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Jonathan Gannon remained mum on the status of his injured cornerbacks during his weekly Monday news conference.
All three of the Arizona Cardinals' starting cornerbacks exited their Week 2 win over the Carolina Panthers and did not return. Max Melton (knee) left in the first quarter after a tackle on Tetairoa McMillan. Will Johnson (groin) left in the fourth after pulling up on a coverage rep. Garrett Williams (knee) left after a collision with Budda Baker on a fourth-quarter touchdown.
“Kinda still running those tests, guys being evaluated still,” Gannon said. “So I'll probably have more information later on in the week.”
Gannon next meets with reporters on Wednesday, Sept. 17, ahead of the Cardinals' first practice of the week.
Gannon did confirm that Johnson did not return after the injury. Johnson previously left the game with trainers and did return, but on that play, he just “got the wind knocked out of him,” Gannon said. The groin injury came later in the afternoon.
In place of Melton, the Cardinals inserted fifth-round rookie Denzel Burke. Third-year corner Kei’Trel Clark entered for Johnson, while the Cardinals moved safety Jalen Thompson over to nickel to cover for Williams.
“I have all the faith in the world with Kei'Trel,” Gannon said. “And he played well.”
His review of Burke was more mixed.
“After not playing a snap Week 1, played (67) plays, so that's a lot of snaps,” Gannon said. “I think he'll take a jump from this last week to the next time he plays, he'll play better. But I thought he did a good job. There was one coverage where he was a little late to get on the right person.
"Had the one foul, bang-bang play on a two-point play. But I thought he made some plays, too. So that was encouraging. He's here for a reason. It was good.”
After a 71-yard day in Week 1, Marvin Harrison Jr. finished with just two catches for 27 yards on five targets against the Panthers. Gannon expressed some frustration with his lack of involvement.
“He needs his touches,” Gannon said. “I know that. For us to be effective overall as an offense.”
Gannon, though, also played down the importance of Harrison’s target totals, offering somewhat of a mixed message.
“I never really look at targets as what needs to happen,” Gannon said. “The ball's gonna go where the balls go. I know he has a certain number of plays that he's the read in. If they decide to play a coverage, they have a say too. If they decide to play a coverage that the ball's not gonna go there, it's not gonna go there.
"With saying that, I know he needs to touch the football for our offense to be at its premium.”
Related: Arizona Cardinals defense shows thrilling ceiling in win despite near collapse
On a third-and-3 from the Panthers’ 12-yard line in the fourth quarter, Murray rolled to his left and attempted to pass. He was hit as he threw, though, popping his pass directly into the arms of a defender for his first turnover of the season.
Immediately after the game, Murray said he was trying to throw the ball away. But given the situation, Gannon said Murray should have taken a sack.
“He didn't want to lose the yardage,” Gannon said. “But where we're at on the field, in the red zone — yeah, every yard you go backwards, there's a percentage that it downticks to make the field goal.
"But at that point, it's not like we were out of field goal range. Just probably eat that one. That's what I told him today.”
Despite the consternation over the Cardinals nearly blowing a pair of fourth-quarter leads in their first two games, they are 2-0 — exactly where they would want to be in the standings.
Gannon highlighted two areas that have made that possible.
The first was Murray’s performances.
“For how many plays we had on offense, the amount of explosives we had, that's a big time thing,” Gannon said. “And it was not through the ground, it's through the pass game. So that's good. I think Kyler's playing extremely well.”
The Cardinals had five pass plays of at least 15 yards on just 25 attempts. Three of those went to his tight ends, Trey McBride and Elijah Higgins.
The other area Gannon highlighted was the impact plays on defense.
“We showed this last game, it was good to see us affect the ball,” Gannon said. “We win the takeaway battle there and it ended up being 2-1, but you typically win a lot of games when you do that. So that's good to see. Our mode of play is on display.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jonathan Gannon provides injury, Marvin Harrison Jr. updates
Continue reading...
