Preseason Week 2 Against Colts Yields Perfect Outcome for Jonathan Gannon, Arizona Cardinals

the Arizona Cardinals loss to the Indianapolis Colts in week two of the preseason yielded the perfect outcome for Jonathan Ganon in the upcoming week let's [Music] discuss you are locked on Cardinals your daily Arizona Cardinals podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Dayal Clancy here follow me on Twitter clany quore follow the podcast lockon a cards thank you for making lockon Cardinals your first listen free wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube part of lockon podcast Network your team every day Big Show today lot to discuss as we inch closer to week one of the regular season in Orchard Park thanks for being a part of the eighth season as I host lockdown cinal that's absolutely wild I've been in sports radio since 2011 in Phoenix uh going on my eighth season with locked on um it's been it's been incredible thank you for being a part of this next chapter whether you're in everyday or been around for a long time or if this is your first listen thank you maybe make tomorrow your second listen today's episode of Locked on Cardinals is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial NBA NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit fel.com lockon to get started so you'll see if you're watching on YouTube the overlay of best outcome for Cardinals against Colts and that may be a little off-putting because they didn't play that well for a good portion of the game there were some highlights but I'll explain what I mean the good next segment and you know the bad the final segment and it's been it was an interesting game to watch for a couple different reasons uh first off uh Jonathan gon listen to me thankfully none of the starters played and that's something that I think is good for the team I don't think that in this current situation this team would benefit from any of the starters playing I just don't if Kyler Murray's not playing it just changes everything and Marvin Harrison Jr doesn't need to show anything else he's going to have his learning curve regardless of if he plays in the preseason or not this is a Bonafide depth chart preseason for the Cardinals you saw Darius Robinson played last week played 11 snaps got behind the line of scrimmage twice that's all you need to see I mean it's really not like oh these guys need reps before they no they don't no they don't preseason is becoming a farce it's becoming the Pro Bowl and for those guys who are trying to make the roster trying to make the practice squad trying to jump up from third string to second string to whatever it may be absolutely this is important a lot more than the starters play having said all of that this was the best outcome we could have seen for the Arizona Cardinals last week against Cindy and there's a couple different reasons why first there's a lot to learn from that's number one so many penalties 11 penalties for 82 yards rookie Christian Jones on the left side out of Texas five of them were for him Isaiah Isaiah Adams I believe had two or three the offensive line was a terror regarding holding penalties that is good tape for the Cardinals to watch not just for the rookies but for everybody that's something everybody will be able to learn from and I think that when it's so egregious and so obvious you just kind of have to look at and be like yeah it's a preseason these are rookies holding calls are different these players are faster even guys who are practice squad players in the NFL are probably the pass the fastest pass rushers uh Christian Jones has seen in his life on a football field the NFL hits different it's hard offens playing offens Line's hard man that zero to one jump doesn't just automatically snap and Christian Jones wasn't a top two or three round pick for a reason that's not to say he can't be a guy that can play meaningful steps for the Cardinals in years to come it doesn't mean any of that Isaiah Adams has been thrown around to a bunch of different positions and you like that's another thing where it's like it's hard to kind of gain any sort of momentum when you're playing a couple different positions in a given game they're just trying to find the sauce they're trying to find the depth they're trying to find where these players will be best fit when games start to matter you saw John Gaines for his first extended play time since becoming a pro after you know going down with a with an injury during Camp last year he struggled fine it's all part of the game man this is all part of what it's supposed to be and it was massively beneficial for the Cardinals okay and then outside of the penalties you started to see some Flash plays some flashball memories you'll witness you'll remember from this game one Trey Benson's almost touchdown run they got negated by holding penalty uh drien Taylor Taylor Demon's interception where he where he Tippy toed on on the sideline that's an instinct play sure was the play late yep did the pass rush help make the safety's job easier yep was that also just a Bonafide NFL play by a guy who's poised to be the next safety for the Arizona Cardinals in years to come yeah and again these things don't matter as pertaining directly to wins and losses for the Cardinals and this means everything for young players who are not only showing their worth on face value but also getting reps if there were to be some sort of injury and they'd have to be thrust into action early so while I'm you know ping ponging back and forth on the importance of the preseason starters don't need to play that's one depth players like drien ker demerson is gonna be on the roster he's gonna back up Jaylen Thompson