HC Jonathan Gannon Press Conference- 11.10.25 | AZ Cardinals

HC Jonathan Gannon Press Conference- 11.10.25 | AZ Cardinals

On an injury front, Z Jones is going to go to IR with an Achilles. Um, Simmyi is going to miss some time with an arm and then everybody else kind of still getting checked out here. Um, we’ll see about those guys on Wednesday. Uh, met with the team today. Um, obviously a disappointing game there on the road. Didn’t play our best ball versus a good team and got beat up pretty good. Um so but they understand why that happened um and what we need to do better moving forward. So um I did tell them that we got to learn from it and then we got to flush it because just like a any win or loss doesn’t matter how you get there. Um the most important thing is the next week. So that’s where our focus will be going to San Francisco here. You uh you said the guys understand why it happened. Why in your mind did it happen? Uh we had some assignment issues, some technique issues. Uh we actually won the double positive, but when you spot a team 14 points on offense and they score the first three drives and you find yourself down 35 to nothing, that’s a tough hole to come out of. Um games can get away pretty quick from you when that happens. Um what I do appreciate though they did battle and we had a chance honestly in my opinion you know there at the end of the third they cut it to a two-score game. Um so the the effort was there and they reset themselves but you know no one feels good about how that game unfolded. I asked Ed Zilberg about that how you know you guys didn’t quit. You saw Blood Baker people around the on the sideline to talked about one play at a time and when I asked him what that said about the character of this team he talked about that the love that these guys have for each other for you as the head coach when you see that they didn’t quit in you hear what Denzel has to say. What did that tell you about the culture of this team? Yeah, I I mean it I expected that but until you get a into a game like that you don’t really know. Um, so that was that was good to see truthfully. Um, and that’s why, you know, going in there today, uh, there’s no sugar coating anything. The truth is the truth. The facts are the facts and you address it, you point it out, you learn from it, and you move on. And that’s what we’ll do. Is this any more difficult to flush because of the way this game unfolded, the way you guys played? You know, Craig, that’s that’s a good question. Not in my mind. You know, I like I say, you know, lose by, you know, lose by one, win by one, lose by 30, win by 30, they all count the same, you know. So, um, obviously they’re disappointed, but just they’d be disappointed, you know, losing on a walk-off. Um, I think the most important thing is to realize how that happened, you know, how that game unfolded and why, uh, and move on. With with St. Jones, is it the Tornillers? Yeah. How difficult is that for for a veteran guy especially like that? Just kind of the emotional toll. You can ask him. I’m pretty I’m sure pretty difficult. Will he need surgery? I’m not a doctor, but I assume uh how’s I know I know you said you don’t know a ton, but how has Walter come out of this? We’ll see how it goes this week. Assuming he say he’s done for the year. Yeah. Coach, what would you attribute the struggles on third and short, fourth and short to? I think, you know, um, some assignment issues, some technique issues, you know, and we all got our hand in that. So, we just got to do a better job. You know, you got to be able to get some of those. Um, and credit to them, too. They did a good job. They had a one good call up, but, uh, we got to be able to get a yard. I know it might be easier said than done to just say, well, why don’t you try a quarterback sneak so many teams doing a tush push variation? Has that was that a thought to potentially do that? Yeah. Seemed like uh they they generated a lot of pressure whether they brought blitzes or just four man rushes. What in your mind contributed to that? Hey, you were right on the second one. That was a fiveman. I thought they dropped out a guy so I thought it was a fourman. It was five man. Yeah. Um you know they do a good job. Coach McDonald does a good job. Um we have SOPs with um protections, different things going into the game. I thought for the most part we operated well. Um they did get us on one uh with with something that we were doing. Um but we had an answer. We just didn’t get to the answer. Um and so that’s my fault. Um and then there’s other ones that you know there there’s we got some singles and we just got to win a little bit quicker and and again that’s you you know protection issues. if they’re putting a lot of pressure on the quarterback, it falls onto all 11. It falls on, you know, the play call, the detail, how we’re coaching it. Um, we definitely can’t let the quarterback stand back there and get hit like that, you know. So, we got to do a better job. On the on the first uh strip sack, three guys went to Leonard Williams. Was that how it was supposed to be designed or is there