Cardinals Know They're On The Right Path

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals are close.

Close doesn't exactly cut it in the National Football League, especially after Arizona fumbled a 6-4 record with the NFC West lead entering their bye week.

But given the state of their roster when head coach Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort took over in 2023, this season should only be looked at in a positive light.

The Cardinals are close to being a serious competitior, and they know it.

“Winning in the league is hard. I talk about this with (General Manager) Monti (Ossenfort) a lot, and even the coaches. You realize the NFL, if you've been around it long enough, you understand this. Yeah, we're a couple plays away from being in the playoffs. Yeah, we're a couple plays away from being four wins too, but every team can kind of say that typically," said Gannon.

"The point is the margin for error in the NFL is small and you have to maximize those margins. I would say just collectively as a team, second year in a system - and I know (Asst. Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator) Jeff (Rodgers) was here before I got here, so a lot of those guys have been in that system - but there are a lot of new players.

"Second year in the system, I feel like we understood what was going on a little bit better. We executed a little bit higher level. I think the guys that are out there suiting up playing really maximized their role. Like I said, we're on the path. We just have to stay on it.”

Arizona will have opportunity to really bolster their roster over the coming months with significant cap space and draft picks ready to help push the Cardinals over the hump.

Gannon says he himself needs to improve so his team can follow suit:

"I have to do a better job with everything that we're doing. Our process, how we structure things, connecting with the players, making sure I hold the players accountable, the coaches accountable, how we evaluate things, what our process is, how we’re evaluating our processes, what are the checks and balances to that, how we want to set up the bye week, everything. That was a joke. I like to laugh, but that's real," Gannon said.

"Maybe we didn't do it the right way. I'm convinced of the path that we're on and our processes in place right now, but it would be foolish to think that we don't need to adjust and improve. That is everything that goes into that, which is everything because everything is underneath my responsibility. We have to improve.”

Close but no cigar was the story in 2024 - we'll see if next season provides any better outcome, though the Cardinals are staying the course regardless.