Michael Wilson makes sure his cell phone is on, because he never knows when a text or call is coming from Jacoby Brissett, hoping to outline a play or a route to make the Cardinals passing game go smoothly on game days.
"You get a two-minute phone call," Wilson said. "(He'll say) 'Go to play 56 when Jacksonville played the Bengals, I like how Ja'Marr Chase did this, I see you running it this way.'"
"He does that continuously," he added.
The quarterback doesn't want to be a pain in the rear. But then again, it's necessary in his mind.
"I try to (reach out) as little as I need to, but as much as I can just because I don't want to interrupt other people's day," Brissett said. "I don't even really care to be honest with you. I just do it. I apologize. I always say, 'Hey, I'm sorry, but,' then when it works out in the game, they're like, 'Alright, I see why it happens.'"
Brissett has been clicking as a passer, and now it's locked in – with the news Kyler Murray won’t return this season – that he will start the final five games. But whenever Brissett is going to play, he works to communicate early and often with his pass catchers so that game days go well.
"He'll send me a clip from like, eight years ago, and be like, 'Man this is a look we could get, this is something that could come up,'" tight end Trey McBride said.
Brissett said he learned such things from spending time as a backup to Tom Brady and Philip Rivers, and seeing how much communication they had with their pass catchers outside of what the coaches had said – and how much that helped on the field.
Wilson isn't complaining, even if he has to monitor his phone a bit more.
"I'm a firm believer in preparation," Wilson said, "and he's on his 'p's and q's.'"
-- Brissett will remain the starting QB the rest of the season because of the official admission from Jonathan Gannon on Friday that Murray will not be playing again in 2025. The way this had been playing out, it is not a surprise, nor was it a surprise that Gannon wasn't going to get into any discussion of where Kyler might be playing in 2026. There is a lot of time before anything might happen.
The facts are these: Brissett has played well in his time behind center. Murray, who will be going into Year 8 next season, is guaranteed $36.8 million for 2026 and another $19.5 million for 2027 would be guaranteed if Murray is on the roster on the fifth day of the 2026 league year, which would be mid-March. The potential quarterback draft class is not considered one of the stronger ones, and Murray has plenty on his resumé to point to as successes. One more fact: Until his situation is settled, it'll be the top storyline around the team this offseason.
-- There are still five games left though, starting with the first of two meetings left with the Rams. QB Matthew Stafford has a good argument to be the MVP, and the ability to throw passes to two of the top receivers in the game – Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, who has found the fountain of youth in L.A. – is a big reason why.
"You stick to what you have been doing," cornerback Garrett Williams said. "There are tweaks because it's a specific gameplan. It's kind of similar to Dallas, facing two (great) guys. You have to adjust a little bit. But at the end of the day you have to run what you run and trust your guys. They are good players but we have good players too."
In Dallas, the Cardinals dealt with CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. Those two combined for 13 catches for 164 yards against the Cardinals, but neither scored and neither in the end were a major factor in what turned out to be the Cardinals' most recent win, 27-17 over the Cowboys.
"Two different teams, two different schemes," Williams said. "But the principal of it is the same – we gotta play ball."
-- A site called sportsinfosolutions.com did an interesting breakdown of the teams that have been most impacted by injuries this season. It is weighted by what players are missing and the lost of "total points" from those players – in essence, it's going to hurt a lot more if Joe Burrow is injured than a backup wide receiver – and not surprisingly the Cardinals are up there.
The Cardinals, by this measure, have lost out on 151 "total points" so far this season, exceeded only by the 156 of the 49ers. The 49ers have 206 games missed, the Cardinals 177. I'd expect those "points" to jump this weekend with Harrison, Murray, Nolen, and Benson out, among others. The injuries are charted since Aug. 1 (although the games from the beginning of the season.)
Every team gets injured. But it is undeniable the Cardinals have felt the weight of their losses more than others.
-- Trey McBride, who broke Jimmy Graham's record for most tight end receptions in his first four NFL seasons last week (and had his jersey delivered to Canton for display because of it) needs a five-catch game to tie Travis Kelce's NFL record for 15 straight games with five receptions by a tight end.
-- Interesting to see Kenny Albert, who is doing play by play for Fox, will be broadcasting his 50th Cardinals game. His first came in 1994, the opener against the Rams, when they were still the Phoenix Cardinals and the Rams were in Los Angeles before moving to St. Louis the next season. Dick Stockton is the all-time national PxP leader doing Cardinals games at 54.
(Meanwhile, Sunday will be my 522nd Cardinals game, preseason, regular season, postseason, missing just one – a road trip in 2020 to the Giants – since 2000. Damn Covid restrictions.)
-- According to Next Gen Stats, outside linebacker Josh Sweat has averaged a time to pressure the QB at 2.55 seconds this season, the fourth-best mark in the NFL. His pressure rate of 13.9 percent is up from his 10.8 percent last year with the Eagles.
Sweat is also playing only 56 percent of the defensive snaps, down from 63 percent in 2024 and 71 percent in 2023. That has been important to him. "Just want to move around and stay fresh," Sweat said. "That's all I really want."
"I think (OLB coach) Matt's (Feeney) done a good job with keeping him where we wanted to keep him (and) where he thinks he's his best at as it relates to us playing well on defense and winning the game," Gannon said. "I like where the rotation is at. Obviously, he's typically in the game on big-time downs. If he's not, there is a reason for it, so that's OK too."
-- He's only been in three games, remaining a healthy inactive much of the time, but long-time left tackle D.J. Humphries is making his return to Arizona with the Rams for the first time since leaving after the 2023 season.
-- With Harrison out, and Greg Dortch, and possibly Xavier Weaver, it's time for Michael Wilson WR1 again. His two games in that role produced 25 catches, and he'll build on the 50 receptions for 570 yards he has this season, already career bests with both.
-- The last word goes to Gannon, on the thought process after being eliminated from the playoffs:
"It's pro football, so everybody in that locker room loves to play and we find joy in competing. I know I do."
See you Sunday.
