HC Jonathan Gannon Press Conference- 11.21.25 | AZ Cardinals

HC Jonathan Gannon Press Conference- 11.21.25 | AZ Cardinals

Uh, quickly here, a little update, couple updates. Um, Jonah is going to go to IR. Um, and then what we talked about, Marv, Amari, and Baron will not make it. They’ll be ruled out. And then the rest of the crew, we’ll see. I want to take the day today and see how they do today. So, take all the time that we’re allowed and then make a decision. What do we got? When did uh when did you come to this decision on Jonah and and kind of how how big of a blow is that to the offensive line? He’s a starter, good player. Um just he’s he wasn’t going to be able to play the rest of the year. Needs to have surgery. You said he he needs to um how has uh Trey Benson looked in practice to you this week? Okay. Yep. One day at a time. Get him out there today. Do you uh does he have a chance to go? We’ll see how he does today. Come on. Come on, Teao. Come on, man. Worth a shot. Worth a shot. You talked about educating the guys on the penalties to make sure that a situation like last week doesn’t happen again. What gives you the confidence that they were able to pick up on it this week? Yeah, keep hammering it home. You know, I thought we had a good day yesterday. We were fast yesterday. A lot of plays. Um, you know, we point it out, show them, detail it out, you know, got to do a better job of that. Coach, as a defensive guy, I’m curious to get your thoughts on the whole personnel matching that offenses are trying to do. Teams like the Seahawks and the Rams, uh, bringing out 12 and 13 personnel to try to get some advantageous matchups and some defensive coordinators are playing down the distance as opposed to matching. Just your two cents on that, especially with those guys in the division. That’s a really good uh, good question. depends on the play caller and what they’re trying to do out of it. That’s what I would say. It’s a it’s a it’s a um layered answer. So, the the most succinct way that I can say that is is you have to understand why they’re doing it, what they’re trying to get accomplished um on those different downing distances and defend it accordingly. How did you feel fra stepped in last week? Thought he did a good job. Thought he did a good job. He’s a guy that’s really improved his game, you know, and you know, for the first month or so. Um, you know, and he’s been on the look team, you know, but we do a lot of twos versus ones, so he’s blocking good players. Um, I think he’s continued to get better. You know, player development never stops. Even during the season, he’s a guy that’s, you know, um, continued to improve his game. Josh has had his three best seasons with you and Nick. Why do you think that is? Not because me and Nick. He’s a really good player. Um why we acquired him. Um you know what’s funny? I was I was talking with him the other day and Bur is standing there and Bur is kind of laughing and he’s like kind of you know he Bur is a rookie coming in knows the type of player that he is. you know, all that stuff is history, I would say, and what he’s done up until this point, you know, how he affects the quarterback. And if you look, it’s a lot of like technique driven things, you know, that he’s just on it, you know, and and he’s a guy that it’s he’s helped some, you know, Bur especially because he’s a rookie coming in of actually how to study who you’re going up against, what they like to do. What they like to do versus me is not going to be what they like to do versus you. you outweigh me by 40 lbs. You know what I mean? So, there’s a lot of layers to the NFL. I always say as an open book test, you know, the answers are out there, but you got to study and you got to dig deep, right? Um, and when you’re talking about that particular position and that type of production, uh, it’s a lot of one-on-one battles, you know, so you got to be able to learn how to study the opponent the correct way, um, and know what you’re looking for and then go apply it on the grass. I think Sweaty does a really good job of that. Why is he so effective moving from both sides? Um he’s got tools to use when he’s on the right, when he’s on the left, you know. Um he’s comfortable. The first thing a lot of guys that don’t like to do that is they’re not comfortable in a different stance. You know, he’s comfortable in both stances. He’s comfortable with where his edge arm is going to be. I would say his post arm, where that is, and then what moves to apply, you know. Um, it starts with though like get off and approach and your angle and then a point of combat. What’s going on? And then how do you finish, you know, and Sweaty’s a high producer? With Frier, he was obviously an undrafted guy. I know when you get into training camp, you’re not caring about their draft labels, but what was it that he showed you throughout mini camp and training camp um to kind of outplay kind of where he was valued by 31 other? I mean, the first thing is his brain. Um, really smart and like what we’ve taught, you’re like, “Well, JG, it’s a tackle.” Like, you don’t have to do too much. You do. You do. Pre- snap. You know, you got to know what’s going on. You know, no knowing and knowing are two different things. And when you know no, and it you’re not sped up with what is going on before the ball snapped or then after the ball snapped, you can hopefully apply your technique and win your one-on-one. So, his brain, he’s really smart. Um, and then he kind of knows his style, knows his strengths, knows his weaknesses, and plays to him. Um, and again, it’s a guy that has really done a good job of improving his game since he’s been here, you know, and the more reps he’s he gets, the better he’s going to be. It’s a good question, too. What’s been your evaluation of how the tackles have done as that sixth time or sixth offensive lineman? as a sixth offensive line, I think we’ve done some good things, you know, um like you talked about, you know, that with the groups and different things like it provides, you know, some flexibility with what you’re trying to do. Um, a little bit of that was when we lost Tip and then we lost Travis. You know, how do you want to kind of get to these different surfaces in the run game or if you’re putting a guy one-on-one with a defensive end, like do you feel good about that matchup on mix downs, play actions, things like that. Um, I think Drew and and Justin have done a good job mixing those guys in. We’ll continue to use it, too. For Michael Wilson, he might not ever match those stats again, right? like 18 targets. Maybe