miscommunication? Uh, we we changed the commun we changed the protection on that one. That’s a double-edged bliss with the nickel and the safety. Um, we had everybody picked up, everybody accounted for except the mic with with you talk about the communication, everything. Was it do you think it’s more because of who Seattle has on defense and what they were doing because it felt like you guys had done a fairly good job of that in previous games? Yeah, I would say a little bit of both, you know, and then, you know, we did have um certain things to a couple of their people. Um and they got to some compliments, you know. Coach, why did you go with Katon 531 or whatever it was to call the for felt like that was the right thing to do. Coach, you with the injuries to the wide receiver room now, is there a moment where I know everybody stars in the role and you and all the guys know that at any given moment could change, but is this one of those things where you go up to a guy like Xavier Weaver and you say, “Hey, like you have an opportunity to make even more of an impact now.” Yeah, I don’t have to tell any of those guys when they’re about to play. You’re right, Zach. He He knows. I I know it’s just one play, but back to that very first strip sack with Beum in motion across the line. I’m just curious like when they’re showing as you said a bunch of pressure off the left side, why not change the protection to have me stay on the left side? We did. We flippered it that way. Sorry. We flippered it that way. We hit the back got on the one edge guy. We kick. We fan to the other guy. The mic added on. So what they’re showing now just like okay sometimes the mic is going to be unblocked and that’s football. Um you got to have an answer to get the ball out of your hand when that happens. Can you take us through the just roller coaster of emotions within a sevenday span where you guys went on Monday night prime time looking good starter Kyler and I are getting ready for a big division game then for the first time this year the game kind of gets away from me a long way away that Monday night game um you know just like this to your point you know Craig you coach like uh that Monday night game was buried on Tuesday so that’s kind of in the past Um, and you do everything that you can to try to win a game and we didn’t obviously did not even come close to doing that yesterday. But now that one’s in the past, too. So, um, you know, NFL you if you ride the ups and the downs of a season, you’re going to be emotionally taxed. I know that. So, uh, I, you know, and and, and I go through it, you know, it’s a good question. I was, you know, not pleased on the plane coming home. You go to bed, you wake up and you go back to work, you know, and and you gota what’s the result I want? Take the emotion out of it. What’s the result I want? How do I get there? You know, so what’s my response today to the players to get the result that we want, which is to play better and win, and you got to select the right tool. Was saying he needs to do more of those two strip sacks big play. What more do you want to see out of those situations? It’s tough. I would tell him he and he’s done a great job of this protect the football. I know they only had 13 drop backs, so there’s not a ton to look at, but what do you think your past defense did not do well enough in this game? Yeah. Uh I I laugh because they threw the ball 12 or 13, whatever you said, 12 or 13 times. Um the known pass, which there weren’t many of those uh because of how the game unfolded. Uh, I think we got to rush and cover better. Coach, when a team is running against you like the Seahawks did yesterday, how do you go about trying to slow that down or work through that? Yeah, it’s it’s, you know, they’re in my mind in the whole second half they’re in fourminute mechanics. So, good luck calling calling a good call there. Um, but that’s the where we’re at. You know, I would like to see um like I said, the effort was there. Um, I think as the game progresses, we got to make sure that we do a good job with our fundamentals and technique because I actually in the the first part of the game there, um, I actually thought we were pretty good. You know, a couple runs for three yards, one one yard here or there. I thought we were playing it pretty good with playing some shell too in a light box. As the game wore on, um, we got to make sure that we’re on the details with a play like Garrett. He was honest after the game. He’s like he was frustrated because on that first play deep to JSN like he’s like you do all the work and then you step on a foot and you fall and and you don’t get to see how it turns out but it doesn’t matter because the play doesn’t get made. Like is is that basically how a player has to look at it? Like it you you did the right things to be in the right place and something happens and it’s not necessarily technique related I don’t think. and and to to lose out is that it just got to make the play. Yeah. As frustrated as you’ve been the head coach in your three years here. Yeah. Guess it was the first time in what felt like a