1
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,120
Speaker 1: Time to hand out some awards. Welcome Bird Gang. On

2
00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,479
Speaker 1: today's show, Zach Kirstman joins me, it is award season

3
00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:11,600
Speaker 1: and while we didn't want to be left out, it's

4
00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:14,560
Speaker 1: our turn to single out some Cardinals players. Also, we'll

5
00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,160
Speaker 1: look ahead to the championship Sunday. Who do we see

6
00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,360
Speaker 1: headed to Super Bowl fifty eight? First though, Jonathan Gannon's

7
00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:25,959
Speaker 1: second job. It's Cardinals Cover two, Episode seven two, and

8
00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:28,800
Speaker 1: it starts now.

9
00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:32,080
Speaker 2: Welcome to Cardinals Cover two.

10
00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:35,120
Speaker 3: Wood to Baker, what Heart? What rent?

11
00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:36,680
Speaker 1: This guy's unbelievable.

12
00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:41,080
Speaker 2: Cardinals Cover two is presented by Hyundai, proud partner of

13
00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:46,960
Speaker 2: the Arizona Cardinals, and by Arizona Cardinals Podcasts. Visit Azycardinals

14
00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:48,720
Speaker 2: dot com Slash podcasts.

15
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:50,160
Speaker 3: He's a a ten half of five.

16
00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,720
Speaker 1: He's it again, So more Harry Magic.

17
00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:56,200
Speaker 2: Whoa, here's Craig Grioloud.

18
00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:03,680
Speaker 1: So there is a saying the more you can do,

19
00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:08,440
Speaker 1: and I think Zach, our head coach, Jonathan Gannon showed

20
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:11,720
Speaker 1: that this week the more you can do. Try to

21
00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:16,760
Speaker 1: be as indispensable as possible. Not that JG's going anywhere,

22
00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,960
Speaker 1: he doesn't have enough work to do on his own,

23
00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:24,319
Speaker 1: but there he was picking up the phone and calling

24
00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,440
Speaker 1: season ticket holders to get them to come back for

25
00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,040
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four season. It was a sight to

26
00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,800
Speaker 1: see and he was making deals, That's true. He was

27
00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:34,400
Speaker 1: making deals.

28
00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:36,880
Speaker 3: He got people committed to the next couple, next couple

29
00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,800
Speaker 3: of seasons, which is absolutely awesome. And it's kind of

30
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,320
Speaker 3: those duties as a signed I guess you could say,

31
00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:44,640
Speaker 3: you gotta do whatever you can. As a head coach.

32
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,880
Speaker 3: We talk about the culture component. I think after seeing

33
00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,040
Speaker 3: our social team post it and to see some of

34
00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,160
Speaker 3: the comments that were left on the post, the fan

35
00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:54,400
Speaker 3: base is starting to really see that it's not just

36
00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,760
Speaker 3: JG talking about it, but he's also showing it. To

37
00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,600
Speaker 3: have a head coach walking to your facility, grab the

38
00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:02,680
Speaker 3: phones and be willing to call people and say hey,

39
00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:05,720
Speaker 3: I need people, giving people to speak to It was

40
00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,880
Speaker 3: exciting and I could tell he was enjoying it as well,

41
00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,400
Speaker 3: being able to communicate with the fan base one on one.

42
00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,560
Speaker 1: If you haven't seen it seen it, I strongly encourage

43
00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,400
Speaker 1: you to check it out on the Arizona Cardinals social

44
00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:23,840
Speaker 1: media channels Instagram, Twitter. Huge shout out to Emma Kramer,

45
00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,680
Speaker 1: director of Social Media, for capturing the video and then

46
00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:31,320
Speaker 1: putting it together even on TikTok. So very well done,

47
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:36,240
Speaker 1: and it wasn't something that was I don't even know

48
00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:38,399
Speaker 1: if anyone asked JG to do it. I just think

49
00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,799
Speaker 1: he saw it, saw a bunch of team members on

50
00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,760
Speaker 1: the phone and calling and asking, and he said, hey,

51
00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,079
Speaker 1: just hand me a headset. And he was on there

52
00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,799
Speaker 1: and calling people. And I'm guessing at first people didn't

53
00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:54,440
Speaker 1: really believe that they did was the other one on

54
00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,000
Speaker 1: the other side of that phone call, but hey, sometimes

55
00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,359
Speaker 1: you have no idea who might be other. Yeah, they're

56
00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:01,919
Speaker 1: in the of that line.

57
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think yeah, shout out Emma. She kind of

58
00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,720
Speaker 3: just jumped right in because this was very unprompted. Just

59
00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,400
Speaker 3: out of nowhere. You start seeing JG walk around by

60
00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:11,960
Speaker 3: the ticket by the ticket tables over there, and he

61
00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:14,600
Speaker 3: just you hear his voice. He's very loud. We all

62
00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,239
Speaker 3: know that, and you could tell the energy. You could

63
00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,400
Speaker 3: feel it throughout the entire building. And then once you're like, okay,

64
00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:23,480
Speaker 3: he's actually grabbing a headset. Now, Oh, this isn't just talk.

65
00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:25,600
Speaker 3: This is actually he's going to do this right now.

66
00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:27,920
Speaker 3: That was definitely pretty cool to see, in regardless if

67
00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:30,520
Speaker 3: he was asked or wasn't asked to do it. I

68
00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:32,240
Speaker 3: think he would have just been willing to do it

69
00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:33,600
Speaker 3: regardless as he did.

70
00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,200
Speaker 1: And just judging from the video that's out there, he

71
00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,680
Speaker 1: looked very comfortable, seemed to be enjoying it.

72
00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:40,600
Speaker 3: It's a salesman and him, why do you want to

73
00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,680
Speaker 3: come to the Arizona Cardinals. He obviously they know how

74
00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,320
Speaker 3: to get talent, bring it into the facility, develop talent.

75
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:50,080
Speaker 3: They're also trying to develop that chemistry with the fan base.

76
00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:51,680
Speaker 3: You want to meet him where they're at. So if

77
00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:53,680
Speaker 3: that means for right now, because we don't have any

78
00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,120
Speaker 3: games at State Farm Stadium, Hey, let's get you excited

79
00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,880
Speaker 3: for next year. Start counting down the days you know,

80
00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:00,920
Speaker 3: you start to you start to make your steps towards.

81
00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:02,720
Speaker 1: That and Bergang, if you want to be a part

82
00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,840
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty four season Azcardinals dot Com forward

83
00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:10,960
Speaker 1: slash Priority list Azcardinals dot Com forward Slash Priority List,

84
00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,360
Speaker 1: and who knows, this time next year, maybe the head

85
00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:16,000
Speaker 1: coach is giving you a call.

86
00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:18,920
Speaker 3: Maybe sometime this year, even that JG might walk back

87
00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,400
Speaker 3: into that facility and just be like, Hey, I enjoyed

88
00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:23,080
Speaker 3: it so much, let's do it again.

89
00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,200
Speaker 1: All right, as we talk football here on Cardinals Cover two,

90
00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,320
Speaker 1: presented by Hyundai, proud partner of the Arizona Cardinals. This

91
00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:36,080
Speaker 1: is awards season. You can't pick up a basically any

92
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,560
Speaker 1: social media post or television and you've got the Oscars,

93
00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,640
Speaker 1: the Grammys, the Tony's. Well, here we present the first

94
00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:48,159
Speaker 1: annual Gershman's. Actually no, we don't. We're not doing that,

95
00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,680
Speaker 1: but it is our annual year end awards that us

96
00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,679
Speaker 1: here on the content and creative side within the Arizona

97
00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,560
Speaker 1: Cardinals do each and every year. You just got pegged

98
00:04:58,560 --> 00:04:59,880
Speaker 1: to kind of put it all together.

99
00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,320
Speaker 3: I got honored it all together.

100
00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,160
Speaker 1: I look, it's honestly it was. It was so neat.

101
00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:09,520
Speaker 3: It's one of the best kept secrets I kind of had.

102
00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,120
Speaker 3: I had everybody sending in their submissions towards me. I'm

103
00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,640
Speaker 3: thinking myself, like some and we're gonna definitely talk about them.

104
00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:17,840
Speaker 3: We're gonna call some people out on some of their decisions.