this week he will in terms of sustainability. That’d be cool. Be nice. We need it. Go ahead. Being a a playmaker, just the sustainability of him continuing to be, you know, premier playmaker like that. How realistic is that? I think it’s very realistic, you know, but again, like um you look at if you look at uh just Mike as a overall player, right? Um he can play in different spots. He can get open first, second, third level. Um he’s physical and he’s got really good ball skills, you know, and he uses the tools that he has to make plays for you. So when the ball goes to him, um he can make a lot of those plays. The other thing too that um goes a under the radar um even sometimes for me like there’s some instincts involved with getting open and catching the ball, right? What do I say? What do you want a receiver to do? Get open and catch it, right? Well, you know, they’re a a 12 yard in cut, a 12 yard dig cut on paper. Here’s the route. Um, but oh by the way, when we call this, if they rip five, there’s no one in the middle of the defense and you know they’re in manto man. Like, do you want to run that at 12 yards and lean on a guy and snap it off sometimes? Other times you want to run four yards, five yards, snap it off, and get the ball like get open, right? Um, and there’s instincts involved in that. It’s like coaching a DB, like alignment assignment, key technique. You get this release. Here’s where I want your position. Here’s what you’re doing. You got guys that one time they squeeze an inside release and they get a dig cut and they knock the ball down. Then the next time they don’t squeeze it and they get an out they get a outside cut and it’s like why didn’t you squeeze it? I just knew he was coming out. like there’s you can coach a lot, but there are certain instincts involved in playing every position. Um that it’s it’s hard to, you know, get your players to comprehend, you know, um what is needed to win the down. Um certain players kind of have that feel and those instincts, so to speak. You know, that’s a big debate. Can you coach instincts? Can’t you? You know, a lot you get a lot of different answers with that. you ask a lot of guys. Um, but I think he has really good feel and instincts of playing the position with the way your offense is set up. Obviously, Marv and Trey are very off the first race. Is there stuff that Mike can show you with what he’s shown you so far that would change some of that? Well, even when Marv comes back, there’s going to be maybe more looks than there were previously. Uh, no, because I think it’s a collective effort, you know, and you’re trying to put guys in the right spots, this and that. And what I would say kind of to piggy back off that, Teao, is, you know, um, how many targets it might get. Lel, when you’re the lead receiver for whatever reason, you’re going to get more targets than being the two or the three. Um, we have a premier tight end as well, so you’re trying to get him the ball, too, right? Where he’s first in the read as he should be. Um, so there’s just not unless you throw the ball however many times like there’s there’s not a if go look at the third option in passing offense is how many targets are they getting a week, you know, it’s probably not a ton, you know, four and a half. Um, but my point is like he got a lot of targets in that game because it was all known pass because the score where wasn’t where it needed to be in that game. But um going back to your question, Teao, yes, absolutely. You know, like we can we can still feature him. You still want to get the ball to all your playmakers, you know, and you got to put him in the right spots to do that and take advantage of how they’re defending you, too. So, there is a chance that you maybe change up a few plays to be, okay, well, Mike’s going to have first read on this one. Yeah. I don’t know if it’s like first read. It’s it’s more so what are you attacking? What is the concept of the play? How does Jacobe being at scene read out and how those routes are run, where his eyes are and what we’re trying to get accomplished with the people we have versus what they’re doing. You know what I mean? Is there some of Yeah, this ball’s first read is like no matter what, like Trey or Marv or Mike? Yeah, there’s some of that, but that doesn’t mean the ball is going to always go there either, you know? And like I say, they have a they have a say, too. So, you know, that’s a an age-old problem. like we want to get this guy the ball. Everybody has it. Not, you know, us at times. Everybody has it. Any team I’ve been on has it like, well, this guy can’t be stopped. Well, if if they’re giving you looks that it’s really that’s not where the ball should go, there’s a fine line to say throw it over there or get onto your prog next progression, you know. So, um, and games, every game plays out a little bit different. From a defensive, uh, coach’s perspective, what are the challenges of facing a tight end like Trey who has an extensive route trait, you can run kind of routes under the receiver? The the hardest thing for me is is where they where you align those guys, you know, because again, there’s tools you can use um defensively to take away where they want to go with the ball. I think it’s a tad easier to um apply tools when guys are out in space, not in line. Um now, there’s defensive geniuses that have done it. um when it’s that type of a player, you you have tools to use. Um but those tools are not accessible and then it’s really stresses out other people when you’re have a big time eye on that guy. But you’ve seen there’s been people that we’ve played this year that have put two on them. I mean, legitimately two people on Trey, you know, and that’s that’s cool. Um if that’s how they choose to defend, you know. So, I think it’s just, you know, whether you’re playing zone or man, it’s just the matchup’s a little bit different. Um, and how you’re deploying them can be a challenge. Um, it’s a lot of layers to have that ruled out with what you’re trying to defend from where he’s aligning what he’s doing. You’ve seen Jacobe at a at different stages of his career. What has he shown now? What has he shown the rest of the league now that could help him in the future? I don’t think he’s shown the league anything. Everybody knows he can play truthfully. Um really good guy and he functions really well. He’s got really good command. He’s got a big arm, you know. Um he’s a good football player. I think the world knows that.

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

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