Cardinals Cover 2Cardinals Cover 2 - Want To Be A Playoff Team? Then Win On Sunday
It is a football Friday, Week fifteen edition, The Cardinals Need a Win Edition. Welcome Bird Gang. On today's show, Zach Ershman joins me, it's been too long, too long since the Cardinals last won a football game. Great opportunity though. Coming up on Sunday, we look ahead of the matchup against the New England Patriots. Part of our preview, we speak with Mike Reeese from ESPN longtime Patriots beat Ryder. It's Cardinals Cover two, Episode eight thirty one, and it starts now.
Welcome to Cardinals Cover two.
Pud to Baker, What Heart? What rent?
This guy's unbelievable.
Cardinals Cover two is presented by Hyundai, proud partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Arizona Cardinals Podcast. Visit Azycardinals dot Com slash podcast.
He's at the ten half of five. He's it again. Some more hurry magic.
WHOA, here's Craig Griller.
So before we begin talking about the Cardinals match up here in week fifteen, I think we do need to discuss what happened to begin week fifteen. And Zach, what what's the opposite of a shout out?
A shout out?
What is the opposite of a shout out, Like, if you're gonna go positive, you're gonna give someone a shout out, you know, give them credit. What's the opposite, because that's what I want to do right now.
Destroy, embarrass, make fun of.
Okay, there we go. How about how about now I'm gonna make fun of that can come back and haunt the Cardinals later on. Whatever the opposite of a shout out is is what the forty nine ers did last night to the Arizona Cardin how about you.
It's still a shout out, It's just not a.
Negative shout out, okay, that positive negative? Okay, well.
Not positive shout out because then you still have the word positive in there.
Okay.
The forty nine ers did the Cardinals no favorite nope, none whatsoever. Catch the football, score a touchdown, It was all field goals.
If you love punters, this is the game for you.
Rams beat the forty nine ers in Santa Clair twelve to six in the rain. And why say the forty nine ers did the Cardinals no favors Because we're at that point, based off of last week's performance against the Seahawks, act that the Cardinals need help. And it would have been beneficial if the Rams had won, because part of the tie breaking process not only is it head to head, but it is division record. And right now the Rams have three wins in the division and the Cardinals right now have two wins with two games still coming up against division opponents. So again we're looking way ahead on this. But when you don't take care of your own business now all of a sudden, you need others to do their part to help you out. Scoreboard watching across the league. It's what the Cardinals are going to be doing, and at least the Cardinals beat reporters are going to be doing base over the next four weeks because with what you're talking about there, Craig, when you lost the game against the Seattle Seahawks, you lost the ability to control your destiny for the remainder of the season. So you're going to need to be putting on an opposing team's cap here and there to root for a just a one point win in some cases, whatever it takes, so that your Cardinals could start to gain some ground in the NFC West standings. We know about the unlikelihood of receiving a playoff spot through a wild card position, so it really comes down to the NFC West, and it's what makes every game that much more important, not just the four games that the Cardinals play, but throughout the division as well. Packers, excuse me the Packers. I'm looking at what the Seahawks have next. So the Seahawks play. They host the Packers on Sunday, Seahawks at eight and five. The Rams with their win, they are now eight and six, with the Jets, Cardinals, and Seahawks still remaining on their schedule. By the way, the Rams, if they went out they win the NFC West, they make the posts. While so considering where they were just a few weeks back, especially around the trade deadline where everyone was thinking, oh, they're going to blow it up and trade everyone, No, this Rams team is very much alive. Cardinals six and seven and the forty nine Ers six and eight, one and four in the division. They've got the Dolphins, lines and Cardinals still left. But for a intons and purposes, the forty nine Ers are They're done and we can safely say that here going into Week fifteen, the favorites to begin the season. Right now, they are in last place in the NFC West.
