On Thursday night, the Arizona Cardinals’ new uniforms were supposed to be the big story of the day. But unfortunately, head coach Jonathan Gannon stole the spotlight in a negative way with a bizarre response to a question.
During a question-and-answer session before the uniforms were revealed, Jonathan Gannon was praised for his ability to handle the media and asked if that comes from his time with the Philadelphia Eagles the past two seasons – implying that the Philadelphia media is tough to handle. Gannon acknowledged that Philadelphia is “a very hard media market,” and gave an example of that toughness.
“I’m very comfortable talking to the media,” Gannon said. “Philly is a very hard media market. We were 9-0 and I did my presser and they say, ‘Coach, we want you fired.’ And I said, ‘We’re the number one defense in the NFL right now, in every statistical category. Why do you want me fired?’ ‘You don’t blitz enough.’ I said, ‘Well we lead the league in sacks by thirty-plus sacks, so if you want to come call the defense, then you can have at it.’”
#Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon talking about his comfortability with the media, but mentions how difficult it could be in Philadelphia.
(via Cardinals YouTube) pic.twitter.com/YgQKEyJkoZ
— Ari M (@AriMeirov) April 21, 2023
That would certainly be a very testy interaction, but as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, there’s no evidence that it ever happened.
“The Eagles send out every transcript of every assistant-coach press conference, and we couldn’t find any exchange like the one Gannon referenced,” Florio wrote on Friday.
It’s a pretty insane thing to lie about, and the NFL world wasn’t happy with Gannon as a result.
Gannon spreading negative Philly propaganda he is officially an enemy of the state. pic.twitter.com/Q06TCfYpsB
— Devan Kaney (@Devan_Kaney) April 21, 2023
I cannot wait for Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers’ offense to take Jonathan Gannon’s team behind the shed this season. pic.twitter.com/rwWeSvueiL
— Akash Anavarathan (@akashanav) April 21, 2023
Tweeting this again bc we were not 9-0 ever were 8-1 also at week 9 we didn’t even lead in sacks let alone by 30 ( we did by the end of the season) #Eagles
— Philly Talk Podcast (@Philly_Mike25) April 22, 2023
The Eagles obviously never even went 9-0. They went 8-1 after giving up 40 minutes of possession to the Commanders and allowing Taylor Heinicke to look like prime Tom Brady
This made up situation would’ve been entirely justified had it happened
pic.twitter.com/B84RMrA0x3 https://t.co/H70nfNiT6L
— Liam Jenkins (@LiamJenkinsPSN) April 21, 2023
𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚
New #Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon stated that during his time with the #Eagles the media was gunning for his job even though he started 9-0 (they started 8-1)"If you want to come call the defense, have at it."
— NFL Notifications (@NFLNotify) April 21, 2023
That quite literally never happened. Thank goodness he’s in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/MwlFqmVPFD
— Gino Cammilleri (@GC24_Football) April 21, 2023
Jonathan Gannon is out here just making stuff up! Dude seems to forget nobody in the league had as many double digit leads as the #Eagles #FlyEaglesFly #Cardinals
— A2D Radio (NoNotes) (@a2dradio) April 21, 2023
It’s safe to say the football world isn’t happy with him.
[Ari Meirov, Pro Football Talk]
