Gardner Minshew takes Cardinals QB job from Jacoby Brissett
TLDR: Mike LaFleur named Gardner Minshew the Cardinals' starter for Week 9 in Seattle, a day after Minshew replaced Jacoby Brissett and led 4 straight touchdown drives in a 33-30 overtime win in Dallas.
It started as another miserable Sunday for the Arizona offense. Here's what Brissett gave them in the first half at AT&T Stadium.
That's 8 completions on 20 throws with a pick, and the red zone was still a dead zone. Arizona was down 17-3 in the 3rd quarter when LaFleur finally pulled the plug. Minshew started warming up, and every national insider had the QB change out within a couple of minutes.
It didn't look like it mattered at first. The Cowboys were up 17-10 going into the 4th, and Arizona was still behind 24-17 after Minshew found Tyler Allgeier for a touchdown at the pylon with 10:47 left. Then Trey McBride caught an easy one to make it a 3-point game with about 2 minutes to go, and Michael Wilson, playing through sore ribs, caught the tying touchdown with 6 seconds left. Then the extra point happened.
Chad Ryland hadn’t missed an extra point since 2024. Pulls this one and we’re headed to OT in Texas.
Ryland got his redemption anyway. Dallas went 3-and-out on its only overtime possession, and Ryland made a 42-yard field goal to win it 33-30. Minshew finished 17-for-23 for 188 yards and 3 touchdowns. Wilson had 8 catches for 111 yards on bad ribs, which is WR1 stuff. And Allgeier just ran through Dallas all day.
Tyler Allgeier gained 147 yards on 11 carries against the Cowboys in an overtime win, including runs of 63 and 52 yards. His +96 rushing yards over expected were the most by a Cardinals rusher in a game since at least 2018. @AZvsDAL | #RiseUpRedSea
After the game, LaFleur sounded a lot less excited than everybody else. He said he didn't want 30 good minutes to cover up everything the team needs to fix. He also refused to name a starter, even though he obviously knew what the question was going to be.
LaFleur emphasizes offensive issues were "collective." Isn't ready to announced QB for next week. "I know what the story is going to be and so does (Brissett), but it was the collective."
Calling it "collective" is fair enough as coach-speak. The split between the 2 quarterbacks was still impossible to ignore.
With Jacoby Brissett at QB for 7 series for Cards: 130 total yards of offense and a FG With Gardner Minshew at QB for Arizona Cardinals in 6 series: 337 total yards, 4 TD, FG
Brissett's 7 series produced 130 yards and a field goal. Minshew's 6 produced 337 yards, 4 touchdowns and a field goal. Nobody needs a film session to sort that out.
By Monday afternoon the waiting was over. LaFleur named Minshew the starter for Seattle, and he didn't stop there. Rookie Carson Beck moves up to QB2, and Brissett, who started the week as QB1, drops all the way to emergency 3rd quarterback. That last part is what got the trade-deadline talk going.
There’s little reason to keep Brissett through the trade deadline if he isn’t starting and they have Beck as QB2.
The depth chart backs that up. If Brissett is suiting up 3rd, he's an insurance policy, not a plan.
In addition, rookie QB Carson Beck will move up to the #2 QB role. Jacoby Brissett will be the emergency 3rd QB.
When he was asked whether Brissett would still be on the team going forward, LaFleur said he was focused on this week. He wasn't nearly as vague about the starter.
#AZCardinals HC Mike LaFleur: “Moving forward, we’ll go with Gardner (Minshew) as our starter.”
Next up is a road trip to Seattle, which is not where you'd pick to give a new starter his first full game. The QB2 spot also means more practice reps for Beck and a real chance to play if things go wrong. Keep an eye on 2 things: whether the Minshew offense holds up for 60 minutes against the Seahawks, and whether Brissett is still a Cardinal once the trade deadline passes.
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