Arizona Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon talks play calling, adjustments

Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon knows the team’s ground game has not reached expectations this season. He knows a lot has to go right for it to click, especially with the loss of James Conner and now Trey Benson.

But without saying it specifically, what he talked about Monday should make people realize that blaming it all on playcalling doesn’t tell the full story. It never does.

Prior to the extra days available after last Thursday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, Gannon acknowledged that work would be done on identifying changes that might be in the offing.

When asked Monday about potential tweaks, Gannon said. “We got some adjustments. I’m not going to tell you.”

However, he did expand later on things that hadn’t been going well.

Asked if technique was an issue, he said, “Yeah. The first step, pad level and pointing it the right way. You got some technique things that come up and some schematic things that come up. Off here or there a little bit, playing penalty free, so we just have to uptick everything that we're doing to get the run game going.”

His key point came when asked whether there is concern about times when defensive players have been unblocked.

To which Gannon said, “No, that's kind of talking to (the point) of making sure we're pointing the right way. A lot of times; now I am going to get into it a little bit. We have to make sure that we're all on the same page when we're making calls at the line of scrimmage. That's been good for us in the past. It's not where it needs to be right now, but (it’s) very correctable. We do have to make sure that we don't have unblocked players that we think we have accounted for that are not accounted for.”

There it is in black and white, and why it’s virtually impossible for anyone on the outside to constantly talk about playcalling when no one truly knows what the play calls are down after down and how many times what happens at the line of scrimmage ends up adjusting the call because the defense might be showing something not expected for a particular play call.

Then, there’s the reality of all 11 players being on that same page and knowing how their responsibility might suddenly be different.

There is also the issue of the quarterback going through progressions in a timely fashion and getting the ball out to a hopefully open receiver before the pass rush arrives.

Still, there are many positive plays during a game, even when it is a loss. But unblocked players, penalties, dropped passes, etc., aren’t usually the result of a bad play call. It’s the execution of the call. Is it really good play, good play call; bad play, bad play call? Does that make any logical sense?

What also is illogical is that we’ll never hear anyone who criticizes a defense blame it on the defensive calls.

Yet, defensive coordinator Nick Rallis noted recently how, in the game against San Francisco, a crucial late 20-yard pass play to running back Christian McCaffrey was the result of not being in the best defense for that 49ers play call.

Gannon discussed on Wednesday explosive plays hurting the defense.

“To me and Nick, (who) I think thinks pretty similar to me, certain games (with) how you choose to defend you know you're going to put your guys in some stressful downs, and you have to be OK with some. Other games, you're trying to keep them all off the board. I'm not going to tell you how we're going to defend this week, but I would say this: With explosive plays, I'm OK if the stress of the call—there’s situation, strength and stress of each call, right? When you're calling it, what's the strength, what's the stress? If they find the stress for an explosive play sometimes you can live with some of those. If the strength of the call is to take away explosives and they generate explosives, I am not OK with that.

“Coming out of Seattle, I felt that happened too many times so that's always something that we talk about and hang our hat on because we know that's a stat that wins. I do think we have to do a better job of keeping the explosive play battle down as it relates to defense on that side of the ball. We have to do a better job. You can't have a five-play drive that goes 70 yards and they score a touchdown. That’s not good defense, and he doesn't call it accordingly like that. I think it's self-inflicted explosives we have to minimize.”

There it is in a nutshell for the defense, but also the offense: self-inflicted. Ponder that for a moment.

Of course, it’s not that I actually believe I’ll change many people’s minds. But maybe, just maybe, think of all this the next time you’re quick to lambast only the play calling.

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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Arizona Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon talks play calling, adjustments