New era or just latest chapter for Cards?
All I know about new Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon fits in a paragraph.
He’s 40 and has 15 years of NFL experience, 15 more than his predecessor, Kliff Kingsbury. Gannon scouted three years for the Rams and coached 12 more for three other teams. As defensive coordinator, he helped turn the Eagles around in two years. The last impression he left at State Farm Stadium better not be lasting. His defense gave up 24 points to the Chiefs in the second half of the Eagles loss in Super Bowl 57 last Sunday.
That’s the extent of my knowledge, for now, so it’s impossible to say if Gannon is the next Nick Sirianni, who helped flipped the Eagles’ fortunes in two years. Or if he’s the next Nathaniel Hackett, fired by the Broncos after just one season.
Or, closer to home, is the next Bruce Arians, who won more games than any other coach in Cardinals history? Or the next Steve Wilks, fired after just one season?
Or, from a cynical point of view, will we even be able to accurately judge Gannon’s ability during his Cardinals tenure? Of the Cardinals previous 10 head coaches, only one, Arians, left on his own terms. The others were fired by either Bill Bidwill or current owner Michael Bidwill.
Even casual Cardinals fans know the organization’s problems can’t be blamed on occupants of the largest coach’s office at the team’s Tempe headquarters. Losing at least 10 games in 18 of 35 seasons in the desert starts with ownership and flows down.
That doesn’t make assessing Gannon’s credentials an unworthy endeavor. He was criticized heavily in Philadelphia the last two seasons, which comes with a) holding a coordinator’s title, and b) working in Philadelphia.
The Eagles’ defense finished second in the NFL in yardage allowed and yielded the seventh fewest points. It led the NFL in sacks with 70, with four players collecting at least 10.
Yet Gannon took criticism for his zone-heavy scheme and the inability to stop good quarterbacks.
His last work of the season certainly
didn’t make anyone stop and think, yep, that’s just the guy we want running our team. Chiefs coach Andy Reid embarrassed the Eagles and Gannon in the second half last Sunday and showed that experience, especially in important games, matters.
But Michael Bidwill and General Manager Monti Ossenfort apparently were willing to look past that, or maybe they were just running out of viable options.
The Cardinals had never hired a new coach later than Feb. 7, other than Dave McGinnis, who was promoted from the interim job late in the 2000 season.
At Gannon’s introductory news conference this week, Bidwill likely will say the lateness of the hire was due to the Cardinals casting a wide net, rolling over stones, performing due diligence.
It’s also likely the Cardinals job was the last one open for a reason: It was the least desirable of the vacancies this year. The Bidwills’ history makes hiring new head coaches more difficult, and this year’s search likely was complicated by the presence of quarterback Kyler
Murray, his contract and his knee injury.
Not everyone thinks a 5-feet-10-inch quarterback can successfully lead an NFL franchise. Some candidates, no doubt, might have been scared off by questions about Murray’s leadership and commitment. It’s not just fans who have asked those questions, but the team. The Cardinals proved that by placing a study clause in Murray’s initial contract extension.
And those willing to take it all that on had to be apprehensive about how difficult it would be to move on from Murray and his contract if they couldn’t it make it work.
Being the last team to hire a head coach isn’t unique in Arizona Cardinals history. Arians and Ken Whisenhunt, for instance, took the Cardinals job only after missing out on others.
That doesn’t mean Gannon won’t be successful. Whisenhunt took the Cardinals to their only Super Bowl. Arians took them to the playoffs twice and won at least 10 games three times in five seasons.
The Cardinals enter 2023 hoping
they hit rock bottom in 2022. Last year’s dysfunction debuted with reports on Super Bowl Sunday that the team wanted Murray to be a better leader, with Murray’s camp reportedly countering that Murray felt scapegoated for a blowout loss to the Rams in the playoffs.
There were contract squabbles, questionable contract extensions, the infamous study clause, injuries and General Manager Steve Keim stepping away for health reasons. Oh, and the Cardinals finished 4-13.
Bidwill fired Kingsbury the day after the season and announced Keim was leaving the organization. Both had received extensions the previous February. At least Bidwill admitted his mistakes.
With a new general manager for the first time since 2013, and a new coach for the first time since 2019, this should feel like the beginning of a new era for the Cardinals. But the big boss remains in place, so any discussion of a new era produces eye rolls, smirks and one prevailing thought: We’ll believe it when we see it.