Fear and football cannot co-exist. Caution and football never blend well. And from this day forward, I am changing my stance on NFL preseason games.
Starters are no longer in bubble wrap and street clothes. They must play one series in the first exhibition. They must play one quarter in the second exhibition. No more bowing to the abstract concerns of losing a key player in a violent sport when the outcome means absolutely nothing.
Because the 2025 Cardinals are different than Jonathan Gannon’s first two teams. They need to be sharp and on point from the opening kickoff.
The Cardinals face an unenviable task in Week 1. They will be favored to beat the lowly Saints in New Orleans, expected to win a road game in a building that can feel extremely hostile. Their debut comes with drooly expectations and a large number of Cardinals fans who are road tripping to New Orleans and looking for a party. They cannot stumble around the Caesars Superdome for the first 20 minutes of a new season trying to find their rhythm. That would set a terrible tone.
They also face Carolina at home in Week 2, a must-win if the Cardinals are going to get serious about re-establishing homefield advantage at State Farm Stadium and making the playoffs in 2025. Which means this team needs to come out red hot and in sync, ready to seize early control.
Six times in the past 25 years, the Cardinals have started out 2-0. Four times they made the playoffs. Once, they reached the Super Bowl. Once, they lost in the NFC Championship game. This year must follow that pattern.
In the past, I have always sided with new-school pragmatism, believing that your best football players don’t need live reps in the preseason, even if that meant a butchered series in the first quarter of Week 1. After all, if you can’t simulate the speed of regular season football during an exhibition game — when the field is littered with dangerous fringe players desperate to win a job and make a name for themselves — then what’s the point?
Answer:
Preseason football allows players to simulate game-week preparation. It guarantees a better week of practice when starters know they’re preparing for an actual game, when they are not gifted a hall pass based on their elite status. It gives the quarterback a dress rehearsal in the basics, like barking out signals and getting his team in and out of the huddle.
It appears Murray is willing to oblige, even though he is clearly not a fan of football games that don’t count in the standings. Consider this proof of his maturity and improved leadership skills, a player who now understands the only way a team benefits from exhibition game reps are if the star players lead the charge.
The Chiefs’ Andy Reid is the best head coach in the NFL. He strongly believes in preseason reps. The Ravens are one of the more stable franchises in football, once posting a 24-game winning streak in the preseason. And it stands to reason that the coaches who win the preseason gambit, risking their jobs by giving starters exhibition game reps, will have an inherent advantage in Week 1.
The Cardinals need to embrace whatever is necessary to be game ready when the curtain rises on Sept. 7. They cannot afford a slow start in 2025, and they cannot slow-roll into the season like our failed baseball team.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.
