yeah, I thought Vance did a really good job. They got a really good unit, you know. Um, they took the ball away that helped. Um, Denver’s offense stayed on the field, which helped if you look at that time of possession that game. Um, and then when they got to they did a pretty good job in the run game. when they got to known pass, they won a lot, you know, whether through, you know, pressure or coverage or whatever it was, they did a really good job. They affected the quarterback, did a good job on those receivers. Um, that’s a good unit, though. Um, so, you know, we obviously that was in the in the cutups, you know, but, uh, we’re different than them, you know, our players and how we play schematically, we’re a little bit different, but try to take something from everybody. when a team has a big time wide receiver wanting to give a little extra attention. What sort of challenge is it when they have two guys who might check that box? Yeah, Bo, you got I mean nervous earlier in the week, uh when you ask that um yeah, it’s a numbers game and you can’t have you it’s tough to put two guys on each guy, you know. Um they’re they’re how they deploy. I thought I think Shotti does a really good job, Clayton does a really good job with those guys like how they deploy them. what they do with them, what they’re asking him to do. Um, how Dak has answers to what you’re doing. Um, it’s a big- time challenge. I mean, they’re putting up 40 a game for a reason, you know. So, uh, it’s not by by chance. They’re they’re a welloiled machine. They got really good players and they can beat you a lot of different ways. So, we got to be ready to roll. Will showed up on the injury report yesterday. Will Johnson, is there we practice today? He’ll be out there today. You got a little bit of tight tightness. Um my precaution. We talked a lot about explosives and the takeaway battle of stats you really like to highlight. Um are there any stats that you kind of look at and overrated might be the wrong word, but I think you know where I’m going. Like uh man, that’s a long answer. I look at them all. I like uh here here’s one for you though. like uh I think this one gets overblown a little bit like uh rush yards per game, right? To me the better stat is yards per carry, you know, um like defensively like uh you know yards per completion, you know, or the whole air yards thing. I know that gets thrown out there, whatever. like you know you look at the efficiency of it too you know QBRS is a is a is a interesting thing like or boy we’re going down a rabbit hole now just I’m just going to shut up there’s you know here and because I was thinking about you too Teao that with the with the stats thing like and I look at everything and I do um that one that they have out there the DVOA that one or the expected points you know whatever that takes into consideration, you know, the value of each unit in the game throws out, you know, junk ball as I would call it. Like that’s a pretty good one. But like um there’s stats if you just look at one stat or like when you guys give me the when Mark gives me the game book after a game and you’re like, “Oh, this was good and this was bad. This was good. This was bad.” like looking at one stat and trying to paint a picture, I think you can go down the wrong way. Like yes, that’s what happened, but you got to look at why did that happen and how does that impact the other things that went on in the game, too. You know, that’s why I say like, you know, the the two winning stats through the course of, you know, time or is the ball and explosive plays. So, um, but you got to do everything else well too to win, you know. You really do. What’s the first thing you look at after a game? I don’t have to look at the paper for that. Wins and losses, man. Beyond the score, was there anything you look at like the score? I typically know if we won the ball or not, and I typically know if we want explosive plays. So, those are the first two I look at. I look at those at halftime, too. How’s it going? You know what I mean? Offensively, defensively, special teams, you know, um lot goes into that. But you start to you start to feel a certain way if you see at halftime where the score is and how it relates to the ball and um explosive plays where the game is trending at that point. Even though the score might not might be bad or good, the game is trending in a way that you got to be aware of. This is a little off topic. We’re doing a story around the league on coach’s pregame rituals. What’s what what’s what’s your day like before? It’s boring. I I really don’t have one, Josh. I get up and I go get espresso somewhere, go over the game plan with the two coordinators, get on a bus, and go play football.

Head Coach Jonathan Gannon meets with the media ahead of Monday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys. He shares the latest injury updates, key preparations for primetime, and how the team is getting ready for a NFC showdown.

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