long time. When you say that Josh like like frustrated I don’t know is is uh I don’t know is is the right word. um you you learn and move on, you know, and that’s why I said like with no one in that team meeting today, I told him, nobody’s looking around like how did that happen? We collectively allowed that to happen. All of us in there. Um so you you take that on a chin and you move on. Frustration, just a waste of time. There’s a human element to this where like you work so hard and you go through a losing streak and then you do what you did in Dallas and you come back with this. Like it’s got to take a toll to some degree. Now you got to be psychologically trained and move on. Touching on that, yesterday was one of the few games in your coaching tenure where it felt like it kind of really got away from you. You guys have done a really good job of if if you’re losing really staying in the games and being competitive. Where does that loss I guess not even rank, but did you feel the same way coming out? They’re all the same to me. I I mean again though like you know where the game’s at. It’s I I think uh Kenny said it on a headset. You know when because you start talking about decision making of going for it on fourth down when you’re down that much and it is not pretty. Um and it’s like okay well you can go one of two ways. You can make decisions predicated to not get beat 50 to nothing or you can make decisions to try to get back in the game. And I’ve said since we’ve been here, I don’t care what the optics are. I’m always going to make decisions to try to get back in the game. Um, and so be it if it doesn’t work out. And that’s what we kind of did, you know, because you could say, “Oh, you kick a couple field goals there. You don’t know how the game’s going to go out.” Well, when you’re down that many, in my mind, you got to score touchdowns to get back in the game. Um, so I guess in the moment, I’m not even thinking about how bad this is. It’s how to we try to get back in the game, you know? So, um, my feelings are irrelevant to what had went on in the first, you know, quarter, quarter and a half. It’s there’s a focus, um, and a thought process to how to try to get us back in the game. That’s what you’re concentrated on. Did the biggest issues in this game feel like things that you guys have struggled with all season and continuations of negative trends or is it almost just a game where two plays like the strip sacks go the wrong way early and it gets we’ve we’ve done a pretty good job of of protecting the football. Um so obviously given the ball away twice in two se in three series, right? Two out of three series and then them scoring 14 points off of those takeaways. Uh, I would say that’s a lot different than why we’ve lost these other games. After watching the film, you guys out you out were 229 after they won 35 nothing. After watching the film, how would you kind of evaluate from that stretch? Yeah, I liked it, but you know, there’s there’s a they’re playing a little different too now. Um, but like I said, coming out of halftime, um, whatever we were down, you know, 31 or 28 or 31 points, I don’t even know. Um, I thought that they they showed some mental and some resiliency to keep swinging and try to get back in the game. And like I said, you know, we had a fourth and five or fourth and six to cut it to two scores or at least 17, you know, if you go for two and you don’t get it. Um, and that game could look a little different and didn’t happen for us. And then they ran it 12 straight times and the game was basically over. because you have so many vets on that offensive line. What kind of maybe self-critique would you expect from them? They’ll be tougher on themselves than I am. There’s a lot of talk about the uh fumbles returning for touchdowns, rightfully so. But you guys hit the ball in sense. Yeah, those 10 yard three different times and didn’t come away with any kind of frustrating. That’s right, Donn. You got to score points down there, especially when you’re down that much. You know what I mean? But and again like we haven’t really been in those spots where the game has been I would call it out of balance where you know um you’re you’re those are must goes there you know um can’t go broke taking a profit unless you’re a million bucks in the red then you can you know uh why I say that is you know like I I’m aggressive down there typically but I also like to take points as well you you know, but at that point in the game, like you got to sell out and go, and they did a good job. But I I we had some chances. We just didn’t get it done. But, uh, need better execution to put points on the board. What needed to be better in that run? Well, you know, the one run, you know, we got to make sure that we get the the nose cut off. Um, I thought that had a chance. The one guy, you know, kind of got in the back field there. We got to get him cut off. Um, couple one-on-one balls, you know, in the red zone that they made plays on.

HC Jonathan Gannon addresses the media ahead of Week 11 vs the 49ers.

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