so we know what he's going to be and also getting the positive confirmation bias that oh this dude can ball and everybody I've done a couple different radio hits um one in in uh in New Orleans and then one randomly in Cincinnati before the season started and or you know before the preseason started both were like yep D teller demerson he was on our list our watch list as you know we were talking on the radio about you know the specific team that they cover so the flash ball memories beautiful thing Trey Benson Xavier Thomas Etc I'll talk about the good in the next segment and then the bad is almost as good as the good because that's how young players get better I can almost assure that Christian Jones will never forget this film study even though it was the preseason welcome to the NFL and that's not a a negative slight he was looked at as a potential Steel in the late rounds when the Cardinals got him six years he played in college in Texas the dudes played a lot of meaningful football on the biggest stage top five biggest stage in college football he should be fine and five penalties in any game is something that will be seared into his brain and hopefully be hopefully it'll just be one of the biggest learning lessons he's had since playing the game of football not just you know during after being drafted and then during camping into the preseason so all in all Jonathan ganon's got a lot to work with and that's great what's not so great is when you see what the depth is going to be for the Cardinals there's still and and I won't open this this can up I'm gonna do it tomorrow I can't I can't wait much longer I'm G to do it tomorrow but it just shows kind of a litmus test as we're less than 3 weeks away this is what the depth of the team looks like after you get through you know that first tier or the second tier M first tier third tier moves up to the second tier it kind of just shows where the Cardinals are right now and again preseason it's not a freak out or anything like that it's just acknowledge what we saw and hopefully this can be something that can be you know sewn up pretty quickly knock the penalties down everything like that as week one approaches lock down cardal your team everything what was the good and there was a lot of it there was a lot of it from players that you want the good to come from I'll discuss it next locked on Cardinals your team every day this episode of Locked on Cardinals is brought to you by our friends at eBay Motors now when I think about eBay Motors I think about three things passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive and eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance whether it's superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you're into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you'll always find exactly what you looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you're burning rubber not cash man with all the parts you needed the prices you want it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge win so keep your right that live with ebaymotors.com elems only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers so while the game Saturday night was sloppy it was you know there was stuff to work on um there were still a bunch of positives and the positives you want the positives you want to see and my phrase that I use every day as you'll know this is the only thing that you don't want to see from the preseason is oh no that players not ready oh no may have been a Mis draft pick and sure a couple games that quote unquote don't matter is not a signifier for things to come absolutely having said that when you see positives from players that are going to make impacts or you expect to make impacts right away it's a beautiful thing number one Trey Benson had his game he was in the bad category last week and it was it's grading on a curve man he's expected to be the second running back and you've got your Amari J Marcado truthers out there your Michael Carter truthers out there it'll be wild to see what the Cardinals do with the depth chart I don't know how you drop one of those guys to the practice squad or cut him all together I I don't see how you do it but Trey Benson made his case even though he was playing against the twos for a guy who's gonna get that 30% touch share with James Conor I've wanted James Connor's carries to diminish for two years now and you hope that it could be a 6040 or 5545 split if you're going to go with just those two guys Trey Benson had a couple breakout runs one of which was was called back due to a penalty that was kind of a ghosty penalty um and another he got he caught the edge and and went down the sideline where he could have broke it I mean like the dude is showing that he's gonna be ready for NFL action right away and that's a beautiful thing that is a very very good thing for the Cardinals because this is going to be a run first offense this offensive line is the strength is the Run game the strength is the Run blocking we saw it last year there's going to be different pieces this year J Williams on the right Paris Johnson Jr on the left Evan Brown probably playing left guard but this offensive Line's run protection is going to be the strength and we'll see once they mold because again there's a couple different players and different positions who haven't played alongside each other before if you can rely on the run as the Arizona Cardinal is going to be your best friend and your best defense holding on to the ball time of possession Trey Benson looked great you've got to give dangering teller demerson rabbit his his flowers also the interception was great he doesn't look uncomfortable on the football