105
00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:20,280
Speaker 3: We're also gonna, you know, compliment some people and be

106
00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,520
Speaker 3: like that is a great you know list, Zach, you

107
00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:24,400
Speaker 3: did great job putting that one together, and I'm gonna

108
00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,400
Speaker 3: say thank you. I know, my choices were fantastic, but

109
00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:29,920
Speaker 3: I think it was just it was so funny being

110
00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:31,840
Speaker 3: able to see some of the responses come in and

111
00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:34,600
Speaker 3: people gave their reasoning, and on asycardinals dot com people

112
00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:37,919
Speaker 3: can see some of their reasoning behind the choices that

113
00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,160
Speaker 3: they didn't make, the voter takes, as we called it,

114
00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:42,440
Speaker 3: and to see some of them coming together.

115
00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,160
Speaker 1: It's pretty cool. Our academy, if you will, comprised of

116
00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:50,520
Speaker 1: thirty different voters in all walks of content and creative

117
00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:56,640
Speaker 1: front of the camera, behind the microphone, content, social media producers.

118
00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:01,520
Speaker 1: So just a great overall view from the Arizona Cardinals

119
00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,920
Speaker 1: from different perspectives. And Danny and I talked about this

120
00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,880
Speaker 1: a week ago here on Cardinals Cover two. We kind

121
00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:13,080
Speaker 1: of gave who we thought were deserving of the honors

122
00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:16,960
Speaker 1: in these six categories most Valuable Cardinal, Offensive Player of

123
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,120
Speaker 1: the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year,

124
00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:23,080
Speaker 1: beyond the box score Player of the Year, someone to

125
00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:27,960
Speaker 1: highlight that maybe statistically you don't really notice but is

126
00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,400
Speaker 1: deserving to be highlighted, and then Play of the Year.

127
00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,320
Speaker 1: Now full disclosure, Bird Gang. This has been posted on

128
00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:40,520
Speaker 1: asycardinals dot com, I though have not by design read

129
00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,520
Speaker 1: the article that Zach wrote because I wanted to be

130
00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,159
Speaker 1: surprised and then get my genuine reaction to go, Okay,

131
00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,400
Speaker 1: they did what that person went, what that player didn't win.

132
00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,160
Speaker 1: So let's kind of go in reverse, yes, and let's

133
00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,160
Speaker 1: go with play of the Year, something I think is

134
00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,120
Speaker 1: safer and maybe less controversial than some of these other selections.

135
00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:01,400
Speaker 2: Yeah.

136
00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:03,960
Speaker 3: So out of the thirty members, we had thirty different

137
00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,599
Speaker 3: people vote on these options, and they came up with

138
00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:09,359
Speaker 3: some of the options. So there's some that are just

139
00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:11,920
Speaker 3: one of one. They're kind of the one there. James

140
00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,560
Speaker 3: Connor's one handed touchdown reception versus the Philadelphia Eagles won

141
00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,440
Speaker 3: the play of the Year. That received eleven votes and

142
00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,040
Speaker 3: eleven out of thirty. The next was, and I'm not

143
00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:25,440
Speaker 3: sure if this is recentcy bias, but it was the

144
00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:29,360
Speaker 3: fake field goal versus the Seattle Seahawks. Trey McBride getting you,

145
00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,040
Speaker 3: Matt Prater, Blake Gillikin winding up as wide receivers, and

146
00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,080
Speaker 3: then Kyler Murray playing that, you know, kind of playing

147
00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:37,880
Speaker 3: possible on the sidelines, not going off the field, throwing

148
00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,040
Speaker 3: it out there. Then K One's third down scramble got

149
00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:43,120
Speaker 3: a handful of votes as well. That was five Trey

150
00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,600
Speaker 3: McBride's push push seventeen yard touchdown. They got stuffed at

151
00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:48,960
Speaker 3: the four and then the offensive line kind of pushed

152
00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,240
Speaker 3: them all the way in. That was one. There was

153
00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:53,120
Speaker 3: a handful of different ones out there, but those are

154
00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:55,240
Speaker 3: kind of the ones that received multiple votes.

155
00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,720
Speaker 1: Well, the people that did vote for the Connor one

156
00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:00,880
Speaker 1: handed catch actually got it right because that's what I voted.

157
00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:02,960
Speaker 1: That is what you voted, so you know it says.

158
00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:06,240
Speaker 3: And your reasoning, your explanation for it is one of

159
00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:07,240
Speaker 3: the ones that we wrote down.

160
00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:09,120
Speaker 1: Oh wow, Well for those that might have missed it,

161
00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:10,840
Speaker 1: because I gave this reason in a week ago and

162
00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:12,760
Speaker 1: you can catch it on Easycardinals dot com. But this

163
00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,320
Speaker 1: is what I wrote. I appreciate that, Zach. That wars Again,

164
00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,640
Speaker 1: I have not seen this yet. I'm very pleasantly surprised. Yeah,

165
00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,239
Speaker 1: this is what I wrote about that play. For starters,

166
00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,600
Speaker 1: Let's acknowledge the athleticism of Kyler Murray escaped the grasp

167
00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:27,040
Speaker 1: of Josh What, turned his back to the defense, through

168
00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:29,480
Speaker 1: off his back foot and placed the football where only

169
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:32,120
Speaker 1: Connor could reach. And Connor did, extending out his right

170
00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,320
Speaker 1: hand and make the catch bringing the football tight to

171
00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:36,480
Speaker 1: his chest, all with the defender draped over him.

172
00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,760
Speaker 3: Incredible, incredible. You know who else submission I put for

173
00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:41,240
Speaker 3: that one?

174
00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:41,800
Speaker 1: Yourself?

175
00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,320
Speaker 3: Our favorite? Chad Burns, Oh, yes, nice, and Chad, I

176
00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,240
Speaker 3: think basically wrote what you did in very much Chad ways,

177
00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:52,840
Speaker 3: he wrote, Kyler did Kyler things and Connor did Connor things.

178
00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:55,080
Speaker 3: This play summed up the fight that our team is

179
00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:57,560
Speaker 3: displayed all year, and I think that when you have,

180
00:08:57,840 --> 00:08:59,360
Speaker 3: you know, in the type of game that they did,

181
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,240
Speaker 3: Tyler Murray showcasing that Murray magic we've seen time in

182
00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,320
Speaker 3: and time again, and then James Conner kind of topping

183
00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:09,440
Speaker 3: what Kyler Murray just did by hauling it in with

184
00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:11,839
Speaker 3: just that one hand. Was quite remarkable, especially for a

185
00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:12,400
Speaker 3: running back.

186
00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:15,240
Speaker 1: By the way, Chad Burns the creative illustrator for the

187
00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:19,400
Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals. His work is phenomenal. It's received a lot

188
00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,480
Speaker 1: of attention and recognition. A lot of the players have

189
00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,720
Speaker 1: actually asked to meet Chad because of the stuff that

190
00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:29,200
Speaker 1: he has done that they like so much that has

191
00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:31,920
Speaker 1: been posted either on the website or through different social

192
00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,959
Speaker 1: media channels. So a huge addition to the Arizona Cardinals

193
00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,160
Speaker 1: content and creative team Chad Burns and again like minded,

194
00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:40,800
Speaker 1: So he's all right in my book.

195
00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:43,679
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, and we've seen Chad kind of nail out

196
00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,440
Speaker 3: some of the some of these illustrations that he's put together.

197
00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,200
Speaker 3: It truly is remarkable. And to watch his thought process

198
00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:53,199
Speaker 3: because you could visibly see how visually see how he's

199
00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,120
Speaker 3: handling this, how he kind of moves around in different ways.

200
00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,240
Speaker 3: I've seen him try to get so many different angles.

201
00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:00,319
Speaker 3: It's all on the screen, but he's also done actual

202
00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:02,760
Speaker 3: paintings and it's truly remarkable the stuff that he does.

203
00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,439
Speaker 1: All right, so good start here. Now, let's go beyond

204
00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:07,680
Speaker 1: the box Score Player of the Year. And before you

205
00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:10,880
Speaker 1: give the winner, how about some of the nominees for

206
00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:12,800
Speaker 1: this beyond the box Score Player of the Year. And

207
00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:16,240
Speaker 1: again it's a player that again stats don't measure the

208
00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,400
Speaker 1: value of a player on the football field. So that's

209
00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:23,679
Speaker 1: why you're looking at someone like an offensive lineman or

210
00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,840
Speaker 1: a defensive lineman, someone who plays a lot of snaps,

211
00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,520
Speaker 1: just doesn't have the stats to back it up. Because

212
00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,560
Speaker 1: most people, when you watch the game, you see everything.

213
00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:34,199
Speaker 1: But if you miss a game, what do you do? Well,

214
00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,240
Speaker 1: you look for the stats and that kind of tells

215
00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:38,840
Speaker 1: the story, at least in your mind. But sometimes there

216
00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:41,280
Speaker 1: are players that do things on a weekend, week out

217
00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:43,760
Speaker 1: basis that just doesn't show up on a piece of paper.

