The Arizona Cardinals finished the season 8-9 in 2024 after a four-win 2023 season. It was an improvement but also a disappointment because they went 2-5 after their bye week and, heading into the season finale on Sunday, quarterback Kyler Murray threw eight interceptions in the six games coming out of the bye.
That has led to fan criticism and concern about whether he should be the team’s quarterback moving forward.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon doesn’t have any doubts.
“He is a top-level franchise quarterback, and he’s played like that. He’s shown that,” Gannon said in his end-of-season press conference on Monday. “He was in there talking to me today. We were going through some things, and I think the best teams win. We have to make sure we have the best team, and he understands how he fits into that.”
He elaborated further.
“He was in my office for a long time,” Gannon said of Murray. “He wants some plays back. So do I. We all do. You start looking around, you list the playoff teams and the quarterbacks of the playoff teams, I told him and I believe this: what is the common denominator of those quarterbacks in the playoffs right now? You could list all these different things. I said, ‘I’ll make it easy on you, it’s good teams.’ It’s what it is. Good quarterbacks are on good teams. We have to do everything that we can to support him and put a good team around him, then he has to play to his level consistently, which I know he can do.”
Gannon is saying the team was not quite good enough around Murray this past year.
They had good production in the run game. They had big numbers from tight end Trey McBride. The offensive line protected well. The defense was inconsistent and the play from receivers was also inconsistent.
While many believe Murray is the problem, Gannon does not agree. He has all the confidence that Murray is the quarterback to be able to take the Cardinals to the heights they hope to reach.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