Which proves that any given Sunday is not just an expression, it's a way of life. And obviously the San Francisco forty nine Ers were not expecting to be with that Christian McCaffrey for ninety nine percent of the season. But that's ultimately what ends up happening. Injuries are unpredictable. The Cardinals thought that they were going to have a star pass rusher and b Jo Jolar going into a second year. Unfortunately, that did not happen. We found out early on in training camp that that was not going to be the case. Same with Dennis Gardeck. It's the unfortunate parts of injuries. However, as I've talk to a lot of the guys about in the locker room, must talk to Kayier White about it last week and he was saying, like, you know, he was a part of the AFC West when he was with the Chargers, and you knew it was the Chiefs Division when he was in the NFC East with Philadelphia. Philadelphia was the top guys when he was out there, when Jonathan Gannon was out there as well with Nick Rolis, you knew that you were going to be the team to kind of run the table for the division. This year, it's the complete opposite.
You brought up any given Sunday, which is a great transition to talk about what the Cardinals have coming up on Sunday at State Farm Stadium, they host the Patriots. Two twenty five is the kickoff nine to thirty. Pre game coverage begins on the Arizona Cardinals Radio Network, a game in which the Cardinals, yes, if they still have any hopes of being a playoff team, need to win. And again on paper, games not played on paper. We all know that, but on paper, this is a more talented team, even though they are six and seven and the Patriots are three and ten and playing some better football as of late. But still this is a game that we all look that before the season began as the quote unquote soft part of the schedule and a game that the Cardinals need to win.
Well, so are the games against the Seattle Seahawks. That was the start. That was the start of the soft portion of the schedule, and we saw how that turned out. And when you look at the schedule now, Carolina does not look like a cakewalk they've been having. They've been They took the Kansas City Chiefs all the way down to the buzzer. I mean they took the Philadelphia Eagles down to the buzzer. Those are two of the NFL's best teams, not including the Detroit Lions, who would definitely put in that category as well. But the Carolina Panthers are a really good team. The New England Patriots have had a lot of one scored defeats, which reminds us a lot of the twenty twenty three Arizona Cardinals. There are a lot of similarities in that case. So the game is not played on paper. You expect to win this game. You practice to win this game, and if you're looking on paper, yes you are going to win this game. But it goes down to what happens once the ball is kicked off. How did the Cardinals respond to three straight loss is something that has not happened yet this season.
Half of the Patriots losses have come on one possession games, including their most recent game, losing to the Colts twenty five to twenty four. But it goes back to what Jonathan Gannon talked about on Friday, mentioning the fact that the Patriots this year unlike not unlike the Cardinals a year ago and mentioning that the best teams and the worst teams quote, are not that far off from one another. For fans media like, you can look at numbers and stats, but what coaches and players look at is what's on the film. And a handful of plays separates a win from a loss, and all of a sudden, those losses accumulate. But at the end of the day, yeah, yeah, have ten losses, but five of those could have been either way. One play, one score, and all of a sudden, maybe the Patriots have eight wins instead of three.
Look you look at the Cardinals seven losses this season. You could say three of them are really down there. I mean they're the one possession games, but three of them come down to just a handful place here and there. The game against the Buffalo Bills, there were a lot of opportunities in that one, and that was just game number one that could have completely changed the season. Then you look at Week three against the Detroit Lions. You had that Mac Wilson pick six at the two men in warning that was ultimately called back because the two men in warning I guess the referee blew their whistle even though it was not actually blown and a lot of people were confused by it, but that's what it really comes down to. It is just a handful of place. And as I said, the Detroit Lions could be in that conversation of being the NFL's best team. The Cardinals, who are right now in third place in the division, had him on the ropes early on in the season, so it really is not that far away. And that's something that the Cardinals are gonna need to be keeping in mind as they get set to place the last place Patriots.