218
00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:45,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, So to go through some of the nominees, I'll

219
00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:47,880
Speaker 3: leave the top two vote getters because this one was

220
00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,880
Speaker 3: a very close one. Ten votes, eight votes, so very close.

221
00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,600
Speaker 3: But Dennis Gardak, Greg Dorche, Buddha Baker. I recognize that

222
00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,960
Speaker 3: Buddha Baker might be the Cardinals pro bowler, but the

223
00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,760
Speaker 3: stats did not match up to the way that Buddha

224
00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:01,319
Speaker 3: Baker would have hoped for and as we have seen

225
00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,400
Speaker 3: him previous year, so I understand the reasoning for that one.

226
00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:06,440
Speaker 3: He did only get one vote, but it's players like

227
00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:11,880
Speaker 3: Aaron Brewer, Jalen Thompson, Matt Prater, Will Hernandez Jonathan led Better.

228
00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:14,560
Speaker 3: Trey McBride got one for his pass blocking, which I

229
00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:16,840
Speaker 3: found very and run blocking as well.

230
00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:19,959
Speaker 1: Let me guess, without even knowing, I'm just gonna take

231
00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:22,640
Speaker 1: a wild guess that the person who singled out Trey

232
00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,160
Speaker 1: McBride for Beyond the box Score Player of the Year

233
00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:29,880
Speaker 1: based off his blocking is Cardinals color analyst Ron wolf Lee. No. No,

234
00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:35,600
Speaker 1: Mike Javas. Wow, Okay, Mike Chavas, I'll tell you Wolf Wolf.

235
00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:38,480
Speaker 3: Put yell defro Holt for that one, so that one

236
00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:40,319
Speaker 3: also should not be too much of a surprise, and

237
00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:43,200
Speaker 3: Yell defro Holt is the winner and of course gets

238
00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,200
Speaker 3: it right. Yeah, and the Academy gets it right. It

239
00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,080
Speaker 3: was between him and Paris Johnson Junior ten votes to

240
00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:50,760
Speaker 3: eight votes, so that one was incredibly close.

241
00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:51,240
Speaker 1: Uh.

242
00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:54,080
Speaker 3: But the congrats to yelled to because that center position

243
00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:56,680
Speaker 3: is a very thankless position and for him to come

244
00:11:56,679 --> 00:11:58,160
Speaker 3: in in the way that he did, to have three

245
00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,720
Speaker 3: different quarterbacks at that and to build that chemistry with them.

246
00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:03,959
Speaker 3: No center is going to get the stats. But from

247
00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:07,600
Speaker 3: the beginning of the preseason when when he went against

248
00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:10,640
Speaker 3: the Denver Broncos and he was pancake bocking some of

249
00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:14,520
Speaker 3: those defenders, Zach Allen and truly having his ways, I

250
00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:16,839
Speaker 3: think Dan, you could sorry to see. Okay, the Cardinals

251
00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:19,120
Speaker 3: for a position that had a question mark going into

252
00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:21,439
Speaker 3: the season, they have their answer and yelled for a hole.

253
00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,520
Speaker 1: When I was going through this, and I wanted to

254
00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:31,040
Speaker 1: make sure the offensive line was credited and highlighted and

255
00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,920
Speaker 1: instead of just putting the entire offensive line, because I've

256
00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:35,880
Speaker 1: tried to do that in the past and it's frowned upon.

257
00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:39,120
Speaker 1: They want a single player. So I went with Frold

258
00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:42,560
Speaker 1: as the center, the anchor of the offensive line, someone

259
00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:45,640
Speaker 1: who touches the football every single snap. And when you

260
00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:50,520
Speaker 1: look at what was probably the biggest questions going into

261
00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:53,040
Speaker 1: the season outside of Kyler Murray, but as far as

262
00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:55,920
Speaker 1: a position group, there were some. At least on offense,

263
00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,120
Speaker 1: you weren't sure about the center position. Fold had only

264
00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:01,560
Speaker 1: four starts in his career coming into this season. You

265
00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:03,480
Speaker 1: weren't sure what was going to happen out left guard.

266
00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:06,120
Speaker 1: He had a brand new rookie playing right tackle, so

267
00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,240
Speaker 1: you weren't quite sure. You knew about DJ Humphries. He's

268
00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,559
Speaker 1: got a resume, woll Hernandez. He stays healthy. He's absolutely

269
00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,640
Speaker 1: great on the right side lining up next to the center.

270
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:21,079
Speaker 1: But that offensive line I thought played exceptionally well considering

271
00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:23,320
Speaker 1: the questions going into the season. And then you see

272
00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,440
Speaker 1: what they did from a run game standpoint, because as

273
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:28,520
Speaker 1: much as we talk about the running backs and Kyler

274
00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:30,839
Speaker 1: Murray and how well they were able to do moving

275
00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:34,160
Speaker 1: the football, it doesn't begin until you have those guys

276
00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:35,959
Speaker 1: up front opening up rushing.

277
00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:38,760
Speaker 3: Lengths, and that's why Jim Omhandro decided to write for

278
00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:41,440
Speaker 3: yeld f Ojo going off the running game, he said

279
00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:43,640
Speaker 3: his value was also seen in the run game, where

280
00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,040
Speaker 3: the Cardinals rushed for one hundred and fifty or more

281
00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,160
Speaker 3: yards in six different games, including four games of going

282
00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:51,839
Speaker 3: over two hundred yards. And to have a running back

283
00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:54,160
Speaker 3: like James Conner who went for a thousand yards this

284
00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:56,640
Speaker 3: season the first time in his career. The offensive line

285
00:13:56,679 --> 00:13:58,400
Speaker 3: takes a lot of pride in that as well. But

286
00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:00,760
Speaker 3: it keeps going back when I think about yelled defro Hold,

287
00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:02,760
Speaker 3: I think about DJ Humphrey standing in front of his

288
00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:05,240
Speaker 3: locker in the beginning half of the season saying, when

289
00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:08,280
Speaker 3: there was miscommunication, Froz the one that held it down

290
00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:10,160
Speaker 3: for all of us on that line. So he was

291
00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:10,840
Speaker 3: the anchor there.

292
00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,840
Speaker 1: All right, So we're good, We're we're right, We're two

293
00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:16,960
Speaker 1: for two. So the academy has got it right so far. Okay,

294
00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:21,560
Speaker 1: Newcomer of the Year and newcomer can be either well,

295
00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:23,800
Speaker 1: obviously it's someone brand new to the team, whether that

296
00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,440
Speaker 1: is through free agency or a first year player, i e.

297
00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,560
Speaker 1: A rookie. So the nominees or who got the most votes,

298
00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:35,160
Speaker 1: or I should say the players in this category that

299
00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:37,960
Speaker 1: we're singled out are So the players.

300
00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,880
Speaker 3: That were singled out were Kaiser, White Yelled, defro Hold

301
00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,440
Speaker 3: did get some love here as well. I put Dante

302
00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:45,480
Speaker 3: Stills down as a choice, so as me and one

303
00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,760
Speaker 3: other that did. I felt Dante deserved a handful more votes.

304
00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,600
Speaker 3: But Michael Carter got some love, Michael Wilson got some love,

305
00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:53,840
Speaker 3: Keith tarl Clark got some love. But the person that

306
00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,800
Speaker 3: got the most love with fifteen votes was the rookie

307
00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,000
Speaker 3: right tackle, Paris Johnson Junior of fifteen.

308
00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,120
Speaker 1: I'm surprised guy. Before we get into that, I'm surprised, Zach,

309
00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:06,640
Speaker 1: based off your Philadelphia roots and connections and the fact

310
00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:09,320
Speaker 1: that Kaizer when he was in the locker room always

311
00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:11,160
Speaker 1: made sure to give you a fist bump that you

312
00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,280
Speaker 1: didn't go with the veteran. You went with the youngster

313
00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,240
Speaker 1: who actually again going back to your Philadelphia roots, and

314
00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:20,720
Speaker 1: the fact that you went to Penn State you selected

315
00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,400
Speaker 1: an Ohio State Buckeye as your Newcomer of the Year.

