The new Arizona Cardinals head coach needs to improve his motivation tactics ASAP.
The Jonathan Gannon era for the Arizona Cardinals has not gotten off to the smoothest start. From a tampering investigation that resulted in a settlement between the Cardinals and Gannon’s former employer the Philadelphia Eagles to a jersey reveal that was more underwhelming than anything, the season is looking bleak from the onset. Gannon has to get a squad that everyone believes is going to be mind-numbingly bad into fighting shape, and sometimes that requires some motivation.
In the latest episode of the Cardinals show ‘Cards Flight Plan’, Gannon is hyping up the team in a meeting with some motivational words. The problem is … I don’t know if Gannon has ever motivated anyone in his entire life.
I mean, yeesh. I felt uncomfortable watching and I wasn’t even in the room. It’s not like Gannon isn’t trying, I really think he is. However, he just has the vocal tone of an NPC from Dark Souls who is offering you a side quest.
Not to mention, some of the questions here need to be asked with some oomph behind them. “You got a fire in your gut?” has to be asked with a level of passion that would bring the team along with you, not like a doctor asking a patient about his bowel movements.
You can even see it on the players’ faces. This is just not getting over with the crowd. This is the point in the show where they send out a white hot babyface to hit Gannon with a Stone Cold Stunner to pop the crowd, because the person in the ring right now is just not doing it for anyone.
I kind of feel bad for Gannon, but don’t feel bad at all for the Cardinals. It’s evident that Gannon might be in over his head right now, but the Cardinals took a bad swing on a coach that just had his defense fold in the Super Bowl, and might not be the same for it.
As for Gannon, I hope he has some free online motivational speaking courses loaded up before the season.