Half of the Cardinals wins have come on one possession games and three of their seven losses have been one possession losses. So again, this is a very balance league. It's just again some teams, I'm gonna say, get lucky, but learn how to win and avoid those mistakes. And right now, the Cardinals need to get out of their own way as far as trying to figure out a way to snap what has been a three game losing streak coming out of the by As I mentioned, they got the New England Patriots coming to town on Sunday. The Patriots, by the way, the only team the Cardinals have never defeated at home in the regular season at State Farm Stadium. So again, no, it's just another box that you can check after you get w you got the first. Yes, there you go. I'd like the sound of that long time Patriots reporter for ESPN, Mike Reese. There is no one who does it better as far as covering the new England Patriots team. We had a chance to catch up with Mike earlier this week. So, Mike, outside of watching highlights and reading your work on ESPN dot com, we don't see a lot of Patriots football here in the azy. So how would you describe year one post Bill Belichick?
With Girodmeil So it's it's a good question. There's a lot of different ways to go with it. I think I would probably start with the promise of the young quarterback. You probably not much different from twenty nineteen with the Cardinals, right, Kyler comes in there and gives him hope as the top pick, and that's what the that's the big storyline with the Patriots. It's Drake may number three overall pick, became the starter in week six by design, sort of bring him along behind the scenes before you hand the torch over to him, and you know they're three and ten and obviously hasn't been a great season for them, but his presence Drake Mays has sparked hope for possibly a better future.
His numbers show he's improving since that first starts. What have you seen from him?
So much much more comfortable. You know, he's twenty two years old, so he's a young, young rookie and so just coming into you know, NFL locker room and finding his way, and I'm so impressed with just that part of it, like the feel for people for a twenty two year old. He really has a nice way about him, a nice demeanor. So that's the first thing. And then on the field, I would say, you know, I was thinking about this game between Kyler and Drake, these two quarterbacks, like in terms of being able to run and ring up yardage as like a pure rusher, they're two of the best in the league at that aspect of it. So a couple things that stand out to me from watching Drake so far.
Some of the things that Kyler Murray talked about is about being that young quarterback that comes in as you come in and it's a little bit uncomfortable at times. You mentioned how Drake May is only twenty two to start to lead a group of players that are honestly mostly older than you. How do you think Drake May is done from that leadership front?
So really, really well? And I have to tell you, Craig and Zach like, this topic fascinates me because I think so some times, like in our positions as reporters media members, it'll work out. He's talented, but there's so much more to I really credit the Patriots, and not a lot has gone right this year, but I think they do deserve credit for this aspect of it. It's like not just drafting Drake May, but having Jacoby Brissett, you know, who just actually turned thirty two earlier this week, as you know, the veteran in that room, and then having you know, another rookie Joe Milton, a third stringer. But I think their decisiveness in saying Jacoby Brissett is a veteran, he's been there, he knows what it means, you know, to lead a group, to be a starter. He's our starter. Drake will come in behind him, and you know, if Drake challenges him and wins the job, like it'll be Drake's job. But we're not going to put that on him like right away, and you know, trafted to twenty twenty one when the Ps had Mac Jones and they had Cam Newton, and I will tell you Mac outperformed Cam, you know, to win the job. But there's a part of me that was like, man, Mac might have benefited from just and I'm second guessing a little bit here after the fact, but just like they tried to make him a leader right off the bat, and it was a lot is what I'm trying to say, you know, all at once. And so I like the way the Patriots have handled it with Drake.
By the way Berg Gang, if you want more, a great article that Mike wrote on ESPN dot com on that stop on that topic specifically as far as Drake May and a young quarterback and a leadership trying to get the keys to the franchise right out of the gate, much like Kyler Murray did. As you mentioned, Mike in twenty nineteen. It's not easy for a young quarterback. But again I'm being impressed based off the limited stuff that I've seen from Drake May. But again looking at the numbers though, and not great overall, but the reliance on the tight end Is that by design? I know the Patriots historically have always had good tight end play, but it just seems like it's very top heavy this year with Drake May.
