Cardinals lose on final play, progress made in year one under Gannon

Takeaways from the Cardinals season finale 

Matt Prater missed a game-winning field goal as time expired, as the Cardinals lost to Seattle 21-20 on Sunday. 

There should be reason for optimism over the next eight months before the 2024 regular season opens the second week of September. Sure, the Cardinals lost to the Commanders, Giants, and Bears. But they went to Pittsburgh and dominated the Steelers, beat Dallas, took down Philadelphia, and finished the season with a last-second loss to Seattle. While some weeks they were embarrassed (Cleveland, both games vs 49ers, Rams) Once Kyler Murray returned, they were a different team. 

Jonathan Gannon is 1-0 on challenges. 

An offensive attack in 2024 with Kyler Murray, James Connor, Trey Mcbride, and Michael Carter is a good starting point. We all see the lack of explosive wide receivers on the roster, but I’m not giving up on Michael Wilson after just one season.  Paris Johnson got better and better as the season progressed. The injury to D.J. Humphries hurts(when will he be ready in 2024?) 

I believe there’s something to offseason momentum when Kyler Murray is making plays rather than wondering who the next quarterback in Arizona will be. They have an answer at quarterback: they choose to move forward with Murray next season. You can debate all day and night whether they keep Kyler or not. The talk show hosts on the five all-sports radio stations in the Valley are happy tonight. 

It’s no secret they need to upgrade their defense, but does that mean going defense with the 4th pick in the draft? I always favor trading down when there’s a top-five pick. GM Monti Ossenfort was savvy last April, moving out of the third pick to number 12 with Houston before climbing back up to number 6 to take Johnson. 

The on-the-field product is heading in the right direction. The GM has made several smart moves. Just leave them alone and let them do their thing…