Jonathan Gannon has always bristled at the idea of a rebuild, immediately setting out to win games upon his hire in Arizona.
The Cardinals have certainly been more competitive than expected in 2023, but after Sunday’s loss to the Bengals, they are now 1-4, unofficially throwing dirt on any longshot gasp at an NFL playoff run.
Gannon and his assistant coaches have not been hesitant to play rookies this year, but at this point they need to fully dedicate themselves to the progress of those players.
The 2024 season and beyond is now the focus, which means some of the developments that happened on Sunday should no longer take place.
Arizona Cardinals rookie snap counts in Week 5 against the Bengals:
T Paris Johnson JR. 57 (100%) ➖
RB Emari Demercado 44 (77%) 📈
WR Michael Wilson 43 (75%) 📉
DL Dante Stills 42 (51%) 📉
DB Kei'Trel Clark 40 (49%) 📉
OLB B.J. Ojulari 22 (27%) 📈
LB Owen Pappoe 18 ST ➖— Bo Brack (@BoBrack) October 9, 2023
The chief issue as the demotion of sixth-round pick Kei’Trel Clark. He earned a starting job in camp and allowed a passer rating of 93.7 on targets thrown his way through four games.
Clearly the coaches thought something different about his performance based on the tape, and went with veteran journeyman Antonio Hamilton as the starter.
Meanwhile, fourth-year cornerback Marco Wilson, who entered the contest allowing a passer rating of 130.8 on targets, not only kept his job as a starting corner, but shadowed Ja’Marr Chase for much of the afternoon.
The result? Chase had a franchise-record 15 catches for 192 yards and three touchdowns.
To his credit, Gannon owned up to the mistake, blaming himself and the defensive staff for a terrible defensive game-plan.
“You can’t let their best player beat you,” Gannon told the media postgame, “and that’s what we did.”
7/11 pic.twitter.com/6vdwKQkVfs
— Ja’MarrChase (@Real10jayy__) October 8, 2023
Clark should be in the starting lineup the rest of the way.
Is it possible Hamilton and Wilson are marginally better players at this point? Sure.
But Clark is the one under team control for the next four years at a bargain-bin cost. Give him all the reps and see if he can learn on the job. If he can become even an average starter at corner or in the slot, that’s an extremely valuable piece.
On offense, Michael Wilson saw 75% play-time, his second highest of the year, which is good. But he only got two targets, both coming late in the contest.
On the first, he made an unreal catch despite getting blasted by a defender. The coaches can’t control where quarterback Joshua Dobbs throws the ball, but based on Wilson’s start, it makes sense to design some plays that make him the No. 1 option.
The Bengals make it a clear directive to feed their best pass-catchers the ball, and there’s no reason for tight ends to be getting nine targets and Wilson only two.
Speaking of tight ends: Zach Ertz has had a wonderful career, but unfortunately he seems to be out of gas.
Coaches like veterans because they run the right routes, understand the audibles, block correctly, and do all the little things to a tee. But as savvy as Ertz is, it can’t hide the fact that he’s not scaring anyone when he runs downfield.
Trey McBride not only had way fewer offensive snaps than Ertz on Sunday, but he also got out-snapped by Geoff Swaim.
Snaps on offense against the Bengals:
Zach Ertz — 43
Geoff Swaim — 22
Trey McBride — 19— Kyle Odegard (@Kyle_Odegard) October 9, 2023
That is a concerning tidbit considering McBride’s development, as he does not seem to be on pace to live up to his second-round billing. But at this point, there is no downside to playing him more.
Maybe McBride doesn’t deserve it, but he should be the starting tight end so the Cardinals can see if the light turns on, because he will be in Arizona next year and Ertz won’t.
The last piece of this is rookie edge rusher B.J. Ojulari.
He is another player who hasn’t done much to deserve playing time, but the Cardinals’ pass-rush is a black hole right now. Dennis Gardeck is a good situational rusher, but no one else has shown the ability to consistently harass the quarterback.
While Joe Burrow was sacked three times on Sunday, two came because the Bengals didn’t pick up a stunt and allowed for a free rusher up the middle.
There’s no harm in increasing the playing time for Ojulari, this year’s second-round pick, to see if he can rev up with more time on task.
Even though everyone else considered the 2023 season over before it began, it was fine that the Cardinals tried to win at the outset of the year.
But with a 1-4 record and playoff odds now at +1800, there’s no more reason to fight it.
Play the kids.
