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December 12, 2025 11 mins
Set to take on the Arizona Cardinals this week in the NFL, Dan and Cole are joined by longtime sports radio talk show host John Gambadora from Arizona's Sports Radio 98.7, sharing his final prediction ahead of Sunday's kickoff.     
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
With our next guest from ninety eight to seven Arizona
Sports out there in Phoenix. So the Texans taking on
the Cardinals and they'll do that Sunday at noon over
at NRG Stadium as we catch up with John Gombodoro
again from Arizona Sports. Gombo, appreciate the time, man. All Right,
two quick hitters for you before get to the first

(00:21):
long form question here. But is this one of the
final four games that we will be seeing Jonathan Gannon
as the head coach the Arizona Cardinals.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
That's the biggest question here. You know, he's been here
three years. Whether you want to give him a fourth
year or not, that's up to Michael Bidwell. They're still
paying Cliff Kingsbury a little bit of money from because
they've gave him a five year deal and the fire
mefter one year and the former GM Steve Gime. You know,
a lot of us hes thought that Gannon might be
able to survive this, especially if you made some changes

(00:50):
at coordinator with the new offensive coordinator. But many if
they go on this epic losing streak and lose you know,
fourteen out of the last fifteen football games, I'm not
so sure. I mean, this team is having one of
the worst years in the history of the Arizona Cardinals.
I mean, no Cardinals team has ever ever lost fourteen
football games. They've got a chance to do it.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Does the GM go with them?

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Because I mean, remember Will Anderson Junior is here in
Houston because of a deal made with Nick Cassio.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I mean that was you know, we
looked at Will Anderson and go, wow, you'd love that.
You love to have that guy. But the Cardinals needed
a franchise left tackle and they got one in Paris Johnson.
That wasn't a terrible trade. You know. At the time
we thought, you know, Arizona and Houston might have the
top one and two picks, you know, but that Houston
was good that year and he depicted and that did
not end up being as good as we thought it

(01:41):
would be when the trade was made. Both guys have
been here for the same amount of time, Monty Austin
Ford and Jonathan Gannon. It's the biggest question we have here.
We don't know Michael Bidwell, Unlike other owners in this market,
Ken Kendrick, the owner of the Diamondbacks, comes on with
us a lot so does Matt Ishbia, the owner of
the Suns, comes on with us a lot. We don't
get to hear from Michael Bidwall a whole lot, so

(02:02):
what his thinking is, we are not sure. We've always
questioned the commitment to win by the ownership group here
because they have such a awful history of losing, so
we do question that. So we've got four games left.
To be honest with you, I don't think it matters
whether they win a game or two. Like, if you
don't know now whether you want to keep these guys

(02:23):
or not, then something would be wrong. John.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
When you look at the status of Jacoby Versett, this
is a guy who probably is going to be a
hot commodity on the open market next year. Veteran presence
because of his experience being a backup quarterback. Kyler Murray
is not going to be a part of this team
long term. We have all kind of agreed that he's
going to Pittsburgh, Who's going to Minnesota or something like that.
But when you look at Jacoby Brissett, is he fighting
for an opportunity to get a second contract with Arizona.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
He signed a two year deal guy, so he's under
contract for next year, so he'll be back. He signed
a two year contract with Arizona, so he'll need to
be back as a stop gap starter, or he will
be a backup if they go get another quarterback via
the draft of somewhere else. But yeah, they did sign
into a two year deal, so he will not hit

(03:10):
the open market.

Speaker 4 (03:10):
Do you think that's the plan though, is to go
with a quarterback early or in one of the early
rounds or is this one of those things where, look,
we got so many problems on the defensive side, we
still got to fix our offensive line. We don't know
what our long term answer is at running back. Potentially,
there's so many other moves that you can go look
at in a week quarterback class, you just ride it
out with Jacoby percent one more year and maybe bring
in another veteran just to compete for reps.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, I mean I would do that, right. I would
draft an offensive tackle Spencer Fano out of Utah and
in the first round and try to build that offensive
line because the offensive line is really, really bad. It's
got a lot of problem. They can't run the football,
guys like they can't run it all. Yeah, James Conner
has been out almost all year. Trey Benson's not coming
back the Den minus then number one and number two back.