316
00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,920
Speaker 3: We all wear the same bird right now. But Kaizer

317
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,480
Speaker 3: was incredible, and I think if Kaizer played throughout the

318
00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:33,240
Speaker 3: entire season. Obviously was dealt with that with that blow

319
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:35,920
Speaker 3: to the bicep that took him out for the remainder

320
00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,280
Speaker 3: half the season. If he would have stayed, I think

321
00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:40,920
Speaker 3: Kaizer would have won. I'll spoiled this right now. He

322
00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:43,160
Speaker 3: did not win Defensive Player of the Year. He got

323
00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:45,640
Speaker 3: some votes, and I understand why he did, but to

324
00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,040
Speaker 3: have that newcomer, I think Kayzer brought something to the

325
00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:51,160
Speaker 3: table that not many others did because of his leadership,

326
00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:54,080
Speaker 3: being that green dot kind of being the vocal leader

327
00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,080
Speaker 3: of the defense, especially when Buddha Baker and Jalen Thompson

328
00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:00,600
Speaker 3: were sidelined. But you cannot deny what Parish and Junior

329
00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:03,080
Speaker 3: brought to the table. Similar to how we were talking

330
00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:07,360
Speaker 3: about Yeldfroholt, I think Paul calvisy he wrote down here

331
00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:11,240
Speaker 3: in the most Paul calvic way possible, start every game,

332
00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,520
Speaker 3: play every game, all while lining up against Aaron Donald,

333
00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,600
Speaker 3: Nick Bosta, TJ Watt, Miles, Garrett will Anderson Montes, Wet

334
00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:22,960
Speaker 3: Trey Hendrickson, all while avoiding the rookie wall hashtag ding.

335
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:24,560
Speaker 3: And that's why he got the vote.

336
00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:27,240
Speaker 1: Hard to argue against Calvic as much as I would

337
00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:29,480
Speaker 1: love to, because I do think if you're gonna look

338
00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,880
Speaker 1: at two players again, I went with Kaiser White because

339
00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,880
Speaker 1: I went with that veteran and someone who came in

340
00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:38,720
Speaker 1: knowing the defense and became an extension to both the

341
00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:42,240
Speaker 1: head coach and the defensive coordinator. But hard to argue

342
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,760
Speaker 1: considering that Paris Johnson Junior not only played every single game,

343
00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,240
Speaker 1: he started every single game, played every single snap on offense,

344
00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,760
Speaker 1: even played some special teams as far as field goal

345
00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:57,280
Speaker 1: pat coverage, and hard to argue that he didn't have

346
00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:00,960
Speaker 1: one of the bigger impacts from a first year player.

347
00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,080
Speaker 3: To have the rookie class in the way that they did,

348
00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:05,320
Speaker 3: it all starts with that first round pick. If your

349
00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:08,399
Speaker 3: first round pick is not producing, yeah, rounds two and

350
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,560
Speaker 3: rounds two to seven and even your undrafted guys are

351
00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:14,360
Speaker 3: going to get talked about and hyped up for producing

352
00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:16,400
Speaker 3: the ways that they did. But if your first round

353
00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:20,680
Speaker 3: pick is not producing, to talk about Manti Austin Fort

354
00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:23,000
Speaker 3: being the draft wizard that he is would not be

355
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:26,320
Speaker 3: as significant or as loud if Paris Johnson Junior did

356
00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:27,840
Speaker 3: not play the way that he did. But to be

357
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,600
Speaker 3: on the field for over one thousand snaps to not

358
00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:33,920
Speaker 3: miss a single one all season long. I'm not surprised

359
00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:35,760
Speaker 3: to see if Paris get the Newcomer of the Year.

360
00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:40,119
Speaker 1: The Cardinals draft class accounted for fifty two of the

361
00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:45,480
Speaker 1: sixty four starts by first year players this season. Eleven

362
00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,720
Speaker 1: different first year players rookies started a game for the

363
00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:52,199
Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals that was an NFL high. And again we

364
00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:55,800
Speaker 1: talk about that draft class. A year ago, the Trey

365
00:17:55,880 --> 00:18:00,920
Speaker 1: McBride draft class only had twenty two starts and McBride

366
00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:04,600
Speaker 1: accounted for thirteen of those twenty two. Here this year,

367
00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:08,880
Speaker 1: it's Paris Johnson Junior accounting for seventeen of the fifty two.

368
00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:14,000
Speaker 1: So much better contributions from the rookies this season than

369
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,960
Speaker 1: a year ago. How much of that is because of

370
00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:21,520
Speaker 1: roles changing injuries, so the rookies were forced to play

371
00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:26,399
Speaker 1: maybe sooner than anticipated, but still you play, okay, do

372
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,719
Speaker 1: you get that second opportunity, do you get that second

373
00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:32,960
Speaker 1: week's worth of games snaps? Or is it okay? We

374
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:34,800
Speaker 1: see what you can do, You're just not quite ready.

375
00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:38,000
Speaker 3: And I think an example is somebody like Starling Thomas,

376
00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:40,160
Speaker 3: somebody that they brought in went right when the waiver

377
00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,560
Speaker 3: wire happened, they claimed him from the Detroit Lions, and

378
00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:46,520
Speaker 3: he didn't play much in the beginning half of the season.

379
00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:49,800
Speaker 3: He was a healthy scratch in most cases, and then

380
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,160
Speaker 3: he started being more on special teams and he jumped

381
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:54,879
Speaker 3: into that cornerback slot and he solidified himself as a

382
00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:57,480
Speaker 3: starting cornerback. Now, is Starling Thomas going to be a

383
00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:00,639
Speaker 3: starting quarterback on the other thirty one teams? Probably not.

384
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,080
Speaker 3: He might go in for a handful of snaps here

385
00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:06,320
Speaker 3: and there. But because of the situation that you had

386
00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,280
Speaker 3: there on the outside with your cornerbacks, Startling Thomas stepped

387
00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,199
Speaker 3: in and he did step up in a lot of cases.

388
00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:14,480
Speaker 3: He limited dk Metcalf in that final game. DK Metcalf

389
00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,280
Speaker 3: gave him a shout out going into that week, recognizing

390
00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:19,480
Speaker 3: the type of talent that the UAB product has. So

391
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,879
Speaker 3: the rookie class, you don't necessarily want as many rookies

392
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:25,000
Speaker 3: to play in the way that the Cardinals had this year,

393
00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,119
Speaker 3: but if they perform in the ways that they did,

394
00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:28,280
Speaker 3: you're not going to be complaining.

395
00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:30,520
Speaker 1: And then it does put you in a better position

396
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,399
Speaker 1: going into this offseason in years to come, because now

397
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,080
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you've got that young talent and

398
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,600
Speaker 1: you figure out, Okay, we don't maybe need to focus

399
00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:40,960
Speaker 1: on this particular position roupe because we got a bunch

400
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,879
Speaker 1: of young talent, and you build upon those areas that

401
00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,919
Speaker 1: you can see are maybe not as strong because you

402
00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,000
Speaker 1: don't have those young pieces in place. So again, I'm

403
00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:55,439
Speaker 1: not going to argue with Paris Johnson Junior and Michael

404
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:59,120
Speaker 1: Wilson and everyone else in that draft class because they

405
00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:04,040
Speaker 1: were nominal with especially un certain circumstances in which they

406
00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:05,439
Speaker 1: faced this season.

407
00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,119
Speaker 3: I picked Dante because I just felt that with the

408
00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,200
Speaker 3: situation that they had on the defensive line. Dante also

409
00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:13,199
Speaker 3: is a healthy scratch for that Week one game in

410
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,160
Speaker 3: Washington against the Commanders, and then he had to jump

411
00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:19,040
Speaker 3: in once LJ. Collier and Carlos Watkins went down, and

412
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:22,119
Speaker 3: then with Kevin Strong and Jonathan Leedibader both going down

413
00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,160
Speaker 3: from multiple games, droughout the season led better, ultimately ending

414
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,920
Speaker 3: up on ir as. Did you know Dante Stills towards

415
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:31,480
Speaker 3: our last game of the season, But the way Dante

416
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,639
Speaker 3: stepped in, we kind of saw him flourish. I remember

417
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:35,800
Speaker 3: speaking to him during the preseason. He was just trying

418
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,000
Speaker 3: to fight for a roster spot as a six round pick,

419
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:39,879
Speaker 3: and for him to come in and put the numbers

420
00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:42,080
Speaker 3: that he did, and truly you could see his growth

421
00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:44,479
Speaker 3: from week to week. That's why I put him as

422
00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:45,520
Speaker 3: my vote for the newcomer.

423
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,600
Speaker 1: All right, So we are halfway through here with our

424
00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:53,080
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four Arizona Cardinals year end awards. We still

425
00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,000
Speaker 1: have Most Valuable Cardinal, Offensive Player of the Year, and

426
00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:00,080
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year. Let's go Defensive Player of

427
00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:01,679
Speaker 1: the Year. You already kind of let the cat out

428
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:03,479
Speaker 1: of the bag. It's not going to be Kaiser White.

