While the Cardinals are heavy home favorites, Gannon talked like the Panthers are a contending team.
The Carolina Panthers, whom the Arizona Cardinals face this Sunday at home in Week 2, played terribly in Week 1in a 26-10 road loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and have been a bad team for a while. But if you listened to Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon on Wednesday, you would think that the Cardinals were facing the Philadelphia Eagles.
The youth of today would say Gannon was “glazing” the Panthers, but he spoke highly of the 0-1 team.
And he probably should prepare his team as if they were going to play a quality team.
What did Gannon say about the Panthers?
He started with quarterback Bryce Young. “Offensively, their quarterback’s a good player and he can beat you with his arm and his legs,” he said, before adding “their O-line is really good. Really good.”
He said, “it starts with the quarterback.”
“He can dice you up, and if you don’t rush him the right way, he makes you pay with his legs,” said Gannon. “He’s got really good escape mobility and can beat you with his arm and his legs, so that’s a big-time challenge for us.”
Rookie receiver Tet McMillan “is a big guy, good route runner, contested catches.”
He said that Panthers guard Robert Hunt is “one of the best in the world, in my opinion.”
Running back Chuba Hubbard is “a good back,” which the Cardinals know quite well, considering he rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns against them last year in a 36-30 overtime win.
He had positive things to say about the defense, too.
Jaycee Horn is “a premier corner who I have a high opinion of,” Gannon said. Defensive tackle Derrick Brown “is back train-wrecking the game.”
He also added that new linebacker Christian Rozeboom, previously of the Los Angeles Rams, and safety Tre’Von Moehrig, formerly of the Las Vegas Raiders, are both really good.
“They’ve got a good scheme,” he said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
The Cardinals are 6.5-point home favorites in this game, but the Panthers are not one they can take lightly.
Last year, “We didn’t stop the run, and we lost the takeaway battle and got beat. If you don’t do that you’re going to lose. It was very clear to our guys why we lost that game and just revisit it because they got a lot of players. Hubbard went for 152 (yards) versus us last year. You’re not going to win.”
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
