Cardinals Ready to Silence Critics, Doubters
TEMPE -- The Arizona Cardinals - simply put - aren't expected to win a Super Bowl anytime soon.
Of course things could transpire in a complete different direction, though the Cardinals have so many factors working towards them it's more likely they obtain the No. 1 pick rather than celebrating with confetti around them.
Arizona's roster has lost plenty of talent in the last few months, yet that's part of the rebuild constructed by new general manager Monti Ossenfort. Thus far, him and his staff have done an incredible job of tearing things down to build from the ground up.
The Cardinals are set up greatly for 2024 - but that's part of the issue: Everybody on the outside seems to be overlooking the upcoming season thanks to the lowly expectations placed on Arizona.
As previously mentioned, the Cardinals are expected to have one of the worst records in the league. Yet football isn't played on paper, and there's very much a belief within the facility here in Tempe that the Cardinals will shock plenty of people.
That belief starts with head coach Jonathan Gannon, who oozes a Ted Lasso-like energy to him.
When the word "rebuild" was brought up during a April press conference, Gannon stopped in his tracks.
"I would say because I just cringed when you said that word [rebuild]. Our sole focus is win football games. So that's in our thought process. What can we do on a daily basis, whether it be through acquisition of players or what we're doing with our players now, our sole focus is to win football games. So that's what we're doing," said Gannon.
That was months ago before cleats touched grass. Now, that belief has spread to his players.
"I feel like with JG [Jonathan Gannon], the confidence he brings, I know for me I'm a confident guy," Marquise Brown told reporters. "And I feel like that's getting moved around through the team, just being confident. With everybody doubting us, we're gonna surprise a lot of people."
Last week, James Conner said overcoming the odds is part of every great story.
"If you think of anybody who done something great in the game of football there was probably time when their back was against the wall. Everybody was counting them out and it was just so unexpected for them to do something really big. So yeah, that's the position we're in right now, [the] position to do something great," Conner said.
Jalen Thompson says Arizona could be better than most anticipate:
"I feel like we could be real good. You know what I mean? I kind of feel like we showed glimpses of it last year, how good we can be. This year should be real good especially with this new scheme, putting guys in the right positions to make plays. So I think it should be real good," Thompson said.
"We've been just trying to keep the main thing, the main thing. When we're in the locker room it's just football time, not really worried about anything else. Not really worried about the outside noise."
It's one thing for players to have these robotic, teleprompter answers ready to go for reporters. Obviously, none of the players are going to come out and say they expect the team to only win three games this season.
Yet when you listen to them in front of a microphone and watch them interact with Gannon and his coaching staff, you get the sense they're not kidding: They believe they will surprise so many people.
Whether they actually will is a completely different story. It's still early in the summer when everybody believes they have a chance to compete.
For now - the Cardinals wholeheartedly believe they're winning more football games than you think in 2023.