429
00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:05,720
Speaker 1: But to me, if it's not Kaiser White, whom I

430
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:09,560
Speaker 1: did not vote for, Sorry Kaiser, there's only one other player,

431
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,280
Speaker 1: at least in my mind that it could be that

432
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,879
Speaker 1: it should be, and that is Jalen Thompson, and that

433
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,479
Speaker 1: it is jar The Academy gets it right. I am

434
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:21,040
Speaker 1: on a roll, Yes you are. He got fourteen votes,

435
00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:24,120
Speaker 1: Budda Baker got ten. Dennis Garde got a singular vote,

436
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:26,199
Speaker 1: and I recognize why Dennis Gardet could have gotten that

437
00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,399
Speaker 1: vote because of the type of captain leadership that he

438
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:31,520
Speaker 1: does bring to that defense. He did make a standout

439
00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,520
Speaker 1: play the first game of the season, forcing that stripsack

440
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:37,399
Speaker 1: Cameron Thomas ultimately scooping it up and diving into the

441
00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:39,520
Speaker 1: end zone for the Cardinals first touchdown of the season.

442
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,240
Speaker 1: But Jalen Thompson, I mean, he was incredible all season long.

443
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:46,440
Speaker 1: The stats definitely do back it up. Seventy eight tackles,

444
00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,560
Speaker 1: five tackles for losses, four interceptions, especially the one against

445
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,800
Speaker 1: the Houston Texans, intercepting c J. Stroud in the end zone.

446
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,680
Speaker 1: I felt like kinda put Even though the Houston Texans

447
00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:00,359
Speaker 1: did come away with the win, it made CJ. Stroud

448
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:03,240
Speaker 1: a little bit more hesitant and the rookie quarterback, although

449
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,040
Speaker 1: he did take the Texans quite far this season, that

450
00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,880
Speaker 1: was the one game where you could say the stats

451
00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:11,119
Speaker 1: did not match up to a c J. Stroud like

452
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:12,359
Speaker 1: performance in this one.

453
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,040
Speaker 3: So I recognize why Jalen Thompson got I mean, looking

454
00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:16,600
Speaker 3: through some of the through some of it, I know

455
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:18,520
Speaker 3: Cody Fincher also picked.

456
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,639
Speaker 1: That's why we have the associate producer. He knows what

457
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:22,280
Speaker 1: he's talking about.

458
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:24,320
Speaker 3: Yes we do, and I mean, just looking at some

459
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:28,280
Speaker 3: of them. Louis Hernandez calls him Jalen the sheriff Thompson,

460
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,880
Speaker 3: and I think because you could. He didn't really explain why,

461
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,040
Speaker 3: but he did go and said JT is a beast.

462
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:36,800
Speaker 3: You can't dispute that one. Going through some of the

463
00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,880
Speaker 3: other responses here, Darren Urban wrote another close one between

464
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,960
Speaker 3: actually being Kayzer because Kayzier was kind of the leader

465
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,000
Speaker 3: in the clubhouse until he did get hurt. Summers wrote

466
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:50,600
Speaker 3: between also between Buddha Baker and Jalen Thompson, ultimately giving

467
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:53,560
Speaker 3: JT the not so there were a handful of different responses.

468
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,199
Speaker 3: Kyle Van Derbasch wrote here he continues to be a

469
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,840
Speaker 3: difference maker for the defense. He is a smart and

470
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,080
Speaker 3: savvy defender that makes up for the lack of talent

471
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,760
Speaker 3: and other positions on the defense. As we spoke about

472
00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:04,600
Speaker 3: with that rookie.

473
00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:07,919
Speaker 1: Class, JT not afraid of contact. He is not afraid

474
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,240
Speaker 1: to play near the line of scrimmage. And you can

475
00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:16,200
Speaker 1: play Jalen Thompson and a half different positions along that defense,

476
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,159
Speaker 1: whether that's in the secondary, close to the line of scrimmage,

477
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:23,040
Speaker 1: or even potentially you bring him in as a blitzer.

478
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,600
Speaker 1: So that is a piece that this Arizona Cardinals defense

479
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,959
Speaker 1: knows that it has and moving forward hopefully we'll have

480
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:31,040
Speaker 1: for a long period of time.

481
00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:34,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, JT. You could sense the difference when he is

482
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,640
Speaker 3: out there. Buddha Baker definitely draws a lot of attention

483
00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:41,040
Speaker 3: from opposing offenses, which is why Buddha Baker, although the

484
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,199
Speaker 3: stats might not necessarily back it up in terms of

485
00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 3: the big time spash plays that we're so accustomed to seeing,

486
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:48,560
Speaker 3: it opened up the door for JT to have the

487
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:50,359
Speaker 3: type of success that he did have out there. And

488
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,480
Speaker 3: I think adding a Garrett Williams to the nickel and

489
00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 3: having him jump in there as well also gave JT

490
00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:58,440
Speaker 3: the opportunity to make some plays.

491
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,600
Speaker 1: All right. So two category left and full disclosure once

492
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,960
Speaker 1: again when I go through these one, I do not

493
00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 1: like to name a player in multiple categories. I like

494
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:13,119
Speaker 1: to spread the love if you will. I don't have

495
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:15,960
Speaker 1: a problem when people do it. I e. Darren Urban,

496
00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:20,560
Speaker 1: our team photographer, Caitlin Epps, our executive producer Jim Amhundro,

497
00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,159
Speaker 1: just to name a few who did put both the

498
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:26,920
Speaker 1: MVP and Offensive Player of the Year as the same player.

499
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 1: But I like to single out different people and as

500
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 1: far as I wouldn't say controversial, but I do think

501
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:38,000
Speaker 1: if you didn't have this player as your MVP, then

502
00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,280
Speaker 1: he's your offensive Player of the year. That's all I'm

503
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:44,200
Speaker 1: gonna say about it. So let's go with Offensive Player

504
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,959
Speaker 1: of the Year and the nominees for the Offensive Player

505
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:48,520
Speaker 1: of the Year.

506
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 3: This was the closest one vote separated the winner, so

507
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:58,919
Speaker 3: to the I'll give the others receiving votes. Kyler Murray

508
00:24:58,920 --> 00:24:59,600
Speaker 3: got three votes.

509
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,359
Speaker 1: Wait wait wait wait wait time out timeout timeout time.

510
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,480
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray got three votes, just three, Your franchise quarterback

511
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:06,360
Speaker 1: only got three.

512
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:08,919
Speaker 3: For Offensive Player of the Year. Okay, he got three votes.

513
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:13,720
Speaker 3: Yeldfrojo got a vote, and Matt Prater got to vote.

514
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:22,720
Speaker 1: Okay, timeout, Matt Prater, Yes, you're scoring points. Special teams wouldn't.

515
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,480
Speaker 3: See my my Patrick Smith went with Matt.

516
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:29,000
Speaker 1: My my issue when you put special teams players in

517
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,200
Speaker 1: an offensive or defensive category, they have their own category.

518
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,359
Speaker 3: It's special teams. But we don't give him that love

519
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,880
Speaker 3: beyond the box score. Yes, which is why Matt Prater

520
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 3: did get some love and beyond the box score. But

521
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:41,920
Speaker 3: I don't see I don't necessarily want to say I

522
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 3: see a problem with it. But he did put up

523
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,119
Speaker 3: a lot of points this season, Yes, but kickers when

524
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 3: the offense struggled. In a lot of cases, Matt Prater

525
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,120
Speaker 3: was the offense in some games. So yeah, I don't

526
00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:54,600
Speaker 3: I'm not going to fault him for that. I mean,

527
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,280
Speaker 3: he's he's wrong, but I'm not going to fault him

528
00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:57,640
Speaker 3: for that.

529
00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:00,720
Speaker 1: Prader did have, as I look it up, one hundred

530
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:06,200
Speaker 1: and let's see. No, he had fifty four points this

531
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,040
Speaker 1: season off of pats and field goals.

532
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:12,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, which you need to well, yeah, which you need

533
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,359
Speaker 3: to have also for the offensive score for some of

534
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:15,199
Speaker 3: those pat's.

535
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,359
Speaker 1: Obviously that's the way football went. Yes, all right, Chraigy So,

536
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:20,880
Speaker 1: Offensive Player of the Year so.

537
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,840
Speaker 3: The winner for this one with thirteen votes, as opposed

538
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 3: to the second places twelve votes. Tray McBride won Offensive

539
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,119
Speaker 3: Player of the Year. James Connor was second.

540
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:38,119
Speaker 1: Okay, Now, before everyone gets up in arms, my guess

541
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,879
Speaker 1: is many believe or follow the same criteria that I

542
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:46,399
Speaker 1: imposed upon myself that if you believe James Connor was

543
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 1: your best offensive player, but you want to highlight what

544
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,280
Speaker 1: Trey McBride was able to do in this breakout second season.