Yeah. So just to put the numbers to what you're saying, So Drake himself one's seventy two to two fifty six for one thousand, six hundred and ninety six yards, eleven touchdowns, eight interceptions, and two of the top three receivers are tight ends. Hunter Henry leads the team the tight end with fifty eight catches for six hundred ten yards and a touchdown, and Austin Hooper, the number two tight end, is third on the team with thirty one catches, three thirty seven and three touchdowns. Is it by design? I would say it's probably more by circumstance. They're receivers. They don't put too much fear into opposing defenses, and the tight ends, I wouldn't say they put fear, but they're there. That's a position you could say the Patriots match up pretty well on a week to week basis, with the opponent receivers not as much.
What would you say about the Patriots rushing attack because the game against the Indianapolis Colts. The two hundred yards on the ground four hundred and twenty two total yards against the Colts. I mean, it was an impressive outing. How have you seen Remandra Stevenson start to evolve as a running back and what do you expect coming into this one?
So they want to be a running team and they got Remandre Stevenson, as you mentioned. They're number one back, six hundred and seventy one yards, one hundred and eighty carries and six touchdowns. And Antonio Gibson, who's in his first year in New England, was with the Commanders for the first four years of his career. He's sort of the strong number two. So it's a good one two punch. They don't really have a passing back. When you think of the Patriots over the years under Belichick, they always had like that scat back on third down. They don't really do that, so that's sort of interesting. And I think what I would say on the running attack is they've struggled a lot on the offensive line, so it's been inconsistent. Like you might get a day like the Colts where you run for two hundred yards, but if you actually dig deeper into that game, when they really needed to run it. They didn't, And that, to me is the mark of a good running team. When you're running it, the opponent knows you're running it, and you can still get yards. So I wouldn't call them a good running team with using that as the criteria, But don't sleep on it if you're an opponent, because they can be effected.
That game against the Colts, it seemed like the offense was really clicking kind of as you just as you just alluded to there, I know that they just had their buy. And something that the Cardinals fans have been talking about is did the buy come at the right time for our team? You go into it on a four game winning streak, you come out on the back end of it with a three game losing skid, when you have the record that the Patriots have. I recognize that playoffs aren't necessarily the conversation that's being talked about right now, But in your eyes, do you think the buy came at a good time for this team?
I don't. I don't, and I'll tell you why. So two things. The first is three and ten eliminated from the playoffs and you're on a buy the last possible time you could have it, you got to come back to play four games that don't mean anything in the standings, like and you get a taste of what it's going to be like four weeks from now, right like in the bye week. So I think to me, I look at it from human nature standpoint, you got to be pretty dang mentally tough to come back from a buye in this situation and you know, want to be ready to play ball. I think they're going to do it, like they've shown the ability to do it. But to me, that's not ideal where when it should have been. And in retrospect, when Gerard Meyo would have taken it the first year head coach, if he sort of knew then what he knew now was after their game in London, which was October twentieth against the Jaguars, they had the you know, the league gives teams the option when you're playing Internet nationally, you know, do you want to buy after that game or you know you want to push it back? And I think the way Jerrod explained it was the league said, oh, well, you know, we push it back a few weeks. Well, he wasn't expecting it to get pushed back one, two, three, four or five six weeks. You know, he was like, NFL, what are you doing to me? So he said, that's a lesson that he learned and that wouldn't happen again.
Looking at this Patriots defense and how they might contend with Kyler Murray and company, the ability of Kyler to throw the ball, throw it on the run, use his legs, although he hasn't used his legs nearly as much since the bye week. How are the Patriots equipped to handle k one?
Well, this is not the Patriots defense under Bill Belichick. When you would say, okay, here's what an opponent does the best. You know we're going to take that away and make you play left handed. To me, that was what defined Bill Belichick. And it's been one thing I've been surprised at. Just because Mayo played under Bill Belichick coached under Bill Belichick, I would have thought that would have carried over. So it hasn't for the most part. So how are they equipped to handle Kyler Murray? I had to tell you the truth, I'm not sure they are based on what we've seen. This is a defense guys that in the last game we saw them against the Colts and in the fourth quarter when all they needed was stop to win the game, and then gave up a two point conversion with twelve seconds left for the Colts to win the game. So it's a defense right now that is not decisively making place on a consistent basis. Now, I don't want to like sell you that that's what it is. And then they come out and play lights out. Of course that's possible on Sunday, but I would say that that hasn't been the case over the majority of the season.
