5Qs, 5As with Revenge of the Birds: Will Jonathan Gannon get another year in Arizona?

The Los Angeles Rams are coming off a tough loss, but have a chance to rebound against the slumping Arizona Cardinals this weekend. Arizona is already eliminated from playoff contention and can play spoiler in Week 14, but don’t count on them to come through when it matters, given their overall body of work this season.

Ahead of Sunday’s matchup, I spoke with Seth Cox from Revenge of the Birds to discuss the Cardinals’ inability to win close games, Kyler Murray’s future in Arizona and more.

Q – Arizona is 2-7 in one-score games this season. What has been the main issue for the Cardinals’ inability to close out games?

A – There is just no complementary football for the Arizona Cardinals. When the defense plays well, the offense cannot do much. Think about the loss to the Jaguars, the Cardinals were the first team this century to force four turnovers, commit no turnovers and lose the game! It gets worse; one of those turnovers they actually scored a touchdown, as rookie Walter Nolen got them on the board with a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

They scored 17 points on offense the last two weeks, and the defense did enough to win, they weren’t stellar outings, but it was enough.

Then, you go back to Brissett’s first two starts against the Colts and Packers and the defense couldn’t get any stops, while the offense seemed to be able to move the ball much more efficiently.

Oh, and their kicker misses too many field goals. Not ideal in close games.

Q – Despite being 1-6 as a starter, backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett has seemingly been more productive running the offense than Kyler Murray. What must the Rams do to limit Brissett’s effectiveness?

A – Volume? I mean, he is doing a nice job of continuing to hang in and fire, but the reality is they don’t even attempt at running the ball much anymore, they just dropback and throw the ball under the guise of injuries to the running backs.

Last week in the loss to Tampa, they were averaging 5.6 yards per carry with Bam Knight and he got 11 carries.

That was with Marvin Harrison Jr. basically hobbling around most of the second half and Michael Wilson being reduced back to second rate citizen in the Petzing offense.

But, Brissett is a gamer, will stand in, take hits over and over and continue to fire away. If you are a gambling man, I would take the over for all of Brissett’s stats in this one, as I think he throws the ball close to 50 times, he completes well over 30 of those and throws for 300+ yards in a blowout loss.

**Q – While we’re on the subject of Murray, what do you think his future looks like with the Cardinals? Or if his future isn’t with Arizona, which team do you see...