(03:54):
But if you look at the pass and run disparity
with this football team and all the games, you'll blow
your mind, like how much they passed the ball compared
to running. It's some of these as they've been behind
by a lot, especially in the games against NFC West opponents,
but they've also played seven games that have been within
four points. They just don't have the ability to run

(04:14):
the football, so they end up passing it a lot.
I would go with ya, Kobe Prisett. But then here's
the question, like if you are if you are many
Austin Fort and Jonathan Gaannon, then you're And they come
back and their jobs are on the line, they got
a mandate to win next year. Do you really want
to do it with a journeyman backup or do you
want to take a chance on a you know, on
a rookie In the draft, I think they got to

(04:35):
go offensive line. It's not a great draft class. And
and you know what sucks for them too, it is
it's not like they're in a position to get the
Mendoza kid, who I like, because they don't even have
a top five pick. With all the losses the Cardinals
have done, they don't even have a top five.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Pick right now.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
It's crazy to think, no doubt about it. John Gombadoro
again from Arizona Sports ninety eight to seven. They're in
Phoenix talking a little bit about the Cardinals with us
here on the Morning Drive. Gombo, it looks like that
Marvin Harrison Junior is not going to be out there
this weekend.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Is that the understanding out there?

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, he's he's he's been been injured a lot. He's
had a rough year. Marvin Harrison Junr. Michael Wilson has
developed into the number one receiver for them lately as
a kid they drafted at a Stanford and he usually
doesn't play very well when when Marvin Harrison Junior plays.
But when, uh, but when Marvin Harrison Junia doesn't play,
You look at his numbers, they're through the roof. He's
he's got over seven hundred yards receiving right now. So, no,

(05:33):
the Cardinals are as banged up as any team in
this league has banged. Piis Johnson, the left tackle, is
not going to play in this game. You know, we
don't expect Marvin Harrison Junior to play. Walton Olan could
come back, Trey Bens and they didn't open up his window.
The running back. They were hopeful to get him back
for this game. They're not going to open up his windows.
So his season is over. They've been devastated by injuries,
just devastated by injuries. And you know, we've seen two

(05:56):
years of Marvin Harrison junr. And we just you know,
not not exact actly what we expected.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
You know, when you're.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Draft the receiver and that high and he's the number
one receiver taken and he's the number one position player
off the board, that's not a quarterback. And I think
it's been somewhat of a disappointing start for him in
his career here.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
So banged up offensive line, not a number one receiver
s out of Michael Wolson. You do have Trey McBride,
but still questions when it comes to running the football
and inconsistent defense, a coach on the hot seat, a
GM the potentially could be going out the door as well.
So John, I'll ask you straight up.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
What's it gonna playing?

Speaker 4 (06:29):
Well, what's what's what's the best way for this team
to find a way to get a victory on an
energy stadium on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
I mean, I don't think they can. I mean the
way that defensive I don't know, the way the Houston defense.
I mean, that's probably the most physical defense in the league.
I like the Denver defense a lot too, But I
think it's gonna be very difficult for the game. You know,
we look at the Atlanta game and say, boy, if
they can get a win in any of these four games,
it would be you know, the Falcons game. But I
think a lot of fans here just want them to
lose every game because they want the better draft pick.

(06:58):
At this point, with the hell, why not just get
the best draft pick possible.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
If you want to?

Speaker 2 (07:02):
You know, how can they win? Trey McBride is the
best height end in football. Michael Wilson is a very
good capable receiver. If they're able to protect Brissett, you know,
they do have the ability to get the ball down
the field. But if you make them one dimensional, you
could just focus on that because the Cardinals cannot run
the football. Like they can't run the football, so teams

(07:24):
are now you know, Okay, their emphasis really is on
going after Brissett and just making sure that they got
the coverage in the back. So I think it's very
difficult for them to go on the road to get
a win in Houston. If the Rams have anything to
play for in that final game, they're not going to
beat them. They do play games close, remember seven games
by four points or less, and they're own seven in
all of those games, but they just haven't figured out

(07:46):
a way to win.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
And Gombo, I mean you mentioned it.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
You know, Suns are playing well and you just want
to tie this in with the Cardinals out there.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
I mean, just with all the fits and starts.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
I mean, I know there was the Super Bowl in
eight and there's been playoff runs here and there, but
just I mean overall, I mean, is this a fan
base that's pretty much checked out right now?