field and as a safety a lot of it is so like as interior defensive linean sure you've got stunts you've got different you've got different formations you're trying to get the quarterback that's it you're trying to get the quarterback or trying to stop the run whatever it's like it's a lot more walsy go with me here it's like the Walts it's boxy okay you've got a couple different outcomes with safety it's Jazz it's syncopation it's completely different it's feel and it's instinct and it's trusting your corners and your fellow safety it's completely different there's more freedom but there's more to lose because you're the last line of defense and he looks comfortable sure he missed he missed a couple didn't he didn't look perfect but the beauty of it is he looked comfortable playing the position at the NFL level and while it's against twos and threes again that's higher Talent than he's seen when he was a Tech it it's a jump up it's different and he looked good okay he didn't look lost he didn't have the Isaiah Simmons or zavin Collins deer in the headlights look like oh no what am I doing and then he had the pick which was a beauty it was just least he didn't drop the ball or not get two feet in bounds it was perfect it's exactly what you want um I will give an honorable mention to Darren Hall again played 70% of the snaps I will group him in with Starling Thomas for for different reasons one Sterling Thomas is surprising people as a guy who could you know be a Bonafide starter for the Cardinals I was I didn't even put his name on the list and that's my fault played great in the first two preseason games you know what he looks like an NFL player playing in the preseason an NFL starter Fringe starter playing in the preseason you could tell the differenti ation between practice squad guys St string guys guys trying to make the roster and a guy who's played a whole butload of meaningful snaps like he did last year in his first year and then Darren Hall is really making a case for himself to maybe not make the 53 but be that practice squad guy be that Jace Whitaker for this team even though they play different positions where whenever you see jaay Whitaker on the field over the last couple years who was hurt he was one of the first two men up would be Baker Jaylen Thompson whoever it may be Darren Hall could be that guy for the cornerback room for the Cardinals and then mine my favorite one not only because you really root for a player like this with this story but also because this position is most needed of talent for the Cardinals is Xavier Thomas from the pass rush position had another sack played around 50% of the snaps and the Dude Looks healthy he looks spry not a dude who's had two season ending injuries when he was in college Dude Looks like he's ready to ball he was the one who got the pressure on the quarterback who when when the interception was thrown to Rabbit he got another sack uh earlier in the game like the Dude Looks ready to play at the NFL level and you love those stories and every NFL story is great okay the sixth round the seventh round guys like that that make it and end up making a career play five seven or eight years make $15 million $20 million and then you know maybe they make one of super you know whatever it is like those stories are awesome zavier Thomas I don't see a world where he wouldn't have been a third round pick Fringe second round pick if he didn't have those two injuries in college the Dude Looks ready to play right away and that for the Cardinals is fantastic I mean cam Thomas had two sacks cam Thomas has been in the league for a couple years so it's not like you know when when it Xavier Thomas's performance means a lot more than cam Thomas' performance because cam Thomas should be doing that he's played a couple years in the league already um but if zavier Thomas can replicate and be able to somewhat fill even if it's just a situational pass rush role it's GNA massively benefit the Cardinals and they need that they need that pretty desperately lock on Cardinal your team every day the bad and while the bad this isn't like it's not you know close the curtains here it's the second week of the preseason but there are now there's momentum going in the wrong way for a couple different things that need to be discuss and I'll do that next this episode of Locked on Cardinals is brought to you by FanDuel you've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel man America's number one sports weend well we have something a little different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV a three-week free trial make a $5 bet I had YouTu I had um the Sunday Ticket last year and I got I got it from from FanDuel and it's the greatest version that I've ever seen of the Sunday Ticket so this is pretty sweet then with the YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market gate all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment you can cancel anytime just visit fanduel.com lockon to download America's number one Sportsman so best outcome for the Cardinals was what we saw this past Saturday lot to work on a lot of film lot of young guys making mistakes that are correctable it's just that that's what we witness and there were some really really good flash ball moments Trey Benson couple long runs rabbit with his interception zav Thomas had another sack you're starting to see momentum from those three guys and Trey Benson didn't have a great first week um but you know he showed what he's capable of even though again it's against the twos and threes we're talking pre-season football okay so when I say I'm not saying the sky is falling by any strch or I'm not saying the sky is all rainbows and