People talk about that jump from you the first year player to a second year player at Christian his first year was cut short with the injury, but he's had interceptions or turnovers of back to back games, if I'm not mistaken. How he got some praise from Kyler Murray on Wednesday when he spoke at the podium, gave him props for being a Texas guy that Kyler's kind of had his eye out on. How has he evolved from that first year player to that second year player. Is that jump as drastic as some people say it could be?
Yeah, definitely, And that's a great point that you made. He's been one of their bright spots so he does have two turnovers over the last two games. One was a sixty nine yard fumble recovery returned for a touchdown against the Dolphins in Week twelve, which he made a really nice play to keep his balance and you know that set up the run back after he scooped up the fumble. And then last week he undercut a throw over the middle to intercept it. And really, the Patriots should have gone on to win the game after that pick against the Colts, and they didn't, and that was part of what was so disappointing about that game for them. So he's he's done a great job. He's played ninety eight percent of the defensive snaps. And if you recall from the draft coming out two years ago, I think one of the knocks on Gonzalez was, you know, yeah he can cover, but like Willi's support against the run. And I have to tell you, guys, pretty physical, Like he doesn't look at you know, he's a longer you know, I guess you'd say leaner build when you look at him, but not afraid to get get down there, you know, get in there and really set the edge. So I've been very impressed and I think if they weren't three and ten not playing any national games other than Week three on a Thursday night, like you'd be talking about him as Pro Bowl, all Pro you know, consideration, And of course you remember he missed his rookie He was the defensive Rookie of the Month in the first month of his rookie season, but then he suffered a season ending shoulder injury torn labor them. So he only played four games as a rookie so to durable and then come back and really play almost every single snap he's been Outside of Drake May, I'd say he's number two on the list of like good things that are happening.
For the and two players the Cardinals need to keep their eye on on Sunday when the Cardinals host the Patriots at State Farm Stadium. Mike always appreciated great insights and look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
Craig zact great stuff. Do me a favorite. Just keep my guy Darren Urban in check over there. I know he can get a little crazy on weeks like this. You know, when the Patriots are coming in.
We're clipping this and anytime he's getting crazy, I'm playing this.
And the first which will be the first time that he goes crazy.
Yes, exactly the best.
I love it, appreciate it, Mike.
All right, guys, thanks a bunch.
Well we found the one person who likes Darren.
Okay, let's hold on coming out of the dates early with that one likes there can stand there be different.
I don't know. That was some hype raise from Mike Greece at the end of that conversation.
Well, considering Darren's the one who reviews our articles and we sit in a room with every single day. We love Darren.
Yes we do at cards chatter for people wondering who we're talking about, but yes they must.
How would they not know?
I don't know.
It's the cards chatter, not just cards chatter, it's the the card chatter. Come on, now, it's the Ohio state type mindset. Let's saw down now.
I really I opened up that coming from a state alum, that was wow.
Wow, don't tell Paris.
Yeah, that might not go over well on the locker. Paris appreciate Mike Grease giving us a couple of minutes of his time ahead of this matchup on Sunday. Again, as we talked about any given Sunday and that's got to be the mindset for the Cardinals going into this week. And yes, for the third time this season, the Cardinals see a rookie quarterback in Drake May. It was Jade and Daniels first, then Caleb Williams, and now Drake May. So you'll eat the first three draft picks back in April, the Cardinals will see and sometimes maybe the benefit of seeing a young quarterback is early in the season. Of course it didn't work out with Jayden Daniels, but you know you've got a rookie quarterback and Drake Man. I know you wrote about it or we'll write about it for the Advance on Asycardinals dot com as far as just facing a rookie quarterback, whether it's the beginning of the season or later in the season. But this is a different Drake May than what anyone saw when he first started way back in Week six.