545
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,560
Speaker 1: You had James Connor as your MVP and Trey McBride

546
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 1: as your Offensive Player of the Year. Potentially, that's just

547
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:05,440
Speaker 1: my thinking for most of those people, For the thirteen

548
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: people that had Trey McBride as Offensive Player of the Year,

549
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,399
Speaker 1: my guess is most of those people had James Connor

550
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:13,440
Speaker 1: as your MVP.

551
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,560
Speaker 3: Yes in some cases. In other cases they might have

552
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:19,439
Speaker 3: had a different Mvpkay. I'm not going to spoil it

553
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:21,680
Speaker 3: for you, but looking at some of the reasonings as

554
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 3: to why I did pick Trey McBride as my Offensive

555
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 3: Player of the year, reason for it, and my response

556
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:30,919
Speaker 3: here what I wrote down is even though Kyler Murray

557
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:33,639
Speaker 3: said that some of his celebrations were awkward, considering the

558
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,360
Speaker 3: type of numbers trade McBride put up this season, he

559
00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 3: could geek out as much as he wants to, because

560
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:41,200
Speaker 3: Trey said, I just kind of geek out when I'm

561
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,560
Speaker 3: in the moment. And then whether it being the type

562
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:45,239
Speaker 3: of spark we know about the type of spark that

563
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,480
Speaker 3: James Connor brings to the offense when Kyler Murray's return

564
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:52,280
Speaker 3: brought to the offense, but Trey McBride's kind of emergence

565
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:55,399
Speaker 3: into the position that he has right now, Truthfully, I

566
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 3: think maybe one of the more exciting storylines of the year,

567
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:02,760
Speaker 3: Frederickson wrote, went from back up to being a top

568
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,640
Speaker 3: five tight end the NFL, and we barely even scratched

569
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,680
Speaker 3: the surface on the potential of Trade McBride. I think

570
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:10,879
Speaker 3: that kind of says all you need to know. And

571
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 3: Danny also put Tray McBride as her option. So handful

572
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 3: of different people putting in a handful of different ways,

573
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:19,679
Speaker 3: but that was the closest one. When I was refreshing

574
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:21,960
Speaker 3: and adding the names to the list, that was the

575
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 3: one I had my eye out for. I kind of

576
00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:25,720
Speaker 3: hope for a tie, But then again, we.

577
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:30,000
Speaker 1: Don't want any ties. We need a winner. We need

578
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:33,680
Speaker 1: a definitive winner. And of course, again, if you went

579
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 1: with Trey McBride, props to you. If you went with

580
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:37,960
Speaker 1: James Connor, props to you. I think those were your

581
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:41,440
Speaker 1: two players as far as offensive player of the year.

582
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,520
Speaker 1: All right, So we are down to MVP, and I

583
00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: know I was in the minority, and I said as

584
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:51,120
Speaker 1: much a week ago when I made my selection as

585
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,440
Speaker 1: Cardinal's most Valuable Player. I went with Kyler Murray. But

586
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,920
Speaker 1: I know that is not a popular choice amongst the

587
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:02,680
Speaker 1: academy because Kyler gets penalized for only playing half the season.

588
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 3: You don't think that was a popular choice.

589
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:06,440
Speaker 1: I don't believe that was a popular choice.

590
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 3: Well, I could tell you that it was more popular

591
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,880
Speaker 3: than Buddha Baker and Jonathan Gannon, who each.

592
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 1: Received a vote. The head coach got a vote.

593
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 3: The head coach got a vote from Zach Fletcher.

594
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:20,320
Speaker 1: Most Valuable Cardinal Okay, doesn't specify.

595
00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:23,120
Speaker 3: Player, No, but I don't I don't see. Once I

596
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 3: saw that one put in, I'm like, Hey, if people

597
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:28,320
Speaker 3: had more of a of a thought process like Zach did,

598
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:30,440
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure Jonathan Gannon would have received a handful

599
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 3: more votes.

600
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,200
Speaker 1: Zach Fletcher, our senior manager of Content and Creative going

601
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,560
Speaker 1: with the head coach okay.

602
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:40,520
Speaker 3: And I don't necessarily hate it, but you might hate

603
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:44,320
Speaker 3: this result because Kyler Murray finished in second with ten votes.

604
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 3: Your winner with eighteen votes for the most Valuable Cardinal,

605
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 3: James Connor.

606
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:50,800
Speaker 1: Not a surprise.

607
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:54,160
Speaker 3: Not a surprise at all. Not a surprise at all.

608
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,360
Speaker 3: And I think I think wolf in the most wolf

609
00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,320
Speaker 3: way possible. And I wanted to save Wolfe's response this

610
00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:03,240
Speaker 3: one specifically. Some of his responses were just incredible in

611
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 3: general for a lot of the players, but he wrote here,

612
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 3: football is a game that speaks to the threefold nature

613
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:12,320
Speaker 3: of man, body, soul, and spirit. All three have to

614
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 3: be in line for a player to play well. James

615
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 3: Connor had all three in line, and his bodies, soul,

616
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,680
Speaker 3: and spirit inspired players around him. Not only did he

617
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,080
Speaker 3: produce in between the white lines, but his play challenged

618
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,280
Speaker 3: those around him to be better in all three phases.

619
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:29,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is the perfect Ron wolf Lee explanation on

620
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 1: why he went with James Connor as the most valuable

621
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 1: Cardinal and twenty twenty three.

622
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, I completely agree. And I think the fact that

623
00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,320
Speaker 3: James Connor did miss the four games that he did

624
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 3: miss and he still picked up the thousand yards, which

625
00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 3: and of itself is incredible, but it shows what he

626
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 3: truly does bring to the table. So even though Kyler Murray,

627
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:53,200
Speaker 3: I think if Kyler Murray played all seventeen games, okay,

628
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,160
Speaker 3: we might be having a very very different discussion. But

629
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 3: we only got an eight game sample size from K one.

630
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:01,640
Speaker 3: To miss these four games and James Connor still come

631
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 3: back into the offense and the way that he did

632
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:05,160
Speaker 3: was was quite incredible.

633
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:07,800
Speaker 1: Hard to argue against James Connor and I've said this before.

634
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:10,760
Speaker 1: It's not just what he means on the field, it's

635
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,840
Speaker 1: off the field. It's in the locker room. It's how

636
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:18,000
Speaker 1: he moves up and down the sidelines, encouraging not just

637
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:22,320
Speaker 1: his offensive teammates, but the defense, the special teams as well.

638
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:27,200
Speaker 1: Really your emotional leader, if you will, spiritual leader in

639
00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:30,920
Speaker 1: that locker room. And there is no better Arizona Cardinal

640
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 1: to win Most Valuable Cardinals. Again, I went with Kyler

641
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,640
Speaker 1: Murray and had Connor as my Offensive Player of the Year.

642
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 1: But it's hard to argue against. Hey, what happens if

643
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 1: you take James Connor off the field, you don't have him.

644
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:46,800
Speaker 1: What do you have with the Arizona Cardinals.

645
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:48,480
Speaker 3: But what went into your decision? Because you said that

646
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 3: you didn't want to pick between one or the other.

647
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 1: I don't like putting the same player in multiple categories,

648
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:55,920
Speaker 1: so I had to.

649
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 3: I understand that.

650
00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 1: So I went with the quarterback as your most valuable player,

651
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,479
Speaker 1: Most Valuable Cardinal. And my explanation was very simple, as

652
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 1: I said last week, with Danny three wins with him,

653
00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 1: one win without him. It's as simple as that. And

654
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:13,720
Speaker 1: then I highlighted James Connor as my Offensive Player of

655
00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 1: the Year. I am surprised though that there were as

656
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:20,480
Speaker 1: many people that did go with Kyler as the MVP,

657
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:23,920
Speaker 1: just because he was only on the field for eight games.

658
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,960
Speaker 1: But to me, and you've heard me say this before, Zach,

659
00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:31,760
Speaker 1: is this season began week ten. As much as that

660
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 1: was brought up to JG and others, they didn't want

661
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:38,160
Speaker 1: to hear it. But this season week ten to week

662
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 1: eighteen because the biggest question that needed to be answered

663
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 1: this season was is Kyler Murray going to be your

664
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 1: quarterback moving forward? And the answer is a definitive yes.

665
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 1: So yeah, you won three games versus five losses. Would

666
00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 1: have loved to have seeing a four and four finish.

