Quarterback controversies can’t be ignored, denied or suppressed.
The players know. The city knows. Everyone knows because it speaks to the meritocracy that fuels our love of sports. And no amount of coach-speak or propaganda can diminish what we all see with our own eyes.
Jacoby Brissett needs to be the full-time starter for the 2025 Cardinals.
After a 27-23 loss to the Packers, the season is spiraling the drain. After a 2-0 start, the Cardinals have lost five consecutive games. And yet these past two defeats have looked markedly different than the rest, mostly because of the quarterback.
“He gave us a chance to win,” Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said. “I’m proud of him.”
In his encore against the Packers, Brissett continued to shine. He passed for 279 yards and two touchdowns. He posted a quarterback rating of 110.8, clearly outplaying the Packers’ Jordan Love. His strong presence in the pocket helped Arizona continue a trend of staying aggressive in bleak situations. For instance, he successfully went deep down the sideline on third-and-23, dropping a perfectly placed dime in the hands of Zay Jones for a 43-yard gain.
Telling stats: The two longest third-down conversions since 2022 have occurred in the past two weeks against playoff-caliber competition; and Trey McBride has more touchdown passes (three) from Brissett in two games than he did all of last season with Kyler Murray.
Once again, the Cardinals found a way to lose. With under six minutes remaining, they called a quarterback sneak on fourth down from their own 48-yard line. It was a dubious and highly conservative play call against the Packers’ stingy run defense, and it failed. And it opened the door for the Packers to steal the game at the end.
But that doesn’t change the facts or the differences between Brissett and Murray.
The differences are not nuanced. Nor do they suggest that Brissett is the long-term answer in Arizona. But Brissett continues to elevate his teammates by standing tall and courageously in the pocket, illuminating everything Murray doesn’t provide. Brissett doesn’t have to move around to find throwing windows. His throws aren’t getting batted down at the line of scrimmage. He is very comfortable operating under center and relying on a heavy dose of play-action passes, which is essential in today’s NFL.
After Brissett’s breakout performance against the powerful Colts in Indianapolis, the idea of a quarterback controversy was emphatically rejected by Gannon. The organization clearly feared alienating Murray, a quarterback they empowered and coddled at every turn for the past two seasons.
Now, the evidence is too strong, too clear and no longer just a one game sample. Even if Gannon insisted that Murray is still his starting quarterback.
“Yeah,” Gannon said. “Nothing’s changed.”
The Cardinals have now lost five games by a combined 13 points. And given Murray’s 9-0 record at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, there is a chance that Murray can jumpstart his season in two weeks.
But this is dangerous territory for Gannon because nothing can lose the beating heart of a locker room than a head coach who plays the wrong quarterback for the wrong reasons. And in Arizona, the pulse is quickly fading.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports.