Arizona
Instant Takeaways from Cardinals’ Costly Loss to Vikings
The Arizona Cardinals surrendered a 19-6 lead, losing to the Minnesota Vikings 23-22. It was a game they had to have, and they now fall to 6-6 and trail the Seattle Seahawks by a game and a half for the NFC West.
This is the type of loss that has a rebounding effect on a team. The ability to bounce back from a poor showing in Seattle last week would have spoken volumes in a positive direction.
Unfortunately, this game spoke volumes in the wrong direction.
Here are the instant takeaways from a devastating loss:
The Cardinals have shown their fair share of surprising proficiency in 2024. Winning four in a row and sitting atop a weak division maybe oversold their ability to make the playoffs this soon.
I’ve written before that this team isn’t “ahead of schedule,” but rather right on schedule. They aren’t ready for a playoff berth just yet. Granted, the Vikings are a good squad, but you cannot choke a lead of that magnitude and be taken seriously.
There’s plenty of talent to be added and development to be done with young players, but if this team can’t win games like Sunday’s, they can’t win in January. Their division-winning could be all but gone, and their overall playoff hopes are in serious trouble, with another extremely bad matchup with the Seahawks coming to Phoenix next week.
It’s never on one guy, or even one coach, but head coach Jonathan Gannon needs to find a balance between his over-aggression in 2023, and the playing-to-lose that occurred on Sunday.
Five field goal attempts, punting on fourth and short, not going for a touchdown to seal the game late, and ignoring a potential two-point conversion to go up 14 were conservative decisions that didn’t pan out.
It’s easy to scrutinize each one in a vacuum and overreact to them – plenty more went wrong than these, but those decisions don’t win you big games against good opponents. The Cardinals need to be playing with more urgency, and that extends to Gannon.
Finding the proper balance between smart and reckless is the key to game management with an up-and-coming team.
Again, it’s easy to criticize Drew Petzing, but it’s not all on him. There were plenty of terrible mistakes in the form of penalties, sloppy play by the offensive line at times, and poor decisions and throws by Murray.
But as the Cardinals came up to run a desperation drive, I thought to myself “this team has no explosive ability.”
That’s fine, when you’re able to pound the rock and maintain a lead, or when you’re playing inferior teams. But when you’re facing a two-minute drill, there’s rarely a play designed for quick chunk yardage, and outside of the occasional flashes from Marvin Harrison Jr., there’s no big play or deep ball threat from most of the offense.
You can’t necessarily live and die by the vertical, but the lack of explosiveness keeps the entire defense right in Murray’s face. Even when he escapes the pocket, there’s not much open field to survey.
The broadcast also talked at length about getting the job done on first and second down, and staying out of third down. Arizona’s offense isn’t nearly reliable enough to make a living on third down.
It’s not that they need to be converting on first down, but far too many plays on early downs went for losses, or penalties, or barely a yard or two. Couple that with the fact that no one is worried about a throw deeper than 10 yards downfield, and the Cardinals’ offense simply isn’t a threat to teams who are fundamentally sound.
Feeding Trey McBride and James Conner is a great way to control the time of possession, but in this league, against the better teams, you need explosiveness, and you need to keep the defense honest. Arizona hasn’t been able to do that outside of their blowout of the Rams, and in smaller part the Jets.
Believe it or not, the 2026 All-Star Game voting process has already begun, as of Wednesday. Fans who want to see their favorite members of the Arizona Diamondbacks take the field in the midsummer classic this season can begin voting for their stars.
There are certainly some deserving players on this Diamondbacks club, which is currently 32-28 and occupying the third Wild Card sport in the National League.
Here’s how and where you can vote for your hometown heroes:
How to vote for Diamondbacks players to make All-Star Game
Fans can utilize the following link to vote for members of their team on dbacks.com. Fans are permitted to fill out and submit as many as five ballots per day, selecting as many or as few players as they choose.
This period of the fan vote constitutes Phase 1 of All-Star voting, which will run from Wednesday, June 3 through Thursday, June 25 at 9:00 a.m. Arizona time (12:00 p.m. Eastern time).
Following Phase 1, the two overall top vote-getters will receive automatic berths into the All-Star lineups. If those two are not Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge once again, that would be an upset.
When and where is the 2026 All-Star Game?
The 2026 All-Star Game will take place at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies in Philadelphia. All-Star week begins on June 10, with a full slate of activities, before the game is played on Tuesday, July 14 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time (5:00 p.m. Arizona time).
The full schedule of events are as follows:
- Friday, July 10: HBCU Swingman Classic
- Saturday, July 11: 2026 MLB Draft
- Sunday, July 12: All-Star Sunday, MLB Futures Game, MLBx All-Star 3-on-3
- Monday, July 13: T-Mobile Home Run Derby (8:00 p.m. ET)
- Tuesday, July 14: All-Star Red Carpet, All-Star Game
Which Diamondbacks are deserving All-Stars?
| Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
So, who should Diamondbacks fans vote for? Obviously, you may fill out the ballot however you choose. That can include a full roster of Diamondbacks, regardless of their stats or notoriety this season.
