PHNX Daily: Cardinals need to learn from their mistakes

GOOD MORNING – Happy Friday! I’m pinch hitting for Patrick today. Usually I write about hockey, so today I’m going to *check notes* write about football? It’s been an eventful week in the Valley with some high highs and low lows, and I’m not talking about the temperatures. 

The Cardinals made headlines for all the wrong reasons (which we’ll get to below) and the Suns remain inconsistent (or consistently bad, depending on how you look at it) but at least the D-backs and many of the college teams can keep our collective enthusiasm for Arizona sports alive!

This is the part in the Friday newsletter where Patrick inserts his dad joke of the week. This one comes courtesy of my good friend Steve Peters: Did you hear about the unsolved robbery case at IKEA? The police are having trouble putting together the pieces!

On to the show!

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Arizona Cardinals Rank Dead Last in 2025 NFLPA Grades

For fans of rebuilding teams, NFL Combine week is meant to inspire hope about the future. 

For Cardinals fans, a more bleak picture came to light as the results of the 2025 NFLPA Team Report Cards dropped. The Cardinals ranked 32nd overall in the NFL, a dead last finish. 

Four steps forward, five steps back: In 2023, the Cards ranked 31st in the NFL on the report card. In 2024, they moved up to 27th. So why the slide to 32nd? NFLPA Chief Strategy Officer JC Tretter told PHNX Cardinals that from 2023 to 2024, the team made changes to move up, but the problem is, so did everyone else. “I wouldn’t say things are getting worse,” Tretter said, “But other teams are making drastic improvements, that it pushes guys that aren’t making changes further down the list.”

• Scores for the locker room and training room ranked 32nd in the league with grades of F- and D- respectively.
• Ownership and food/dining areas earned D- grades, while treatment of families scored a D+.
• Coaching is the one bright spot. It’s the only category the Cardinals earned an A, ranking 8th in the NFL. According to the report card summary on the NFLPA website, players praised Jonathan Gannon for fostering a strong team culture. 
• On Wednesday, the Cardinals announced plans for a new $100 million training facility at the existing location in Tempe with a targeted completion date of 2027. “Our goal is to provide the best possible environment, facilities and resources and to give our team the greatest opportunity to succeed,” the Cardinals said in a statement.

Espo’s take: I applaud them for actually making the changes. But why did it take so long to do so? And why did the team only announce the investment in facilities once the NFLPA dropped another failing grade? For a team known for collecting bad headlines, rehabilitating your image should be priority number one. And where should that start? Within the walls of your own facility, I’d imagine.

Take a deeper dive: Bo and Johnny unpacked the Cardinals’ Report Card live from Indianapolis at the NFL Combine.

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Musings From Around (and Sometimes Beyond) The Valley

Suns Down: The Phoenix Suns lost AGAIN. The New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Suns 124-116 on the first night of a back-to-back for Phoenix. Devin Booker and Kevin Durant had 36 and 28 points respectively, but the team’s efforts weren’t enough to overcome Zion Williamson who had his first career triple double. The Suns have now lost three straight, are 2-10 in February and sit 11th in the Western Conference.

Lots on the line: The Arizona State Hockey team closes out its regular season schedule this weekend at Omaha with one goal in mind: securing home ice for the NCHC quarterfinal playoff round in two weeks. With three points this weekend, the Sun Devils clinch home ice for the best-of-three series on March 14-16. While one regulation win secures that advantage, a sweep of Omaha would help the Devils’ chances of an NCAA Tournament bid. 

Big 12 Battle: Arizona visits #9 Iowa State this Saturday for a rematch, this time at the Hilton Coliseum. The Wildcats won the initial Jan. 27 contest at McKale Center in dramatic fashion after Caleb Love forced overtime with a halfcourt buzzer beater and led the Cats to an 86-75 victory. Tommy Lloyd’s team heads to Ames coming off of an 83-66 win over Utah while the Cyclones have lost two straight, but are 7-1 at home. 

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🧢 Tip of the Hat

Espo conveys how we all feel about the Suns right now…

pic.twitter.com/Mac0WYCKVW

— Espo  (@Espo) February 28, 2025