All three of the Arizona Cardinals' starting cornerbacks exited their Week 2 win over the Carolina Panthers and did not return. Max Melton (knee) left in the first quarter after a tackle on Tetairoa McMillan. Will Johnson (groin) left in the fourth after pulling up on a coverage rep. Garrett Williams (knee) left after a collision with Budda Baker on a fourth-quarter touchdown.
“Kinda still running those tests, guys being evaluated still,” Gannon said. “So I'll probably have more information later on in the week.”
Gannon next meets with reporters on Wednesday, Sept. 17, ahead of the Cardinals' first practice of the week.
Gannon did confirm that Johnson did not return after the injury. Johnson previously left the game with trainers and did return, but on that play, he just “got the wind knocked out of him,” Gannon said. The groin injury came later in the afternoon.
In place of Melton, the Cardinals inserted fifth-round rookie Denzel Burke. Third-year corner Kei’Trel Clark entered for Johnson, while the Cardinals moved safety Jalen Thompson over to nickel to cover for Williams.
“I have all the faith in the world with Kei'Trel,” Gannon said. “And he played well.”
His review of Burke was more mixed.
“After not playing a snap Week 1, played (67) plays, so that's a lot of snaps,” Gannon said. “I think he'll take a jump from this last week to the next time he plays, he'll play better. But I thought he did a good job. There was one coverage where he was a little late to get on the right person.
"Had the one foul, bang-bang play on a two-point play. But I thought he made some plays, too. So that was encouraging. He's here for a reason. It was good.”
Gannon: Marvin Harrison Jr. 'needs his touches'
After a 71-yard day in Week 1, Marvin Harrison Jr. finished with just two catches for 27 yards on five targets against the Panthers. Gannon expressed some frustration with his lack of involvement.
“He needs his touches,” Gannon said. “I know that. For us to be effective overall as an offense.”
Gannon, though, also played down the importance of Harrison’s target totals, offering somewhat of a mixed message.
“I never really look at targets as what needs to happen,” Gannon said. “The ball's gonna go where the balls go. I know he has a certain number of plays that he's the read in. If they decide to play a coverage, they have a say too. If they decide to play a coverage that the ball's not gonna go there, it's not gonna go there.
"With saying that, I know he needs to touch the football for our offense to be at its premium.”
Related: Arizona Cardinals defense shows thrilling ceiling in win despite near collapse
Gannon explains Kyler Murray interception
On a third-and-3 from the Panthers’ 12-yard line in the fourth quarter, Murray rolled to his left and attempted to pass. He was hit as he threw, though, popping his pass directly into the arms of a defender for his first turnover of the season.
Immediately after the game, Murray said he was trying to throw the ball away. But given the situation, Gannon said Murray should have taken a sack.
“He didn't want to lose the yardage,” Gannon said. “But where we're at on the field, in the red zone — yeah, every yard you go backwards, there's a percentage that it downticks to make the field goal.
"But at that point, it's not like we were out of field goal range. Just probably eat that one. That's what I told him today.”
Gannon finds positives in Cardinals start
Despite the consternation over the Cardinals nearly blowing a pair of fourth-quarter leads in their first two games, they are 2-0 — exactly where they would want to be in the standings.
Gannon highlighted two areas that have made that possible.
The first was Murray’s performances.
“For how many plays we had on offense, the amount of explosives we had, that's a big time thing,” Gannon said. “And it was not through the ground, it's through the pass game. So that's good. I think Kyler's playing extremely well.”
The Cardinals had five pass plays of at least 15 yards on just 25 attempts. Three of those went to his tight ends, Trey McBride and Elijah Higgins.
The other area Gannon highlighted was the impact plays on defense.
“We showed this last game, it was good to see us affect the ball,” Gannon said. “We win the takeaway battle there and it ended up being 2-1, but you typically win a lot of games when you do that. So that's good to see. Our mode of play is on display.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jonathan Gannon provides injury, Marvin Harrison Jr. updates
Continue reading...
