Should You be Concerned About Arizona Cardinals?

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon spoke to media members following the win vs Carolina:

“Okay, (on the) injury front we had a couple guys here. (DL) LJ Collier had a knee, couldn't return. (CB) Max Melton had a knee, couldn't return. (CB) Garrett (Williams) had a knee, couldn't return, and I think (CB) Will (Johnson) might have had a groin at the very end. He didn't return either. I just told them in there (that) I'm proud of them that they showed some resilience because the game was going the way we wanted it to and then it turned quickly.

"Ultimately (we) made enough plays to win the game there. I obviously have to do a much better job of making our guys (in) all three phases understand how to close games out, because that's two in a row now we're not doing a good enough job, so that falls strictly on me. I've got a lot of work to do and that's what we'll do tonight and tomorrow because we have to do better there. When we have a chance to put away games, we have to put them away. It's hard to win in the NFL. I don't want to take their joy away and I'm glad we're 2-0, but we have a long way to go.”

On why the team is struggling to close out games:
“I have to coach better.”

On the turning point of the game :
“When you get up like that defensively, you're trying to make them earn every yard. I think then they went on two long drives and scored touchdowns, so within those drives we just have to do a better job of making sure that we can try to get off a little bit better and keep points off the board ultimately. If you get out of one of those stops, or if you get off on a fourth down here or there, the game doesn't look like that. That's what I mean, from my standpoint, I have to coach us better to understand what's going on in the game and what calls we need to execute to put games away. The turning point to me was (that) we just really never got that stop that we needed to keep points off the board to let our offense go out there and really put the game away. Like I said, it's not the players at all. They fought their butt off. It's completely on me.”

On the resilience of the defense after the onside kick recovery:
“Yeah, they did and we had some guys step into roles, and battled because we got nicked up a little bit. Truthfully, the home crowd got back into it, which was huge, and I thought our rush came alive there in the last series. I know we have to clean up some penalties too. I felt like that took some wind out of our sails at times. We have to play penalty free, but like I said, that was a high leverage drive, (with) high leverage snaps, the game’s on the line, and the defense got it done. That was good to see.”

On the mood in the locker room after the win:
“They're happy about being 2-0, but they know we got a long way to go, so it starts tomorrow. That's everybody's mood in there.”

On if the defensive performance through the first three quarters was what he envisioned coming into the season:
“I don't look into the future like that. I thought we played well enough for three quarters. In the fourth quarter we didn't do a good enough job.”

On LB Josh Sweat’s impact today:
“He affected the quarterback.”

On how to decrease penalties:
“I have to coach better. We have to make sure we're educating our guys, putting them in those situations in practice, coaching the details of what the refs are looking and honestly make sure that I know exactly what they're thinking because I tell them exactly what to think so they make the correct decisions. We have to get it cleaned up because penalties aren't winning stat, but you have to play cleaner than the other team to keep it in your favor."

On DL Calais Campbell’s sack to seal the win:
“Yeah, huge play obviously. It's a got-to-have it there and we needed it. We definitely needed it, and he came up big. He played good the whole game I thought.”

On CB's Denzel Burke and Kei’Trel Clark stepping up today:
“Yeah, it's high leverage snaps right there. They came and played well. Denzel was in the game earlier. A lot of confidence in Denzel. I'm sure he's going to want some plays back. I thought he made some plays too. Kei’Trel, I've got confidence in. He's played a lot of ball for us. He had to come in and made some plays ,and I thought he lit it up on fourth down too. He made some plays on fourth down earlier in the game. He stepped up to the plate and and swung their bat. We needed it."

On balancing QB Kyler Murray's performance in the first half versus the second:
“(With) the interception he makes that electric play there. I think I have to talk to him about that. It's just the value of the ball there. That happens. It does happen. I don't know if he's trying to make a play or throw it away there, but we're in field goal range. You'd like to put another three on the board there, but I thought after the first drive or so, I think we got a field goal and then we had to punt. Then I thought he operated really well and we were kind of doing what we wanted there. We just didn't have the ball in the second half, so we have to make sure that we get him the ball.”

On if he's ever been a part of a team before where multiple players at the same position were injured:
“No. Our job is solutions, so we’ll figure out the solution.”

On if he knows the concern level of Johnson’s injury:
“I don’t.”

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