HC Jonathan Gannon Press Conference- 10.19.25 | AZ Cardinals

HC Jonathan Gannon Press Conference- 10.19.25 | AZ Cardinals

Trey Benson’s window will open. He’ll be on a practice field today. Uh Amari will be out and Marv will be out. Uh everybody else, we’ll see how it goes. Um they’re in meetings right now. We’ll be back on the grass today. Um look forward to a good week. What do we got? A little chilly out there, huh? We’ll be We’ll be inside too, Craig. A lot of lot of rain. A lot of rain. You guys love inside, don’t you? When you look at the Jags coming in and obviously that win they had over the Chargers Sunday, what what do you see? They played really well. Um, you know, really from start to finish all three phases. They got a really good fourth down crew. Um, we got it’s a big time challenge for us. Obviously, the quarterback’s playing extremely well. Um, they can run it. Um, and then they throw it all over the yard. Defensively, they’re top three in takeaways in the in the NFL. Huge piece to why they’re at where they’re at. Um, they got rushers, they got good coverage players. I think Anthony Campanelli does a really good job, you know, as as a DC. Um, they’re playing well. There’s no doubt. Big time challenge. What do you need to see from Trey this week to feel like he’s a Trey Benson to feel like he’s able to go mentally and physically ready to go? Does that feel like a possibility at least? Take it day by day. Tom, we know so much about the quarterback to wide receiver connection and relationship and how important that chemistry is. Just how much can Jacobe and Mike Wilson actually build off of what they did last week? Yeah, I think every every game um you should take some strides, you know. Um so they’ve they’ve been working hard at it. Obviously, they played really well. Mike played really well um last week. Um, and when I say pray played really well, had a lot of production. He He’s a starter for a reason. He’s a good player. Um, so keep it moving. What impact have you seen through three games Walter Nolan having on the defense? Disruptive. Um, you know, the I think the run and pass game, he’s doing a good job. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, which, you know, just being a couple games in here with the time that he missed, it’s kind of the first thing I look for. um but schematically executes at a pretty high level um and he’s disruptive. Are there areas where you can already see a guy like that growing um just in three games or is it too early to make that kind of Yeah, I think what what I see is that like how I would deem his point of attacks or his one-on- ones, he’s he’s winning a healthy dose. Uh which is good to see. I know he didn’t get a ton of uh he didn’t get a ton of carries last week for a lot of reasons, but Bam seems like he continues to show why he deserves this kind of opportunity. Just his growth over like the last especially once he got the chance after Trey went down and what you’ve seen from Yeah, he’s done a good job. You know, I mean, he runs hard. He’s he obviously can hit home runs. You know, I know the one got taken off the board there, but has legit speed. Um, you know, he’s tough. He runs it in between the tackles. He He gets what he should get and then some. So, looking forward to keeping him going. What was it to say about Wald not making the mistakes you Yeah. I mean, you know, Debo’s done a good job with him. He put time in the task. You know, that that’s the I always think um you got to be able to take a positive in any situation, right? And you know, obviously he’s got hurt and he’s not playing. That’s a negative. But the positive of that is you got to study and focus and visualize and you know the time extra with him because he wasn’t playing you know when they break meetings or after practice or whatever it is. Um you know he’s he’s he’s on the details right now and he’s only going to continue to get better. I remember after the draft you said that um you could tell you how much he loved football by how much motor he played with, how hard he worked. When you see plays like him flushing party out of the pocket spring, like are those the types of things you saw at all miss that that stood out to you? Correct. What’s the situation in a punter? Oh, yeah. Brought in Matt. I thought, you know, Patio did a good job for us. Um but sitting down kind of evaluating where we’re at, we thought this would help the unit. Coach, coming off the two losses and seven out of the last eight, how was the team doing psychologically? Yeah, control the day. You know, we talked about it today. That’s a really good question, Craig. Um but you got to focus in on what we’re doing today. Um control that. Uh the past is gone. Um the game will come. We got to have a good day today. Overall, um h how do you sorry overall? How do you how do you assess how the uh special teams units have been this year? You know, we’ve made some plays, we’ve given up some plays, kind of like the whole team. You know, I would say we’ve just been a a tad inconsistent, but I like some things that we’re doing. You know, I think Jeff and Sam are doing a good job. We’ve had a lot of moving parts there. You know, you’d like to have some consistency, but it’s not how the years went, you know. So, got guys in and out of the lineup, playing different spots, things like that. got new rules, you know. So, I think everybody in the league’s still adapting to that. Um, just got to make sure we set up the plan the right way with the people that we have, with who we’re playing. Um, make sure we put them in good spots. As a head coach, how much is your finger in that bucket or do you just say, Jeff, this is your these are your guys? Everything that’s on that field is my responsibility. So, um, offense, defense, and special teams. So, I don’t take that lightly. Um, and