667
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 1: But Kyler Murray, I think you saw just a glimpse

668
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,880
Speaker 1: of what he can do within this offense and with

669
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:03,480
Speaker 1: this team.

670
00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm looking at some of the people that did

671
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 3: put K one as their most valuable Cardinal Dave Pash

672
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:10,360
Speaker 3: put K one as his most.

673
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,760
Speaker 1: Valuable pass is just a genius. I mean, we go

674
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 1: went from the same alma mater in Syracuse an upstate

675
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 1: New York. So he's just a smart individual.

676
00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:20,040
Speaker 3: Well what about Jody Jackson, because she also put k

677
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:20,840
Speaker 3: one down.

678
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,000
Speaker 1: The Miami Alma mater will leave that as it is,

679
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 1: But yeah, another smart individual, a veteran, you know, a

680
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 1: veteran of the market.

681
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 3: And the person sitting in that room over there to

682
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,680
Speaker 3: my right, Cody Fincher, also put down Kyler Murray.

683
00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:38,400
Speaker 1: By the way, our associate producer just basically almost nailed

684
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: it to a t because he and I agreed on

685
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:45,800
Speaker 1: most Valuable Cardinal, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player

686
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 1: of the Year, and Newcomer of the Year, and really

687
00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,320
Speaker 1: those are the top four awards. The other two there

688
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:55,960
Speaker 1: can be some nuance and some different takes, but basically

689
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 1: Cody has assured himself of a job in twenty twenty four.

690
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:01,640
Speaker 3: I think I'm looking through some of this list, and

691
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:03,760
Speaker 3: although I put it together, it was kind of hurting

692
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,520
Speaker 3: my eyes so certain extent, so I stopped looking at it.

693
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:08,919
Speaker 3: But I mean, looking through this right now, I don't

694
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:12,759
Speaker 3: think anybody put together a perfect a perfect award at

695
00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:14,480
Speaker 3: six for six, yeah, I don't think they went six

696
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:16,640
Speaker 3: for six. The most I'm seeing right now is four

697
00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:21,440
Speaker 3: of six. Possibly, yeah, four of six because that newcomer

698
00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:24,320
Speaker 3: and beyond the box square between Frohold and Paris Johnson

699
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,279
Speaker 3: for both sides. I think kinda kind of altered it

700
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:27,799
Speaker 3: a little bit.

701
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:30,920
Speaker 1: So we've established that our as social producer, Coody Fincher

702
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:34,719
Speaker 1: gets an A for his ballot B plus because we

703
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:36,840
Speaker 1: also improve Wow, you're.

704
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:37,520
Speaker 2: A tough grader.

705
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:42,040
Speaker 1: Okay, good stuff? All right, So again, all this has

706
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 1: been posted as we speak here on this Wednesday on

707
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,239
Speaker 1: Cardinals cover two, presented by a Hyundai, probably partner of

708
00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,400
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals. It is up on asycardinals dot com.

709
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,839
Speaker 1: All thirty of the Academy, the forty voting members. You

710
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:59,200
Speaker 1: can see how we all individually voted and then obviously

711
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 1: the winners in each of the six categories.

712
00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 3: I'm looking through it still, it's kind of crazy to

713
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 3: see some of these players that you probably went into

714
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:09,560
Speaker 3: the beginning of the season and might not have put down.

715
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:12,359
Speaker 3: I don't think Dante Stills would have been considered even

716
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:14,800
Speaker 3: a newcomer of the Year. I don't think Trey McBride

717
00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:17,120
Speaker 3: was going to be considered as your offensive player of

718
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:19,279
Speaker 3: the Year. Jalen Thompson. If you said you're gonna pick

719
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 3: him and he's going to have more and better stats

720
00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:24,400
Speaker 3: than Buddha Baker, I'm pretty sure a lot of us

721
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:26,720
Speaker 3: would have been like, hey, hold on a second, yelled

722
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:29,960
Speaker 3: the fro hoole, considering that center position and to assume

723
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:32,000
Speaker 3: that your top play was going to be your running

724
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:35,400
Speaker 3: back with a one handed reception for a touchdown in

725
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,880
Speaker 3: the most hostile of environments you faced the season in Philadelphia,

726
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:41,400
Speaker 3: I think kinda kind of shows that this was an

727
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 3: unpredictable year, but an incredible one at that.

728
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:46,240
Speaker 1: It's a good point because you go into the season

729
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 1: with expectations and the season happens, and then you look

730
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:51,279
Speaker 1: back and you're like, Okay, well I was completely off

731
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:53,640
Speaker 1: base on that, or this player surprised, or this player

732
00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 1: took a lead forward II Trey McBride, And when you're

733
00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:00,040
Speaker 1: given that opportunity, what do you do with it? And

734
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 1: shine with his opportunity? Dante Stills shine with his opportunity

735
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,360
Speaker 1: and obviously yelled to frold has made a case to

736
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,960
Speaker 1: be the center, not only this upcoming season, but maybe

737
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,719
Speaker 1: seasons beyond his twenty twenty four contracts.

738
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:15,120
Speaker 3: He definitely has and I stand correct. Oh, okay, somebody

739
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:18,719
Speaker 3: went five for six five, say Rob Frederickson. Rob Frederickson,

740
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:22,000
Speaker 3: the one he went different with beyond the box score

741
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:27,160
Speaker 3: he put Greg Dortch. Okay, but besides that, everything else,

742
00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:31,360
Speaker 3: James Connor is your MDC trade McBride offensive, Jalen Thompson defensive,

743
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,800
Speaker 3: Paris Johnson, newcomer, Greg Dortch beyond the box score, and

744
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,280
Speaker 3: the James Connor one handed reception for the touchdown.

745
00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:39,560
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm not gonna argue with Rob Frederickson. He's just

746
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,200
Speaker 1: bigger and better than I am. But yeah, that's spoken

747
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:45,040
Speaker 1: like a true veteran. Nine year veteran of the National

748
00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:45,680
Speaker 1: Football League.

749
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:48,040
Speaker 3: Sounds exactly like why he played in the league. And yeah,

750
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:50,920
Speaker 3: just to talk about just talk about it. Make predictions.

751
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:52,719
Speaker 3: By the way, he also knows the conversations I go

752
00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:54,160
Speaker 3: on in the locker room. He's taking it from a

753
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:56,600
Speaker 3: player's perspective and also from a little bit of a

754
00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:57,360
Speaker 3: wider scope.

755
00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:59,960
Speaker 1: By the way, speaking of predictions, before we exit stage

756
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:03,759
Speaker 1: left here on this first annual, Gershman's trilling out what

757
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:05,960
Speaker 1: we're calling it. But I just find it fascinating just

758
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 1: to get the reaction from you.

759
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 3: But it's a smile.

760
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:13,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a smile, all right. Championship Sunday AFC Championship Game.

761
00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:17,120
Speaker 1: Chiefs at the Ravens. That's the first game NFC Championship game,

762
00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 1: Lions at the forty nine Ers.

763
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:19,280
Speaker 2: Who you got.

764
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,960
Speaker 1: I kind of should I say? Who do you hope wins?

765
00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:26,480
Speaker 1: Who do you think wins?

766
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,000
Speaker 3: Okay, who do I hope wins? And who do I

767
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:31,839
Speaker 3: think wins? Are both to complete. I mean, I think

768
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:34,880
Speaker 3: that I hope that the Baltimore Ravens come away with

769
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:36,760
Speaker 3: the win. I think it's going to be the Kansas

770
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:41,360
Speaker 3: City Chiefs. I hope that the Detroit Lions win, but

771
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:43,200
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be the San Francisco forty

772
00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:47,320
Speaker 3: nine Ers. Reason for it, it just I think the

773
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:51,399
Speaker 3: Detroit obviously has a lot of momentum, you know, behind them,

774
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,000
Speaker 3: and to see the type of rise that they've had

775
00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:58,280
Speaker 3: throughout the Dan Campbell regime has been quite remarkable to see.

776
00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:01,160
Speaker 3: I do think though, that the pending, especially on Deebo

777
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,959
Speaker 3: Samuel's availability, I do think that they're going to run

778
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:06,319
Speaker 3: into a brick wall with that San Francisco forty nine

779
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:08,279
Speaker 3: ers team. I think this is the one time that

780
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:11,880
Speaker 3: they've really faced a serious challenge this year, even though

781
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,680
Speaker 3: they beat the Green Bay Packers. The type of heat

782
00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:17,480
Speaker 3: that brock perty is currently getting right now amongst social

783
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:21,160
Speaker 3: media throughout the NFL landscape. That's a team that's very prideful.