Of course, he needed to kind of get his legs under him a little bit, and he's been able to do that and people just like we talked about with Mike Reese a little bit about how people were saying, should he have been the starter earlier? What could that have looked like? But he was behind Jacoby percent and did a really nice job learning from Jacoby and now he's coming in as the field general. He's a leader on that team. And yeah, so I talked with LJ. Kalier about it and just the differences and all the types of quarterbacks that they've played in. When you we go into it with how with knowing that they are a rookie, is there stuff you're able to show it to them? And he said, yeah, look there, of course you're able to try to confuse him. But every quarterback is different. We saw Jaden Daniel slice this up in that first time and just as you mentioned Craig and then you were able to get to Caleb Williams six times and sack him that amount. So the Cardinals, i mean, Drake May's offensive line is definitely not up to par. They if Kadien Wallace, their third round pick, is returning from his practice windows open Gerrod Mayo said on Friday that it's unlikely that he is to actually return come this weekend, so the Cardinals are going to need to bring as much pressure as they can and try to get home.
May is coming off one of his better performances of the season. You could argue it's his best effort to date as far as completion percentage eighty percent twenty four of thirty for two hundred and thirty eight yards a touchdown. He was picked off in a loss to the Colts twenty five, twenty four. But again, it's not so much what Drake can do with his arm. It's the ability to get outside the pocket and scramble and extend plays and all of a sudden, if you're that Cardinals defense, now on the back end, you have to cover a little bit longer and pay attention to who's coming out of the backfield, whether that is Verdi Ramandre Stevenson or Antonio Gibson. But also keep an eye on their too leading receivers, both tight ends and Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper. And that's a different dynamic for the Cardinals this season. When you don't have a quote number one or number two wide receiver, it's the tight end position that is leading the team and receiving.
Yeah, and it's the Cardinals have done a solid job when they have played against top tight ends like George Kittle and a handful of the other guys that they have seen throughout the season, it's tight ends have become a non factor when the Cardinals have played him in a lot of cases throughout this season. However, this is going to be very different because Hunter Henry is that guy for them. He's become Drake May's favorite target. And I don't just know that because we talked to Mike Grease or because Hunter Henry is on my fantasy team and I was able to see his development throughout the season. What I do know, though, is that the Cardinals, whether it be the linebackers having to try to stick to the tight ends, if you're going to have a safety drop down, whatever it's going to be, the Cardinals are going to have their hands full. And it's not just one tight end, it's two tight ends. But if there's anything that gives me comfort and reassurance knowing that the Cardinals defense practices against Drew Petsing's twelve personnel thirteen personnel system all the time every week, so the Cardinals are used to lining up from a trade McBride and knowing what it takes to stop a top tight end.
By the way, the tight end position could be in the spotlight for both teams on Sunday, not only because with the Patriots utilize or how they utilize the tight end position. But Trey McBride is the Cardinals leading receiver as far as receptions and receiving yards. Two more catches by McBride and he would break his own franchise single season record four receptions by a tight end, which he said last year with eighty one, and he needs forty nine and receiving yards to hit the nine hundred mark. And that has only happened one other time more by one other player in Cardinals history from the tight end position, and then as Hall of Famer Jackie Smith, who did it in nineteen sixty seven. So those are the only tight ends in franchise history with at least nine hundred receiving yards in a season. And it's been clear to me, Zach that Trey is wide receiver number one. You don't want to call him a wide receiver, that's fine, but he is receiver number one for this Cardinals team.
Does he break it both records? I think the reception record he'll break. Do you think he breaks the receiver records? Well?
In order for this team to be successful right now unless something changes based off what we've seen over the last handful of games. No, Trey McBride needs to be targeted, targeted a lot. He needs to catch the ball, catch the ball a lot, and have more than forty nine receiving.
