Cardinals HC admits his staff spent the offseason doing something peculiar

Jonathan Gannon set the bar for unusually low for himself last year with his cringeworthy “fire in your gut” speech after being introduced as the Arizona Cardinals new head coach.

What did he do for an encore heading into his second training camp? He admitted that his coaching staff wasted an exorbitant amount of time over the summer researching whether or not momentum was real only to come to the conclusion that the answer is maybe.

“The answer is perhaps,” Gannon admitted to reporters. “We actually did a deep dive on momentum this year. Yes and no [it’s real], if you let it. But it can also be a negative thing too. So, how you frame it in your mind, yeah [it can be real], but if you’re not worried about January or December and what you did there and you’re worried about day-to-day improvement, [momentum] probably [doesn’t carry much weight].”

The concept of momentum is one that Gannon admitted has perplexed him for quite some time. Even dating back to last season the second-year head coach disclosed that he wasn’t a big believe in momentum.

Coaches have long searched for an answer to whether or not momentum is real and how they can use it to their advantage during games. Gannon took that curiosity a step further.

“[We looked] up historic data from the 1800s in war then going to Olympics and then going to all walks of life in sport,” Gannon added. “It’s something I’m always interested in. Why we did a deep dive on that is a good question. You guys talk about it all the time, the momentum of the game shifted on that play or that series and I always thought to myself, ‘Is that real? Maybe you can feel it, or it's an instinct … what do you have to do to gain momentum, stop momentum, all those things.”

Though the Cardinals search for a definitive answer came up empty, Gannon divulged he feels better about well-versed on the topic even if it doesn’t help him win games this season.