The Arizona Cardinals opened up the week with a walkthrough on Wednesday in preparation for Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons (5–9).
The team saw the return of many key players, such as wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who has missed the last two weeks with a heel injury.
On Wednesday morning, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon made a statement regarding how the NFL wants to limit actual tackling during practice to avoid injuries.
“It’d be like, hey, Scottie Scheffler, it’s your offseason, don’t hit a wedge,” Gannon said.
While Gannon’s gripe does make sense, it is important to note that the Cardinals have endured so many injuries in 2025. The team has lost Kyler Murray, James Conner, Trey Benson, and Bam Knight all for the season. Not to mention that players such as Marvin Harrison Jr., Will Johnson, Walter Nolen III, Mack Wilson Sr., Paris Johnson Jr., and Max Melton have also missed extensive periods of time.
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We get it, Gannon is a defensive-minded head coach who wants to see 100% effort from his defense, but we do feel this statement is somewhat interesting considering the fact that the Cardinals have been plagued by the injury bug.
Sure, some of the injuries have allowed Arizona to discover hidden talent, such as linebacker Cody Simon, who has looked like an absolute stud when playing in the absence of Mack Wilson. But at the same time, the team has seen many injuries that have hurt the team entirely. An example of this is Walter Nolen, whose presence in the middle of the defensive line has allowed other pass rushers to pressure opposing quarterbacks. Without him, the team is unable to get any pressure, which leads to huge performances.
The most recent example of this is Matthew Stafford, who completed 22-of-31 passes for 271 yards and three touchdown passes. The stat to look closely at is the fact that the Cardinals were only able to pressure Stafford five times out of the 31 dropbacks they saw.
Last week, Arizona saw the season-ending injuries to running back Bam Knight and wide receiver Andre Baccellia, so Gannon will once again be turning it over to backups to fill in for the two.
The Cardinals, in all likelihood, will run their first official practice on Thursday, and we will learn more about what the Week 16 injury report will look like. Pending last-minute signings, expect Michael Carter and Trent Sherfield Sr. to see more first-team reps tomorrow.