(Editor’s note: This is excerpted from Mike Sando’s Pick Six of Nov. 11, 2024.)
6. Two-minute drill: Here’s what the Jonathan Gannon-coached Arizona Cardinals have in common with the Dan Campbell-coached Detroit Lions.
Gannon, hired before the 2023 season, had a 5-16 record through his first 21 games. He has a 5-1 record since then, beating the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins (with Tua Tagovailoa), Chicago Bears and New York Jets. The last two victories, over the Bears and Jets, were by a 60-15 combined mark. Arizona could be turning a corner.
Campbell started 4-16-1 in his first 21 games with the Lions and has gone 28-11 since then.
GO DEEPER
Are the Lions Super Bowl favorites? Or are they still a move away? Sando’s Pick Six
The similarities do not stop there:
• Campbell was mocked early in his tenure for saying he wanted his team, after getting knocked down, to “bite a kneecap off” on the way back up. Gannon was mocked early in his tenure for a “cringe” pep talk in which he asked players if they had taken the bus to work, then informed them he was “looking for f—— killers.”
Light The Fire 🔥
Head Coach Jonathan Gannon sets the tone for the team and his coaching staff in the latest episode of Cardinals Flight Plan, “Coach and the Coordinators” Tonight at 7 on YouTube. pic.twitter.com/3Xwuv6lVUE
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) August 31, 2023
• Both coaches’ starting quarterbacks had played well enough previously to earn top-of-market contracts, before faltering enough to see their reputations bottom out. Jared Goff (despite his five-interception game Sunday night) is flourishing in Detroit. Kyler Murray, slammed for having a “homework clause” written into (and later out of) his contract, seems to have matured. He turned memes about his supposedly overboard affinity for the “Call of Duty” franchise into a sponsorship deal with the video game. It has worked because Murray, healthy after missing much of last season with a torn ACL, has 12 touchdown passes and four rushing touchdowns against six turnovers (three interceptions) this season. His 100.8 passer rating would be a career high over a full season, as would his 0.13 EPA per pass play.
• Both coaches work with general managers poached from Super Bowl teams (Brad Holmes in Detroit, Monti Ossenfort in Arizona). Both GMs used their first draft choices for offensive tackles (Penei Sewell in Detroit, Paris Johnson in Arizona).
• Both coaches trusted first-time coordinators on both sides of the ball. We’ve heard lots about Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and more lately about his defensive counterpart, Aaron Glenn. If Arizona keeps winning, we’ll hear more about offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, 37, and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, 31. The Cardinals rank 10th in offensive EPA per play. They are 24th on defense, including 15th during the current 5-1 run.
• Both coaches took over historically losing franchises and started poorly enough to hear “same old Lions” and “same old Cardinals” without having anything substantive to say in rebuttal until well into their second seasons. Gannon’s 5-16 mark was tied for the eighth-worst through 21 games for any coach hired since 2000. Campbell was 4-19-1 with Detroit before turning things around.
After a wild victory over the Texans on Sunday night, the Lions are 8-1, which is not shocking after Detroit reached the NFC Championship Game last season. They are in Campbell’s fourth season and well ahead of the Cardinals, who have much work ahead of them to replicate the turnaround Campbell has led in Detroit.
Arizona is 6-4 and fourth in the conference heading into its bye, with the following schedule waiting on the other side: Seattle and Minnesota on the road, followed by Seattle and New England at home, followed by Carolina and the Rams on the road, followed by San Francisco at home.
Murray’s mobility differentiates Arizona from Detroit, opening different ways to win games. Think Seattle during the Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson years a decade ago, or even the Steelers with Wilson now, to an extent.
“They are a physical team,” an exec said of Arizona. “They are not the prettiest team, but they run the ball, they hit on defense and they have a quarterback who is going to run around and make something happen. You can win a lot of games that way.”
(Photo of Jonathan Gannon: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
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