The second half of the Arizona Cardinals’ 42-14 loss to the Washington Commanders at home went about as poorly as possible.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon saw his team show its resilience during its preparation for Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. The Cardinals overcame a pick-six, blocked field goal returned for a touchdown and a 23-10 deficit to stun the defending NFC champs 24-23.
“I’m proud. I really am,” Gannon told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Monday.
“You might roll your eyes at me, but I honestly was more proud of the week, because after Week 4, we got handled pretty good, and for those guys to respond and have some resilience and go about their business the way that they did on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, they responded the right way and then laid it on the line and won the game. So I am proud of them.”
Cardinals got stops and leaned on Kyler Murray’s legs
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The Cardinals started Sunday with a three-and-out stop of San Francisco’s offense and put points on the board in two offensive plays. Quarterback Kyler Murray kept the ball on a read option and flew to the end zone from midfield. He set a season high with seven carries for 83 yards.
Gannon explained there were not tons more designed runs but Murray made the reads and took advantage of opportunities to pull the ball. He gained a first down on a similar read option on their game-winning field goal drive.
Murray characterized the team’s grit by making winning plays to drive down the field for two fourth-quarter scores, including his fourth-down connection to Marvin Harrison Jr. while falling away.
After the interception thrown to Nick Bosa near the end of the first half, Arizona scored on three of four drives before its final kneel downs ended things.
“(Murray) didn’t get sped up. He trusted in what he was being coached to do,” Gannon said. “The communication between him and (offensive coordinator Drew Petzing) about what he was seeing I thought was really good.
“Drew listens and he understands what’s going on out there. I just thought that to bounce back from that (interception) — because you could go a lot of different ways. The game doesn’t look great at that point you throw the interception, for him to put points on the board in the second half the way he did, whether it be extending drives, a third down or a fourth down, got to have it. That was a huge play to Marvin backpedaling out of there, threw it where Marvin could catch it. The touchdown play … He made it happen.”
Kyler Murray ran a lot more in the Cardinals’ win over the 49ers.
Why?
We asked head coach Jonathan Gannon earlier today!
Full interview: https://t.co/XPMU6BnF6T pic.twitter.com/q5x4vvfx8W
— The Burns & Gambo Show (@BurnsAndGambo) October 7, 2024
Arizona’s defense took the ball away three times in the second half, while the 49ers finished 1-for-6 in the red zone.
Gannon used the word “resilience” again when describing those stops while backed up against a high-level offense.
“If they’re down there, it’s probably not going great,” Gannon said. “You do have an advantage down there, and you gotta step up. Those plays are huge, the run game, the pass game, those third-down stops in there where you’re forcing field goals, those are four-point plays for us. I thought it was a really good job by the coaches and the players to get it done.”
The work turns to preparing for the Green Bay Packers, who are 3-2 and coming off a win over the Los Angeles Rams.