Still, here are some of the top performing D-backs who might have a leg up on an All-Star berth:
OF Corbin Carroll
Corbin Carroll is having another All-Star worthy season. He’s hitting .289/.380/.545 with a .925 OPS and eight home runs, while playing good right field defense. He has the eighth-most bWAR (2.7) among position players, fifth-most in the National League, and third-most among all pure outfielders.
2B Ketel Marte
If Marte wins the NL second base fan vote, it will be his third straight season starting the All-Star game. Despite such a slow start to the year, that feels possible again. Marte is hitting .259/.315/.456 with 10 homers and is playing the best defense of his career.
3B Nolan Arenado
Nolan Arenado is quietly putting together one of his better seasons of the 2020s, slashing .269/.351/.467 with eight homers and flashing his elite third base glove at nearly as good a pace as ever. His name still carries a lot of weight in third base conversations; he’ll get some votes, no matter what.
1B Ildemaro Vargas
Vargas’ bat has cooled down quite a bit since his historic start to 2026. He’s still hitting a sturdy .290/.318/.454, but feels more likely to be considered as a reserve selection than a leading vote-getter.
Honorable Mention: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez
Pitchers are not selected by the fan vote. They are selected by player ballots and the All-Star Game managers. The National League’s manager will be Dave Roberts of the Dodgers, again.
The National League has quite a few talented pitchers, but Eduardo Rodriguez currently holds the fifth-best starting pitcher ERA (2.24) among NL hurlers. It’s going to be difficult to dethrone Christopher Sanchez or Jacob Misiorowski, but Rodriguez could find his way into the pitching pool, especially after his WBC heroics for Team Venezuela.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
Arizona State has added Michael White to its coaching staff for the upcoming 2026-2027 season. White will join the program as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.
“I am incredibly honored to return to my home state and join this elite program,” White said. “I’m proud to say that I am coming home. I can’t thank Coach Herbie enough for the opportunity to join his incredible staff and help these young athletes grow and develop into the best individuals they can be. There are so many friends and mentors who have left their mark on this program, and I’m excited for the opportunity to leave mine and help take this program to new heights. Go Devils!”
White arrives with the Sun Devils after most recently spending the last three seasons with Alabama as an assistant. The Alabama women finished 11th at the 2026 NCAA Championships while the men were 24th.
Prior to arriving at Alabama, White spent the 2022-2023 season as a volunteer assistant at Wisconsin. He primarily coached the freestyle, breaststroke and distance groups for the Badgers. In addition to coaching the Badgers, he also was an assistant senior coach with the Madison Aquatics Club for the year. He began his coaching career at Juniata College in Pennsylvania as a volunteer assistant from 2019-2021.
White spent his collegiate career at St. Bonaventure in New York. There he was a 7x individual Atlantic-10 champion and swam to three school records as a senior with a 1:47.30 200 IM, 3:52.18 400 IM, and a 1:47.70 200 fly. He also was team captain for two season and helped the team capture the 2014 A-10 team title.
The Scottsdale, Arizona native will return to his home state. He was a 2012 AIA Division I state champion in the 100 breast and 200 IM as a senior for Dobson High School.
White joins the coaching staff led by head coach Herbie Behm, who is already known to be an innovative coach. Behm spoke of White’s innovation as well saying, “Mike is one of the best young coaches in the NCAA. His interview blew me away with the innovative ideas he presented. I can’t wait to start implementing those ideas and continue our growth at ASU.”
Arizona State swept the 2026 Big 12 team titles, and the men went on to finish 4th at 2026 NCAAs while the women were 37th. Rising senior Ilya Kharun captured the NCAA title in the 200 fly with a 1:37.66.
-
Lifestyle30 minutes agoHow having zero points in tennis — or ‘love’ — came to sound so sweet
-
Technology42 minutes agoAmazon develops a warehouse robot workers can speak to
-
World45 minutes agoAlbino buffalo nicknamed ‘Donald Trump’ becomes sensation at Bangladesh’s national zoo for its blond hair
-
Politics50 minutes agoThe growing list of controversies threatening Democrat Graham Platner’s Maine Senate bid
-
Health57 minutes agoNew cancer vaccine delivers stunning result against one of the deadliest skin cancers
-
Sports1 hour agoFan disrupts NBA Finals Game 1 while trying to take selfie with Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama
-
Business1 hour agoHow Google’s 32-million mosquito project could change California’s battle against dengue
-
Entertainment1 hour agoAfter ‘Barbie’ success, Mattel looks to He-Man for another box-office lift
