TEMPE — For the first time in nearly two years, the Arizona Cardinals will be playing in a primetime game.
The Monday Night Football matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers is the Cardinals’ first primetime game since their Christmas loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football in 2022.
Last season, the Cardinals were one of the four teams not featured in any primetime games.
The last time the Cardinals played on Monday Night Football was when quarterback Kyler Murray went down with a torn ACL in his right knee just three plays into the game.
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“I mean it’s Monday Night (Football), it’s primetime, everybody’s watching, just a couple more people are watching,” Murray said. “To me, I’m just looking at it like another game. I don’t really put too much emphasis on Monday night, Sunday night, Thursday night. Obviously, you feel it, it’s cool, but at the end of the day, if you don’t go out there and play well it didn’t really matter.
“To me, it’s just going out there and playing well and executing. Obviously, you want to play at a high level in primetime but at the end of the day, it’s keep the main thing the main thing and be focused on the game itself and not what’s surrounding it.”
Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon downplayed the notion of playing in primetime.
Gannon simply said, “It’s just a game” when asked how he would encourage players making their primetime debuts to not make it more than what it is.
One player making his primetime debut is Cardinals wide receiver Michael Wilson.
“Monday night, first primetime game so I’m excited,” Wilson said. “It’s a big opportunity. Obviously, all games are important but to be one of the only games going on at the time, everything is magnified, so it’s going to be exciting.”
Wilson said he has plenty of memories tuning into primetime games as a kid.
“Sunday night games were huge,” Wilson said. “I feel like players that I really liked always showed up big in those games. So, you know the cliche saying, ‘Big time players make big time plays in big time games.’ Hoping I can mark my stamp on my first Monday night game.”
While many Cardinals will be playing in their first primetime game on Monday, Cardinals wide receiver Zay Jones, an eighth-year veteran now with his fourth franchise, has plenty of experience playing in primetime games.
“Monday Night (Football), it’s a blessing,” Jones said. “The world’s watching. It’s something that you dream about as a kid. For me, I’ve been grateful to have some unbelievable experiences in Monday night, primetime games. Hopefully that carries over, transitions. We still got to line up and go play.
“I think it’s a great opportunity this team has on the national stage against a well-coached and good football team, so I’m excited about that.”
Cardinals ready to defend the run
The Chargers (3-2) come to State Farm Stadium after a win over the Broncos in Denver.
Scheming against the run-heavy Chargers will present a unique challenge for the Cardinals.
Only the Baltimore Ravens (53.18%) and Pittsburgh Steelers (52.93%) run the ball more frequently than the Chargers (52.40%).
“Their backs and their (offensive) linemen do a great job of working together,” Cardinals safety Budda Baker said.
“They do a great job with the offensive line understanding where the defensive line is, and the running backs do a great job of hitting the holes. One cuts guys, not guys that are going to dance around. They’re just going to run downhill and you got to hit them.”
“I’ve got a really high opinion of Greg (Roman) (the Chargers offensive coordinator),” Gannon said. “He does a good job of the run game, getting you different looks and then run looking like pass. They kind of complement each other. Some of their actions, they buy your eyes and they get leverage on people by their route distribution. He has always been able to throw it down the field, so we got to do a good job (defending) both the run and the pass.”
One of the reasons the Chargers have run the ball so frequently this season is due to the high ankle sprain quarterback Justin Herbert suffered in a Week 2 win against the Carolina Panthers. Herbert then reaggravated the injury in a loss at Pittsburgh the following week.
But the Chargers are starting to throw the ball with more frequency as Herbert returns to health. During the past three weeks, the Chargers have thrown the ball 52.6% of the time, up from their season average of 47.6%.
In last week’s victory, Herbert threw for a season-high 237 yards.
“But when it comes to Herbert’s arm,” Baker said. “He can throw anywhere. Just seeing the zip that the ball comes out on film is definitely special. He’s a great quarterback. He makes his reads. He doesn’t hold the ball for a long time. He understands the route concepts that his offense is doing.
“At the end of the day if those aren’t there, he’ll take the check down and that check down will go for five plus yards.”
“I’ve played this guy multiple times, he can throw it all over the yard,” Gannon said about Herbert. “He’s a premium player, so we’re going to have to be on it in the back end and the front end as well. In the front, we’ve got to affect the quarterback.”
The Cardinals take on the Chargers at 6 p.m. MST on Monday. Catch all the action on the Arizona Sports app, 98.7 and ArizonaSports.com