obviously there’s a lot of layers into everyone doing their job, but um, it ultimately is my responsibility. When you’re in this kind of situation win loss wise, and I know you’re judged on win losses, how how important is leadership in the locker room right now? Very vary. Yeah. I mean, just, you know, they they they do a good job though of what’s needed, um, what I’m expecting. um and to, you know, two forms of that. Lead by example, bring people with you, and then also hold people accountable, but we don’t have um bad dudes on in that locker room. So, uh they’re ready to go go practice today. With you already ruling out Marv and then with Michael kind of having the day that he had last week, I’m sure the Jags will key in on him. How do you go about making sure that they can’t take him out of this? Well, they got to say two if they’re going to put two on them. That leaves singles for everybody else. So, uh, but that I I truly believe they’re they’re playing good defense right now and they’re taking the ball away. Um, you know, they’re they’re certain games looks a little bit different. That’s why I think I think Anony’s doing a really good job of how they choose to defend certain people. You can tell kind of the flavor of the week a little bit in my opinion. Um, you know, and and they’ve had guys in and out of the lineup, too. Um, we just got to have our what we’re what we want to try to attack and then when they throw some curve balls have some adjustments ready. How do you guys handle Travis ETM? It’s a good player. He’s playing well. Probably the I mean I’ve played him a couple times in my mind. He he looks really good. He looks decisive, violent, fast. Um, you know, that’s all 11 in the run game. We got to make sure that we’re knocking a line of scrimmage back, setting edges, tackling, you know, beating blocks, getting off blocks. Um, in the passing game, you got to win your leverage, you know, because he can hurt you in the passing game, too. He’s there. I think Liam’s done a really good job of um, put him in good spots with what he does well and it’s showing up. Is there anything about your approach that’s different when you play a team once every four years compared to annually or? No. Turnovers is a winning stat for you. Um, you mentioned the Jaguars top three in the league when it comes to that. I’m curious as a coach because some coaches will say they’re a little bit random in terms of generating turnover and that number. Are they random? Can you put guys in positions? That’s a Man, that’s a really good question, Donnie. That’s a really good question. Talk to 10 different people, you get 10 different answers on that. I I believe this. Um, our guys know the value of the ball. Um, they’re trained with the techniques to how to um give yourself chances to take it away. um they know in what situations really to be high high alert for when those are opportunities arise. Um and then you got to go do it. And I think there is a blend too of you know uh I learned this way back when um when I was a DB coach, the coordinator that I worked for, he wanted to know takeaways in high school and college. And I said, why would you want to know takeaways in high school, you know, or college? and and in his mind and there’s some truth to this. Um people that take it away take it away. Like there’s some guys that are just we call them ball guys like they just have the ability to take it away, you know. And you’ve seen different guys in their careers um are high volume with that, you know. Um so that’s a little bit of acquisition, too. You know, who you’re acquiring, can they take it away? Um, but you know, I think you know, for that’s a defensive perspective. Um, you got to coach it and you got to show them the opportunities that arise and and you got to capitalize them too. The part of the tape today, um, Jacksonville’s done a really good job of earning some takeaways and capitalizing on some takeaways a little bit different in my opinion. Um, you know, the quarterback a mail air mails it and hits this free safety in the chest. That’s kind of capitalizing on it. Quarterback throws an outcut and the corner is playing off and he drives the the heck out of it and lays out and makes a play. That’s earning it, you know, and they’re all earned. I’m not disinishing, you know, the effect of taking the ball away when the offense puts it at harm’s risk, but I think there’s layers to that, too. Um, and credit to Jacksonville, they’ve done both, you know. Um, I think that we have done a pretty good job of capitalizing on on things that when the ball was in harm’s way, we’ve capitalized. I think we’ve earned some as well. Um, I’d like to see us continue to take it away and capitalize on a couple more opportunities. I think that are there for us because those plays change games. you know, when you talk about taking away on defense, you know, you’re either taking off points off the board, um, or you’re giving yourself you’re obviously, you know, the the the offense is trottting back out there. The number one job of defense is get the offense the ball back, right? When you when you take the ball away, you’re if the ball’s on a plus side, you’re taking off points off the board some way, shape, or form, right? Or if they have to punt, you’re going to be backed up, so you’re helping out the offense there. um if you take it away on their side, that’s leading typically to points. So, it’s it’s a winning stat for a reason. You know, the ball is huge in every game and and you typically, you know, the numbers would say you don’t overcome losing the ball. You know, you really don’t. So, um got to make sure that’s on our mind on a daily basis and we got to coach it.

HC Jonathan Gannon addresses the media ahead of Week 12 vs Jacksonville Jaguars.

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