Yards one hundred percent. It looked like a different offense until Trey McBride got the ball midway through the third quarter against the Seattle Seahawks, because that's how long it took him to have a reception in that game. So to the Cardinals go goes through Trade McBride. Yes, Kyler Murray is the cornerstone of it. You know what you need to have and out of James Connor to have those one hundred plus yards of scrimmage to ultimately put yourself in a better position to succeed in to win the game. However, when it comes down to who needs the ball in their hands, it needs to be Trade McBride this team. It puts feer in opposing offenses when Trade McBride is as prevalent in the offense as he is, and it allows We talked, we thought that Marvin Harrison Junior's presidence was going to open up the offense, and I'm sure it has. But knowing when Trade McBride gets the ball. It also opens up for guys like Michael Wilson and Marvin Harrison Junior to get the rock in their hands as well.
No question, Kyler Murray plays well, the Cardinals win more times than not. James Connor is the heart and soul of the offense. You get him going, we know what happens when he gets activated running the football and receiving the football. That magic number of one hundred yards from scrimmage, this Cardinals team is five and two on the sea. And then yeah, when the ball is thrown, it's likely going to be in the hands or towards the hands of number eighty five Tray McBride, which probably a little bit of a surprise this late in the season considering the drop off when you look at numbers from number one to number two. When you look at McBride with eighty catches and Marvin Harrison Junior with forty five, I mean that's that.
Well, if half the targets towards Marvin, now, that's where that would be a whole different conversation.
And that's something that we can get into in the offseason as far as how do you how do you get that separation a little bit closer to one another if McBride is still going to be your top receiver. But how do you get a little bit more consistent production out of number eighteen to kind of balance this offense at least the passing game is concerned.
I'm sure it'll come with reps and it will come with experience. And it's crazy to think reps because we talked about the disparity between the targets towards Marvin the actual amount of receptions that he does have, but I'm pretty sure what there be so many passes his direction where Kyler might have hit him on the wrong shoulder, then Marvin was anticipating it. Because of that, it led to an incomplete pass and I saw a stat though that said Marvin has not actually dropped a pass since week one. I'm pretty sure PFF is the group that tweeted that one out, which is impressive because we know of Marvin's ability to reel in passes once they come his direction. But if the two are not on the same page, the targets versus the receptions, that needs to be minimalized as best as could be, because you need Marvin to get his hands on the ball because he's going to be bringing him.
In all eyes though. On Sunday on Kyler Murray, how does he personally bounce back? Two interceptions against the Seahawks leading to fourteen points and you lose that game by twelve. And we've heard everyone say the right things, including from Kyler himself, And how do you bounce back? We've seen this team bounce back from losses before, but now it's a different situation. Three straight losses for the first time this season and for the first time in a long time. Two interceptions from Kyler Murray, So how do you get K one back on track in a game? Again? Another pivotal moment in the season as far as if you still want to be a playoff team, you have to win. On Sunday he said, don't text.
Him after the loss. You know, he said, he'll be fine, So K One, I'm not gonna text you. I mean, even though I don't. I say that tongue in cheek here because I definitely do not have Kyler Murray's phone number. But my point being, Kyler has said that his confidence hasn't waivered. He has said that he is fully confident in his abilities to get back out there he knows what it takes. We've seen the glimpses of it throughout the season. It's not by mistake. He was in the MVP conversation just a month ago. He's got to get back to those winning ways. You have to be able to see him get out of the pocket war and run and be a little bit more of the Kyler Murray that we're so used to seeing. And I think against the New England Patriots defense, they have a couple of really good cornerbacks outside of that, similar to the Cardinals in twenty twenty three, they don't have a lot of household names out there, and I think that that's something that Kyler Murray should be able to capitalize on and try to get out of the pocket extend plays with his legs, because the amount of rushing yards that we've seen from him has not been the Kyler Murray standard that we're used to seeing.
