Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon held his usual Wednesday press conference and discussed injuries, the next opponent, the Green Bay Packers, and made a reference to Michael Vick.
Gannon stated about the Packers:
“Well coached, a really good football team. They got some really elite players in all three phases, so we got our work cut out for us. They generate explosives on offense. Defensively, they don’t give them up. They can rush and cover, and they stop the run well. Offensively, they run it well. Big time challenge that we are looking forward to at home.”
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And while all pressers discuss the next team on the schedule, at this particular one, let’s fast forward to the final question.
Gannon was asked this question:
“Coach, how early in your career did you have to start trying to figure out how to take the emotion out of coaching as far as when you have all these injuries and you have all these different pieces, when’s the first time that you can recall that?“
Without any hesitation, Gannon responded with:
“2007, when our quarterback went to jail.”
Then the coach stood up, and left the interview room. It was dead silent when he left, as each media person in attendance was attempting to absorb what he had just said, and at first, who - or what - he was talking about.
2007? What happened in 2007? Who had any inclination what any of us was doing back then. What car were we driving? Where were we working back then? Did we even have a 401-k started? How many of our children were still at home? Who was the President?
Well, to refresh everybody’s memory, the most watched TV shows were “American Idol,” “Mad Men,” “Dancing with the Stars,” and “CSI.” It was also the first season of “Big Bang Theory.” The biggest movies were “Spiderman 3,” “Transformers,” and “Hair Spray.” A dark horse film that year was “No Country for Old Men.”
George W. Bush was the President.
Gas ranged from $2.24 to $2.97 a gallon. Landlines were still in use as the first iPhone was introduced that year. Facebook and Twitter went global. Google bought YouTube. Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House. TAM Airlines flight 3054 crashed. The final Harry Potter book was released. The Virginia Tech massacre.
And speaking of Virginia Tech, former alum Michael Vick pled guilty for his involvement in a dog fighting ring and subsequently spent 21 months in federal prison.
The season before, Vick became the first NFL quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards in a single season with 1,039 yards. He had already been voted to three Pro Bowls.
Now, in August of 2007, Vick was sentenced to prison. At the same time, the NFL suspended him indefinitely without pay for violating its player conduct policy. He was arraigned in late July. His team, the Atlanta Falcons, sought to recover $20 million of his $37 million bonus.
At the time, the Falcons’ head coach was Bobby Petrino. The QB room had Joey Harrington and Byron Leftwich behind Vick. The offense featured RB Warrick Dunn and WR Joe Horn, two reclamation projects.
On the coaching side, Hue Jackson was the OC while Mike Zimmer was the DC. Both men would later end up as NFL head coaches. And the Defensive Assistant/Quality Control position was manned by Gannon.
So, Gannon’s response in Wednesday’s press conference as head coach of the Cardinals, he mentioned Vick.
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Earlier this season, it was reported that Arizona QB Kyler Murray had been in a photo wearing a Vick Falcons’ jersey while sitting in front of one of his two dogs. Make that, one of his pit bulls. Vick’s conviction involved pit bulls. A pic with Murray and either of his dogs is not an issue. A pose of Murray wearing a Vick #7 Atlanta jersey isn’t a problem. But the two together just didn’t sit right with anyone. It is like wearing a Confederate flag t-shirt to a George Floyd gathering.
Gannon was matter-of-fact with his response, and not a single person stirred after he uttered those words. It was more of, wait, what? than anything else. Then, most didn’t get the reference. Maybe nobody knew Gannon was on Atlanta’s staff while Vick was the starting quarterback. Perhaps nobody remembered the year that Vick was sentenced and shipped away to prison.
The Vick mention was probably a combination of what Gannon was feeling during this presser. He acted distant and was very low-key. He rarely expanded on his answers and didn’t really provide much useful information. You could tell that this day he wasn’t wanting to answer a bunch of questions and looked ready for a cold brew.
Q: Is Kyler coming along?
Gannon: Yes.
Q: How’s he doing with the ankle?
Gannon: Pretty good.
Q: What boxes would you like to see Kyler check this week?
Gannon: Make sure that he is healthy enough to play.
Q: How’s Marv doing in the concussion protocol?
Gannon: He’s doing good.
Q: Will Nolan have his window open this week?
Gannon: Yes, he’ll be out there today.
Q: What does his return look like?
Gannon: Take it day by day.
Q: What is it about Will Johnson that allows him to make those type of plays?
Gannon: Alignment, assignment, key technique.
Q: What’s his learning curve been as a rookie?
Gannon: Fast. He’s smart.
Q: How do you feel about the play of the fourth quarter where it falls apart offensively and defensively?
Gannon: Play better football for 60 minutes.
Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon holds his post season press conference at Arizona Cardinals Training Center on Jan. 6, 2025, in Tempe.
Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon holds his post season press conference at Arizona Cardinals Training Center on Jan. 6, 2025, in Tempe.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
If you are a member of the media and are writing an article about any subject regarding the Cardinals, your story is better when you insert quotes. And you space out your paragraphs that lead into a quote that fits the narrative. But you can’t insert “Yes” and “Fast” in your designated quote space. Information is needed, something useful that the head coach of the team you are covering, just said live in front of you.
For the longest time in the press conference, this was what he offered to everyone in attendance. Short, abrupt, diminutive answers that basically nobody can use.
But Gannon did come alive whenever the questions were about the upcoming game against the Packers.
Q: Is there something you try to do to neutralize a little bit of what they do offensively?
Gannon: You have to affect the quarterback. And you have to get up and challenge those receivers. Because they play the game in space. You want to try to take away some of that space and access. Obviously (RB) Josh Jacobs is a really good player. We didn’t do a good job at stopping him last year when we went there. Really, they run it pretty good every game and run it when they want. That is a big-time challenge for our defense.
Q: What challenges doe Micah (Parsons) create that is unique?
Gannon: He lines up everywhere. He can win everywhere. And he takes the ball away. He is in the War Daddy category.
Q: Last year, you were a Cover-3 team. It shows that you are now a heavy Cover-4. Why make the switch?
Gannon: Probably who we are playing. That goes into where you want to play coverage structure-wise. We made some tweaks to Cover-3 this year. It’s a long-winded answer. I think whatever you’re playing, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing; I would like to see an uptick in execution in the back end. That’s everybody collectively. Depends on who you’re playing, is how it goes to what you are leaning on. One of the ways to affect the quarterback is not just to play a couple of coverages. So, we try to be multiple on that aspect.
And after that weird press conference, we all needed a cold brew or three.