784
00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:24,120
Speaker 3: They heard it after the Philadelphia after they lost against

785
00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:27,640
Speaker 3: the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. They kind

786
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:29,480
Speaker 3: of took down the chin and they kind of put

787
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,520
Speaker 3: that as a chip on their shoulder and used as

788
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:34,280
Speaker 3: motivation throughout the season. So I think in this case,

789
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 3: the story, the Cinderella story of the Detroit Lions, I

790
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:40,800
Speaker 3: think comes to a halt again in the Bay Area.

791
00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:43,479
Speaker 3: And then with the Kansas City Chiefs, they're just they're

792
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:45,960
Speaker 3: now starting to hit their stride a little bit more.

793
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 3: They're not the Kansas City Chiefs last season, but they're

794
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,200
Speaker 3: playing really solid. It's just a matter of can you

795
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,799
Speaker 3: limit Lamar Jackson? And I think the one team that

796
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:57,920
Speaker 3: possibly would be able to do that would be the

797
00:38:58,960 --> 00:38:59,920
Speaker 3: Kansas City Chiefs.

798
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,200
Speaker 1: Do you have Chiefs fatigue? Yeah?

799
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:06,640
Speaker 3: I do. I have Chiefs fatigue, And even being a

800
00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:10,239
Speaker 3: Philadelphia native, I kind of have Kelsey fatigue as well.

801
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:12,760
Speaker 3: But it's not gonna stop me. Just because you're tired

802
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:15,080
Speaker 3: doesn't mean you're not gonna keep doing it. But I

803
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,160
Speaker 3: do think that with the Kansas City Chiefs. They just

804
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 3: they've received so much attention, and rightfully so. They're they're

805
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:24,719
Speaker 3: they're the reigning Super Bowl champions, They're the dynasty that

806
00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:27,760
Speaker 3: they're starting to build out there is one of a kind.

807
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:31,080
Speaker 3: But but I do see that the fatigue is definitely serious.

808
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:36,360
Speaker 3: Although can you imagine Harball with the Ravens going against

809
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:38,360
Speaker 3: the forty nine ers, kind of going back to that

810
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:40,759
Speaker 3: game in New Orleans when the lights went out and

811
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 3: you know already that Jim Harbaugh is gonna be in

812
00:39:43,239 --> 00:39:45,760
Speaker 3: the stands there for his brother. He's gonna be wearing

813
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,719
Speaker 3: a Ravens cap against the San Francisco forty nine Ers,

814
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:49,919
Speaker 3: who we formally coach for.

815
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:55,480
Speaker 1: And depending on perhaps when you listen to this Cardinals

816
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:59,279
Speaker 1: cover two podcasts, would he really be wearing a Ravens cap?

817
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,560
Speaker 1: Is he? He? He's the Chargers head coach.

818
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,000
Speaker 3: I didn't think of it like that, So, I mean,

819
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:05,799
Speaker 3: I don't know, but.

820
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 1: How do you get away with that? I don't know

821
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:11,279
Speaker 1: how you get away with it?

822
00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:13,239
Speaker 3: Your your Jim Harbaugh, and you seem to get away

823
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:16,920
Speaker 3: with everything that's true, that's shots fired.

824
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:21,399
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's true. I would love to see kind

825
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:23,200
Speaker 1: of like you as far as what you hope, what

826
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:26,399
Speaker 1: you think. I would love to see new blood in

827
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, Ravens and Lions, But I do think

828
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,680
Speaker 1: the Chiefs will go on the road. Patrick Mahomes six

829
00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:36,880
Speaker 1: seasons as a starter, six trips to the conference championship games,

830
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,440
Speaker 1: He'll win a fourteenth game in the postseason, and I

831
00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:44,319
Speaker 1: do believe it will be Chiefs and forty nine Ers

832
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 1: and the Super Bowl. And the forty nine Ers they

833
00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:50,839
Speaker 1: have more weapons, even though Deebo Samuel is questionable at

834
00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:54,319
Speaker 1: this point as far as that shoulder injury. And then well, one,

835
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:57,520
Speaker 1: they've got Christian McCaffrey, which might be Trump's everything as

836
00:40:57,520 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 1: far as what he can do running the ball and

837
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,640
Speaker 1: catching the and then that forty nine Ers defense is

838
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: very very good and that might be the deciding factor

839
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:08,760
Speaker 1: and a victory over the Lions.

840
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:09,000
Speaker 2: Yeah.

841
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:11,160
Speaker 3: I just think the star power that the San Francisco

842
00:41:11,239 --> 00:41:14,960
Speaker 3: forty nine ers have it is going to trump everything

843
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:17,880
Speaker 3: that Detroit could bring to the table. Yeah, Jared Goff

844
00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:20,520
Speaker 3: is playing really good football right now, and that defense

845
00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:23,360
Speaker 3: has did a really solid job against Tampa Bay and

846
00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:25,680
Speaker 3: just in general, just the way that they've played all

847
00:41:25,719 --> 00:41:29,560
Speaker 3: throughout the entire season, but San Francisco is just a

848
00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:31,920
Speaker 3: different beast, and if they are held because right now

849
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,520
Speaker 3: Deebo is the one player that they kind of have

850
00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:36,480
Speaker 3: circled right now as questionable is he going to be

851
00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 3: able to play or not play? But even we've seen

852
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,399
Speaker 3: in games against the Cardinals, I know it's a little

853
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:43,440
Speaker 3: bit different when you compare the Cardinals to the Detroit

854
00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:46,399
Speaker 3: Lions right now in terms of where they are present day.

855
00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:49,560
Speaker 3: But Deebo Samuel was not as effective. He did have

856
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:52,600
Speaker 3: the two touchdowns, but he was wide open and coverage

857
00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:55,120
Speaker 3: in those cases. He didn't really make many big time

858
00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:58,080
Speaker 3: plays against the Arizona Cardinals both times that they played

859
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:00,880
Speaker 3: the San Francisco forty nine ers this year. If you

860
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:04,480
Speaker 3: don't have a Deebo Samuel, it's not the end of

861
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:06,560
Speaker 3: the world, because you still have a Christian McCaffer, you

862
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:09,879
Speaker 3: still have George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk's been playing really solid ball,

863
00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:12,160
Speaker 3: Jawan Jennings going up and making that grab the way

864
00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:14,840
Speaker 3: that he did, and Brock Purdy not just being a

865
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,600
Speaker 3: checkdown quarterback but being a really good quarterback as well.

866
00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 1: We'll see if weather it becomes a factor in either

867
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:22,760
Speaker 1: of these games. Right now, it doesn't look that way again.

868
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,600
Speaker 1: The AFC Championship Game is up first, then the NFC

869
00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:30,080
Speaker 1: Championship Game, with the winners to meet two weeks from

870
00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:32,879
Speaker 1: Sunday in the Super Bowl. And we'll have more on

871
00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:35,640
Speaker 1: that in the days and weeks to come here. But

872
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:40,400
Speaker 1: props to you, Zach for an excellent job gathering all

873
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:44,000
Speaker 1: of the votes, putting it together. It is not easy.

874
00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:46,240
Speaker 1: It can be tireless because if you've got to search

875
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 1: out people to get their results, who they win or

876
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:53,960
Speaker 1: who they nominate to win these awards. But good job

877
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:56,560
Speaker 1: and might have to do it again next year.

878
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was gonna say my challenge to everybody, and

879
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:01,839
Speaker 3: I'll keep receipts. As I keep receipts, hit me up

880
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:05,960
Speaker 3: on Twitter, Zach Azycards, leave in the comments section who

881
00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:09,040
Speaker 3: you think this year's MVBC should be, if you think

882
00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:10,920
Speaker 3: it should be James Connor or not, and then give

883
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:12,600
Speaker 3: me a production for next year because I'm gonna keep

884
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:14,960
Speaker 3: proceipts and next year when we get back on cover two,

885
00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:17,160
Speaker 3: we're gonna talk a little bit about.

886
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:21,520
Speaker 1: It sounds good. The year end oards posted on ascardinals

887
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,080
Speaker 1: dot com. And then make sure you let Zach know

888
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:27,560
Speaker 1: about all his fine work on azycardinals dot com. On

889
00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:29,600
Speaker 1: that note, we will put a lid on this edition

890
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:32,520
Speaker 1: of Cardinals Cover two presented by Hyundai, proud partner of

891
00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:35,680
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals. As always, special thanks to our associate

892
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:39,239
Speaker 1: producer Cody Fincher, our executive producer jim On Mahundro for

893
00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:41,400
Speaker 1: Zach Gershman, I'm Craig Real Lou. We'll talk to you

894
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:43,279
Speaker 1: next time here on Cardinals Cover two