TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals tied an NFL-wide season-high with 13 penalties on Sunday in Green Bay, and after watching the tape, head coach Jonathan Gannon had a similar message as his postgame remarks.
“We looked at it with the team, and in all three phases we got to do a better job of being consistent with controlling our controllables, how we get aligned, what we’re looking at, the techniques we’re using, what is our assignment,” Gannon said. “So until we do that, we’re kind of playing behind eight-ball. … When we do do it, we’re pretty good. So you’re always striving for that consistency.”
Jonathan Gannon says the Cardinals need to be much better controlling what they can control. pic.twitter.com/BItPA1hq59
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) October 15, 2024
The Cardinals understand they have to play much cleaner for a chance to start stacking wins after sandwiching an impressive victory at San Francisco with blowout losses.
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The miscues in a 34-13 drubbing stretched well beyond flags, from defensive lapses to turnovers. But seven pre-snap penalties particularly irked Gannon, whose team entered Week 6 with the fewest penalties in football. Three neutral zone infractions were called, along with a false start, an illegal formation, a delay of game and too many men on the field.
“There’s a couple bang, bang in there. Clean up the technique … I was pissed about the pre-snap stuff,” Gannon said. “We call those non-negotiables, and you’re not going to win games beating yourself. So we got to clean that up ASAP.”
The Packers are a 4-2 team that displayed on Sunday how they can sling the ball around on offense and take it away on defense.
Arizona linebacker Krys Barnes said it is hard enough to beat teams, not to mention good teams, when you are your own worst enemy. The Packers had some explosive moments, but the feeling with the Cardinals is they eliminated any chance to win that game with self-inflicted wounds. As Gannon put it, no one had the right to walk into the building wondering why they lost.
“We knew they went into the game with hard counts … It’s just something we got to continue to harp on as a unit, be able to make sure we’re all on the same page,” Barnes said. “They’re easily correctable, so we just got to do our job to make sure that they don’t pop up again.”
Gannon echoed to Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo that the penalties can be a quick fix, but the players need to be mindful. Post-snap penalties are lapses in technique or decision making that can be coached up. For pre-snap, Gannon said the team had done a good job until Sunday, so that will be detailed out this week.
Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon joins @BurnsAndGambo and discusses the need to improve on third downs. pic.twitter.com/L2Mrw9xhoW
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) October 14, 2024
The Cardinals have an extra day to prepare this week, as they face the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football.
“We’ll figure out some different ways and make sure there’s no disconnect of what’s being taught and learned and drilled and practiced and then what’s being executed,” Gannon said. “So that’s coaching and playing better.”
Asked about team identity, Gannon maintained the Cardinals are still a violent and physical team but one that has to play a lot cleaner moving forward.