Arizona Cardinals make yet another mistake by hiring Jonathan Gannon
By Jim Koch
Jonathan Gannon is the most recent blunder by an Arizona Cardinals franchise that will never join the NFL’s upper echelon.
Growing up as a fan of the Arizona Cardinals franchise while living in the land of the Philadelphia Eagles has never been easy. For the past 48 years, yours truly has spurned the home squad for a Cards organization that continues to be one of the bottom-feeders of the NFL.
Once again, the Cardinals have disappointed a fanbase that should have run out of patience long ago. Jonathan Gannon, the club’s latest head-coaching hire, is another disaster waiting to happen. A search that began so promising with the courtship of Sean Payton has now reached it’s conclusion with of pro football’s most overrated defensive coordinators.
Despite getting a bad rap from the national media, Eagles fans are extremely knowledgeable. For the past two seasons, the Philly contingent have been calling for the team to send Gannon packing. The defensive unit’s ugly finish during the second half of this past Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII only added to the group’s disdain for the much-maligned assistant.
Arizona Cardinals hired Jonathan Gannon despite Super Bowl collapse
Gannon stood idly by as quarterback Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs scoring attack to four consecutive scoring drives in the second half. Not a single adjustment was made to the “soft” zone that the 40-year-old has employed during his two campaigns with the Eagles. Gannon also refused to dial up a blitz, despite the fact that Philadelphia was unable to generate pressure on Mahomes with their impressive front seven.
On two of Kansas City’s fourth-quarter touchdowns, Chiefs pass-catchers Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore were left wide open in the flat. With not one Eagles defender in sight, both managed to walk unabated into the end zone. Allowing that to occur one time in such an enormous game may have been acceptable, but the fact that Gannon did nothing to prevent it from happening twice (within minutes no less) was easily a fireable offense.
New Arizona general manager Monti Ossenfort had a birds-eye view of that defensive collapse and decided to hire Gannon anyway. Lou Anarumo, the other top candidate, came up huge when facing top-tier players like Mahomes and Buffalo Bills passer Josh Allen in the not-so-distant past. That doesn’t say a whole lot for Ossenfort, who chose Gannon over Anarumo after having all of that vital information squarely in front of him.
The truth of the matter is, Gannon’s defense has been picked apart consistently by the league’s top signal-callers. Dating back to the 2021 season, quarterbacks like Mahomes, Tom Brady, Dak Prescott, Derek Carr and Justin Herbert sliced and diced Gannon’s non-aggressive scheme with alarming ease.
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It’s decisions like this that will keep the Cardinals grounded. There were much better candidates available, but owner Michael Bidwill has once again let his GM choose the wrong individual. Expect the losing to continue in Arizona with Gannon running the show.
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