Cardinals and Patriots coming up on Sunday two twenty five is the kickoff nine to thirty Pregame coverage begins on the Arizona Cardinals Radio network and before we head on out of here on a Friday, so allow you to finish your advance. It's not done already.
It's not done yet. Okay, Yeah, we still got open opera that's got a lot of amazing players.
Just want to reference something that is already on Asycardinals dot com because I know you've been working on this for a while now and you've got a couple of players to kind of open up on what they do off the field. And it's a story that I enjoyed reading and I would like everyone else to enjoy reading as well.
Yeah, So it's one of those unique pieces, I guess you could say. Because Jesse Luketta, we know, is a musician and something he does on the side, something that he's talked about and has posted about. However, I noticed he posted a photo on his Instagram story a few weeks back and there was a finger, I mean, there was a ring on somebody's finger that resembled Mac Wilson's logo. So I did some digging into it and I realized that Mac Wilson and Zach Pascal and Jesse Luketta have started a rap group called Third and Go, and they dropped an album and have forty songs unreleased that are on standby right now that they're forty forty songs on Standby they dropped the volume. It's called It's Us. No apostrophe there, uh, but it's called It's Us. I know that that made Darren r Yeah, it's thrilled. But it's called It's Us. It's and a handful of the songs, and it's why I found it to be kind of unique. Are about the twenty twenty four Arizona Cardinals. They have songs. There's a song called thirty in a Row and it literally named every key player on this Arizona Cardinals team, Marv Doors, Trey McBride. That's a scary site. Is one of the lines JT and Buddha running from the sky. Stay on that side because you know the cards are coming.
Like.
There's a lot of really powerful lyrics about this team, and I think it's truly a testament to the bond that a lot of these guys have in the locker room, because when you're here, you spend most of your time, you spend most of your time throughout the week with these guys in the building away from your family, and when you're able to bring that family atmosphere out of the building, it's pretty special. And I know that a lot of the guys have rallied around it because they play it before some games in the locker room. So it's a pretty it's a pretty cool piece and I highly suggest people go take a look at Asycardinals dot com. It's about the Cards trio, and you know, hopefully also give their music a listen to because it's pretty solid.
It's a great article. The music was played during the open portion of practice, when during team stretch on Thursday and on Wednesday as well, I believe. But if they're there's forty unreleased, Yeah, could we get a forty first and maybe get some name drops from the digital content team.
Look, I'm sure if we go there. Look, Mac Wilson told me that he'll listen to the instrumental version of the songs as he flies on road trips, and that's when he'll jot down a lot of his lyrics. I have no problem staying down next to Mac and be like, can you try to fit in cover two?
Here?
Can you try to fit in Craig Reelou Like, I'm sure you would have loved to be name dropped in one of their rap songs.
Yeah, that's that would be an.
Interesting on the side because you know Craig's coming. Like I'm telling you, I think that that would be great. I know that that's getting Why do I do this to myself?
That might be something to work on in the offseason.
We could start our own rap group.
Yeah, that's not happening.
Why not? No, just they don't want competition.
I think one rap group within the building is enough.
They say three is a crowd, not too.
You can go solo if you want, say no more. Okay, all right, we're in trouble.
Now, what's your my wrapping?
You can think about it. Let me know on Sunday Cardinals and Patriots. That is the matchup in week fifteen. Before we get any more deeper into this hole, we're gonna put a lid on this edition.
Money gersh money no.
Please no, And that's kind. It's a nice ring to it. Keep keep brainstorming there, let me try. All right, we'll put a lid on this edition of Cardinals. Cover two presented by Hyundai Probub, partner of the Arizona Cardinals. As always, special thanks to our executive producer Jim mam Hundre our associate producer Coddy Fincher. Fers Now I'm not gonna say it for Zach Gershman. I'm Craig raylu We'll talk to you next time here on Cardinals Cover two, see Money
