The Cardinals got their big lead, and defensively, as Jonathan Gannon noted after the Panthers game, they wanted to make Bryce Young and company earn every yard. What ended up happening was that the Panthers earned many, many yards, and sliced a 24-point lead to five at the end with the Cardinals playing back and keeping the plays in front of them.
I asked Gannon about it this week, and the coach was eloquent in his response, understanding why there would be questions. Internally, there were questions in real time too.
"On a headset with (defensive coordinator) Nick (Rallis), I've been in a couple of those situations," Gannon said. "Your gut's pulling you one way, your brain's pulling you another way and you have to be smart about it. With saying that, I thought that we defended how we needed to defend at the appropriate times."
The Panthers had TD drives of 14, 14, and 12 plays in the second half before the Cardinals shut them down on the final after-onsides possession. On the final scoring drive, the Cardinals allowed a fourth-and-16 conversion.
The Cardinals, through two games, have blitzed less than any team in the league. The focus on keeping Young from scrambling in the game also played a role in what the Cardinals wanted to do defensively (and likely impacted how they rushed the passer when only four guys were sent.)
"I did point out to the whole team and Nick pointed out to the defense (that) there were some snaps within those drives that we could have put the game away," Gannon said. "For one reason or another, we didn't get it done. That's what we tried to correct. That one fourth-and-long, we pointed that play out. It's fourth-and-16, you get off there (and) the game is probably over. It's never over obviously, but you it's looking really good for you.
"Do you want that call there? My instinct said one thing and his brain and my brain both went the other way. No, that is not the right call at fourth-and-16 with the lead with this amount of time. It's unfortunate we didn't get off because as soon as they convert ... I don't want to be the results driven guy (saying) that was a bad call. It wasn't a bad call and you could say then let's just do the opposite but the risk-reward of that, it doesn't weigh itself out."
The Cardinals came out fast and made Young's life miserable on Sunday. The push-and-pull internally for Gannon would inevitably be about any aggressiveness allowing the Panthers to too easily get back in the game. Realistically, had Kyler Murray's interception not happened, or had the onside kick not been successful, the defensive argument is mostly moot, unless the Cardinals are hoping for style points.
But regardless of the calls -- and Rallis did say there were some calls he'd like back, including letting the Panthers get used to a four-man-only rush -- a play made here or there would've changed things too, and that also is part of the equation.
"There were definitely some plays and some snaps in there in the last quarter of football that if we do a better job, it probably puts the game away," Gannon said.