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, you know they've had three really they've been down
thirty five to nothing, thirty forty five to ten, and
thirty five to ten in the three last three games
against NFC West opponents. I mean this last game, you know,
against the Rams, I think by the third quarter, sixty
to seventy percent of the fans who were out of
the building. So yeah, like you know, I've done the

(08:27):
show for it's twenty nine years here, and you know
we're looking for you know, hey, the Diamondbacks and trade
to tell Marte, you know, the Phoenix Suns of this.
You know, the Sons were off to a really good
and surprising start, so you know, it's it's tough. The
Cardinals were, truly they were out of it on Halloween,
like they were eliminated like a week or two ago,
but they were like out of it by Halloween. You're like,
oh boy, this team's this team's not going to go

(08:49):
anywhere because they started off two and oh. But then
by Halloween they were two and five and you're not
going to come back from two and five. So we
kind of knew at that point that it's a lost
season and you just kind of wait for it to end,
wait to see if the coach will get fired and
the GM will get fired and the drafts pick that
you're gonna have you talk about that in free agency,
but yeah, it's it's a tough spot when you're you

(09:09):
know when honestly like but by the time the calendar
turns to November, you know your football team has no
chance at the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
John always why I get you're opinion on this because
I've asked every guest that we've had on this week
about the situation. You have a forty four year old
grandfather starting for the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday against one
of the league's best defenses. What are your thoughts on
Philip Rivers going on back.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
I think he's probably better than half the backups in
the league right now. I don't see you know, we
had Kurt Wana here and he did lead the Cardinals
to the Super Bowl. I remember talking to Curt at
one point four or five years later. He's like, I'd
love to come back. I'd love to come back. Philip
Rivers is a smart quarterback high IQ. He could throw
the football. Now he's got to learn. You know, they're
gonna dum you down to the offense for him, right

(09:50):
I mean, there's gonna be a limited amount of plays
that he knows. But I don't think it's a terrible idea. Now,
they've got a tough schedule. I don't know if they're
gon win any of the games they're gonna play. Go
look at the Colts schedule. It's brutal. I mean, Seattle's
got a great defense. I think he's probably a better
option than anything that's out there that they could have gotten.
Bring him back if he's in shape. He didn't remember

(10:11):
how he didn't forget how to throw a football. Guys,
he was a really really good quarterback. You're not expecting
him to go run like Lamar Jackson or Kyler Murray
or anybody like that. But we've seen a lot of
quarterbacks in their forties play and play. Okay, remember Steve
de Berg. So I don't think it's a terrible idea
for the calls. I don't think it's going to work,

(10:32):
but I don't think it's.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
A great idea again.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
John Gombadoro again, Arizona Sports ninety eight to seven FM.
Out there in Phoenix, hopping on with us for a
few minutes. Gambo, appreciate the time on man, It's always
great to catch up with you. And please take good
care of both Dylan Brooks and Jalen Green out there.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
You got two good ones.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
How do you guys like KD?

Speaker 3 (10:51):
So far, so far, so great. I mean, I know
last night he was a little off night.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Overall that slid into don't say that he'll slide into
your direct messages. What you'll say.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
I'm waiting for it that Cole Cole Cole is itching
to be the dopamine this morning for Kevin Doreena.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
Half of what you say, you'll you'll get it that
you'll get a direct message from him right away if
you say something nasty. But he's a great player. He's
a great player. Enjoy him.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
I hope he does well.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
There you go again, John Gombadoro again Arizona Sports ninety
eighty seven FM.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Out there in Phoenix. We'll catch up here soon. Goambo,
you gotta take care
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