butterflies but it's good to see positive things from guys who are set to make an impact or who are expected to make an impact in some form of fashion for the Cardinals this season and that's why they were drafted where they were drafted now the not so great Elijah Wilkinson this is no personal like I have to give a disclaimer once in a while and I I think it's maybe it's unnecessary I find it necessary this is never personal with anybody that I talk negatively about ever ever people thought that I hated Cliff Kingsbury Steve like I don't have time to hate people it's like I'm talking about the Avatar that is the head coach or the GM or the left guard Right Guard of the Arizona cins Elijah Wilkinson I don't know how he makes the 53 man like I don't understand I think that they're really trying to figure out if there's a place for him and he may be a practice squad guy he may be a third string guy it shows that the depth of the Arizona Cardinals is predicated upon the younger guys we'll see if John Gaines can be a guy because he was in line to at least compete for the left guard and Center positions two off seasons ago before he got hurt then they brought in yelta R and he's been great left guard has been the biggest um the biggest Achilles heel for the team and wherever Elijah Wilkinson was on the line this past Saturday was the weak side of the line and when you're trying to watch rookies under a microscope especially Xavier Isaiah Adams it's like it's very difficult to do that when the veteran who's played many games in the NFL can't defend a second tier pass rush it's very difficult to go back to the drawing bre like well how' Isaiah well I don't know he wasn't in the greatest situation you want adversity of course for your young guys and both Isaiah Adams and gisan Jones felt that this past weekend but you also want to see what it looks like when you have a left a left tackle who's actually blocking properly so Isaiah Adams can just play his position to the best of his potential or do the best of his ability at that given time for that given snap when it's when the play's blown up on one side of the line immediately it's like well what can you learn from that how somebody adjust sure but that's not what this is about like you want to learn as much as humanly possible when things are good when things are bad and how they adapt when things are mostly bad because he's lining up alongside Elijah wilg who can't block anybody it's difficult and again this isn't a direct attack whatsoever this is the Avatar that wears the number then where and has the helmet that's what I'm talking about so I don't know and listen the Run protection was a lot better than pass protection pass protection did not look good luckily for the Cardinals you know you've got two left tackles and two right tackles one of them I mean they're just both playing on the on the line at the same time Kelvin beum is probably going to be serviceable enough but he plays tackle more than guard like this is really going to determine like if Evan Brown's the guy can really just play left guard and everybody that I've had you know Donnie drwan and and Tyler Drake have said that Evan Brown's in line for that role and it seems like through two weeks that the reason why is not just because he's the most equipped but also Isaiah Adams and John gain just aren't ready which is fine they're young and we'll see but that was something for me with the bad where it's compounded like well somebody gets hurt yikes yikes and then the bad also and this is what I call a cross show te's Cardinals need a backup quarterback and while Clayton tune is eons ahead of Desmond Ritter that doesn't and it this isn't a for sure like this can't change and I I I don't see how it could also let me explain just because Clayton tun is eons ahead of Desmond Ritter doesn't mean Clayton tun would be an effective backup for Kyler Murray both Desmond Ritter and Clayton ton could run the RPO game for the Cardinals if this if they were going to run the ball 35 times a game both could do that throw the ball 10 12 times like if you want to keep it in a vacuum like that both could do it Clayton tun's got it he's got an arm okay I championed him last year to start from week one and I don't take that back I mean I think because it didn't matter Josh jobs was a revelation for like three games Josh jobs is one of the the biggest mysteries in the history of you know the last two years of football but the like the one thing that can't happen for this continual rebuild to bear fruits is they can't worry about who their backup quarterback is if Kyler Murray does get hurt this needs to be a veteran I've got one name in mind I got visc and I don't care like I don't I don't hold that oh I had a hot take guys stop it oh I'm gonna get some crap for this one nope don't care you'll never hear me say that but I did get some not not so nice things said because of one person who could be and should be the backup for this team he's not on the roster currently he's got a similar skill set to kyam Murray but not really he is able to use his legs because he played wide receiver in college he's won Playoff games he's in his late 30s but for the Colt McCoy backup crew when col McCoy was over or close to 40 this guy fits the system a little bit better I'm G to tell you who it is right now I will say not one other word and that will be my opening segment for tomorrow it's Ryan Tano Ryan Tano would be the guy that I would trust to produce 70% of what Kyler Murray does which is wildly out of bounds more than what either Clayton tune or Desmond Ritter could provide Alice Clancy locked on Cardinals remember without you there is no me I'll talk to you Tom