PHX Reporter

Jonathan Gannon, the coach of the Cardinals, recently discussed the progress of rookie player Tip Reiman. Gannon praised Reiman for his enthusiastic and diligent approach to both meetings and training sessions. "Reiman 'plays with his hair on fire and he's violent,'" Gannon noted, emphasizing Reiman's dedication.

One particular habit of Reiman's caught Gannon's attention: "Any time a back gets on the ground, he goes and picks up the back. It's good ball. The guy cares." This prompted further discussion about how closely Gannon monitors such behaviors in his players, whether through video or live observation.

"We have a standard of how we want to do things here and it is important to me and then it's important to the coaches and the players," said Gannon. "What you emphasize is what you normally get."

Gannon highlighted that one of their strategic focuses going into recent games was achieving "20-plus pickups." He explained this unusual strategy by saying, "You guys are probably like, 'Why would that be a winning edge,' right? It speaks to the effort and our mode of play. That can be demoralizing to another team when they see that. I thought we did a good job with it (Sunday)."