Paris Johnson Jr. got to know Jim Harbaugh a little, when Johnson was a highly-sought recruit and Harbaugh was trying to get him to come to what Johnson of course refers to as “that school up North.”
That’s the phrase any Ohio State product, like Johnson, uses when talking about the University of Michigan, where Harbaugh coached at the time. The Cardinals left tackle acknowledged that “despite the rivalry, I think he’s a great leader, and outside of the game I think he’s a great person.”
Harbaugh’s teams, Johnson said, play hard for him. There is an old-school philosophy to the football too.
When the Chargers come in Monday night, “this is a matchup that excites you.”
The Chargers like to run the ball and grind out the offense. That’s what Harbaugh does. It’s how he ran the 49ers in the NFC West from 2011-2014 – the Cardinals saw that plenty – and what he did at that school up North. Justin Herbert is a talented QB, but he’s not putting up numbers the way he has in the past. Harbaugh wants ball control, and to lean on a defense that is allowing a league-low 13.2 points a game.
The Cardinals are trying to find their footing with a consistent offense. They will have Marvin Harrison Jr., and Zay Jones. They need to keep the ball, so that the Chargers can’t.
“I don’t think that’s changing much for our mindset,” Johnson said. “We want to put points on the field each time whether we are playing someone who wants to hustle down the field or take their time.
“Each series is so valuable. It’s a reminder each game, ‘Dang, we might only have two shots in the second quarter to get points.’ Now those two drives might feel like one. You have to assume you’re not getting too many shots out there.”
— The game is national, but in that vein will not be on cable, but only streaming on ESPN+. If you are in the Valley, it can be seen over the air on FOX 10. If you are out of state, you’ll need to stream.
— If you are coming to the game, it is a blackout theme. The Cardinals will be wearing their all-black uniforms, and fans are encouraged to wear black.
— I’ve seen a lot of Cardinals on “Monday Night Football.” The last one was kinda important – it was the 2022 game against the Patriots in which Kyler Murray tore his ACL on the game’s third play. There was the 2020 game in Dallas, Kyler’s first game back home, in which he tore up the Cowboys through the air after his epic high school career in the…
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