Jonathan Gannon hasn’t had the best of luck at State Farm Stadium, which is located in Glendale. Which presents a challenge for someone serving as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for the first time.

The Cardinals blew a 21-point lead in the second half of their game on Sunday against the Cubs. In the final quarter, their defense gave up 31 points and 358 yards to the opposing team. And as they went off the field after suffering a humiliating defeat in Gannon’s first game with Arizona, trolls in Philadelphia cackled with joy.

In one of their emails, one of them said that it “looks just like the second half of the Super Bowl!”

A loss to New York by a score of 31–28, which was the Giants’ biggest comeback in the Super Bowl era, makes it difficult to feel positive about the game. Gannon’s defense has allowed a combined total of 55 second-half points in the last two games he’s played in Glendale. Gannon placed all of the burden on himself, even though the Cardinals had done all that was necessary to blow a commanding lead at halftime. He was covering for everyone else in his immediate area.

However, the progression is not hard to spot at all.

The 2023 Cardinals are on the verge of improving their record to 2-0. They are not the poorest club in the NFL, nor are they trying to improve their record in order to choose USC standout Caleb Williams. On Sunday, they completely disproved that narrative by completely dominating the Giants for the first two and a half quarters of the game.

The team demonstrated its newly discovered hunger for strenuous activity. The quarterback, Josh Dobbs, delivered on his promise and made a significant improvement in their performance. A marked increase from the 210 total yards created by the Cardinals in Week 1’s game, the Cardinals had 104 yards of total offense after just two series. And when Dobbs raced through a Giants defender on his way to a rushing score, you could almost feel the Valley fawning over its new quarterback, Eli Manning. Dobbs ran through the defender on his way to scoring.

There are various paths to leadership in the National Football League. Running for a touchdown while acting as your own lead blocker is a very effective strategy.

Dobbs remarked, “We fight,” in response. “We are fighting one hundred percent of the time. We are capable of competing against anyone. When we put our plans into action, we’re a tough offense to defend against.

After that, though, the bottom of the tub collapsed. The Cardinals’ offensive unit has lacked both aggression and inventiveness recently. The defense struggled in Budda Baker’s absence due to the star’s injury. The new coaching staff had to quickly and painfully educate themselves about finishing in the NFL while they were on the job. And with each productive drive, the away Giants boosted the confidence of their legion of fans inside State Farm Stadium and motivated them to greater heights.

This encapsulates the utmost level of futility. Beating the opposing team like a marching drum is the most effective technique to clear out this stadium of non-believers and people who support opposing political parties. should make it pointless and emotionally taxing for any opposing fans that dare to enter State Farm Stadium in order to achieve this goal. The Cardinals were very near to proving their argument unequivocally, and they were also very close to sowing the initial seeds of what would become their next great home-field advantage.

Instead, the situation deteriorated into a hostile one. The Cardinals committed successive false start penalties due of the overwhelming crowd noise when the score was tied at 28 and they had a chance to win the game. Because fans of the Giants discovered their voices and made communication extremely challenging. It would happen again on the Cardinals’ unfortunate final possession, and in the end, the squad was once again disadvantaged as a result of the fact that they were playing on their home field.

Because of this, the defeat on Sunday is a bitter pill to chew regardless of how far we’ve come or how entertaining it was. After all, it’s difficult to have a positive attitude when everyone at the post-game celebration is wearing blue.