Op-Ed: Can Cardinals’ Jonathan Gannon reverse the script on the Seahawks Mike Macdonald?

For starters, will Cardinals have another cupcake pre-season?

I don’t like feeling or writing any of this, but the Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald is doing a number of key things in Seattle that I was hoping Jonathan Gannon would do in Arizona.

Examples:

1. Press conferences —- Macdonald is terse and itching to get back to work. Gannon is discursive and highly engaged.
2. Press conferences after losses —- Macdonald is ticked off. Gannon is oddly upbeat.
3. Pre-season games —- Macdonald plays his starters in game 3. Gannon gives the Cardinals starters all of the games off.
4. Practices —- Macdonald takes advantage of every chance he can get. Gannon calls off some.
5. Coordinating the team’s defense —- Macdonald wanted to from the beginning. Gannon wanted to avoid it from the beginning.
6. Calling the defensive plays —- Macdonald does. Gannon doesn’t.
7. Placing a defensive priority on tackling. Seahawks’ defense was #8 (63.9), Cardinals’ defense was #19 (43.9 —- failing grade).
8. Not settling for mediocrity or subpar play at ILB. Macdonald traded early starters Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker to the Dolphins and Titans and acquired Ernest Jones to pair with Tyrice Knight. Gannon stayed way too long with Kyzir White, playing him out of position at MIKE and with starting Josh Woods for 11 games in 2023.
9. Handling the bye week —- Macdonald’s Seahawks won 4 in row. Gannon’s Cardinals lost 3 in a row, twice to Macdonald’s Seahawks, getting outplayed, outcoached and outscored 46-24.
10. Adding NFL coaching experience to the staff —- Macdonald hired Leslie Frazer (25 years) as veteran defensive advisor and Offensive line coach John Benton (35 years). Gannon’s hires have all been young, inexperienced coaches at their positions.
11. Aligning the QB1 to the OC’s style—- Macdonald, despite having a top 10 passing offense in 2024 moved on from OC Ryan Grubb because he wants a stronger, more imposing rushing attack and play-action passing game, so he hired Klint Kubiak as OC and then signed Sam Darnold who in 2024 was the most prolific play action passer from under center in the NFL. Kubiak previously worked with Darnold a couple of years ago when he was the passing game coordinator for the 49ers, before becoming the Saints’ OC in 2024.

Gannon is now in year three of hyping Kyler Murray’s ability to command Drew Petzing’s run-heavy offense which requires a good play action passer to generate explosive pass plays downfield from the pocket.

Kyler has always preferred to pass from the pocket from a shotgun snap, believing that he has more time to survey the field. The question remains as to whether Kyler can adapt his play-action game from under center —- or, as the PHNX Cardinals crew has been posing all off-season:

Can Drew Petzing evolve?

Fault?

One could argue that it’s not Drew Petzing’s fault that he can’t run his offense precisely as it is designed —- and also, a cogent argument can be made that it’s not...