Mike LaFleur - Head Coach, cardinals Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-09 | Full transcript (primary source).
Mike LaFleur, Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals, addressed the media in a press conference on September 9, 2026, as the team prepares for their season opener against the Minnesota Vikings. LaFleur discussed the challenges of facing a strong opponent on the road and emphasized the importance of preparation for the upcoming game.
Transcript
LaFleur: This team, Arizona's had a tough time on the road against the Chargers over the years. What do you see in that team playing Minnesota 5, a stadium you're very familiar with? I didn't really know that we had a hard time with them, I'll be honest with you, because you don't really look at historical records. But now, with that being said, this is a dang good football team coached by a guy that I have a ton of respect for. I think this league, I think anyone that likes football has a lot of respect for this man. So just the way he goes about his business. And then on top of it, they got a very good roster. Starting with their quarterback, but not limited by that quarterback in terms of what else they have around them. So going on the road, week one, we got our hands full with them. We know that. And our focus is on the preparation, getting ready to go for Sunday.
LaFleur: What's the common trait with the Harbaugh team like that? Tough, discipline, all the things that you would think of when you hear the name Jim Harbaugh. Not to group him with his brother, but John Harbaugh's dad was an unbelievable coach that my family has history with in terms of the Mac and stuff like that. But yeah, just tough discipline. Just gritty.
LaFleur: How do you go about preparing in the week one to face a defense that's called by a coach who you've never seen call plays in the NFL you saw last year at the FCS, but at the group of five level? What goes into that week of preparation? Yeah, I mean, one, it's week one. I mean, I get it. He wasn't in the league last year. And two years ago, he was with the Chargers and whatnot. But even if he had been there for 10 years, there's going to be different stuff that they would have done. I'm sure if Jesse was still there, that there was going to be adjustments probably made. So you always got to be prepared for that. So you go off of what you see from tape. You talk about their players and what they do well. But most importantly, it's about us. And I'm sure they're saying the same stuff. It's this first week, this is the first few weeks. It's about what you do and how you execute and how you go about your business. And then understanding that you got to be able to adapt based on what they're doing.
LaFleur: In the NFC, you're not seeing the Chargers a lot. But at the same time, was there any kind of osmosis that happened being in the same city where if something was coming up on the local media or whatever, that you might know a little bit about this team more than others? No, honestly, because the buildings were so far apart. We were out in Woodland Hills. They're basically over by the airport there, or what they like to call it, Manhattan Beach. So but no, it's there really was none. I mean, they might as well have been the T Mountain, the East Coast, because we were so far away.
LaFleur: With Jim and all, do you guys go back and all? No, just his father and my father do. His dad being a head coach and all that kind of stuff. I think just from camps and whatnot. But again, just always knowing of the Harbaughs and just I think all of us do.
LaFleur: Are there a certain level of excitement, Mike, knowing this is your first regular season game as a head coach? I think the level of excitement is for these players. I mean, this is what this league's about is on Sundays. We get a kick out of it. And you guys do too. That's why you're here in terms of the whole process of it, dating all the way back to OTAs and the draft. You guys love it. And we love the process of it too. But ultimately, I mean, the reason this game is so big is because of the Sundays and what the players do for the fans. So that's what I'm excited about to see. These guys go rock under the lights and go from there.
LaFleur: Mike, you're an update on Jeremiah. Yeah, he'll be ready to roll today. And we'll just kind of take it one day at a time.
LaFleur: Will you be a full participant today? I don't exactly know what his listing is. But yeah, there's no limit on our end.
LaFleur: So is the plan entering the plan on Sunday? The plan is to see how he looks today, to see where we're going to go to on Sunday. But we feel good.
LaFleur: Where are Will Johnson and Isaiah Adams at home? Will's good. Isaiah will be, he is going to be non-participant today.
LaFleur: So will it be full go? Have you prepared for 2-2 and Mack, the edge guys, so they can kind of break a game? Yeah, just put edge guys on our look squad and add an extra 40 pounds. Because I mean, those guys are heavy, heavy edges. And they play that way. They are hard to move. And when it turns into pass, they know what they're doing. So two solid guys on the edges, you're always going to look on offense deep, like, how are the edges. And that's corner, too. But on both the outside linebackers in their spot, there's a problem.
LaFleur: Throughout training camp, you were saying that the focus is not to peak on July, whatever day it is, but to peak on September 13. Does this team feel like it's five days away from peaking? I think they're, I think they feel like they're five days away from playing good football. But at the same, like I told them, we're all excited about being in the building today, getting that first game plan and all that kind of stuff. But get back to this focus. The focus is preparation right now. We don't play for five days. We got to go out and execute. We got to have our edge. We got to have a great energy about us. But bottle some of that stuff up into Sunday so that we can just worry about what's important. That's our preparation.
LaFleur: I'm sure you've envisioned what the defense is going to look like, but what are you looking forward to most of how it's actually going to look like? What are you? Yeah, I don't think it's that hard to see what looks sharp and what doesn't. And again, the defense has a say in that. There's no doubt. But getting in and out of the huddle, making sure we have the right people, and at all times, where there's never any frantic, a lot of things happen in a three and a half hour window. But how can we limit, if not totally get out all that bad stuff that can happen that we have total control of? So that's what you're looking for today. I mean, again, we've been in training camp for seven, eight weeks, or whatever it's been. But now they're getting their first game plan. And it's different. Like, we weren't preparing for the Chargers two weeks ago. And so again, there's things that they were doing last year that, obviously, we're preparing for with the understanding that it might not be any of that. And then we got to be willing to adjust. So there's going to be three solid days of preparation. Mistakes will be made. Let's clean that up. And then once we get to Sunday, we should be ready to rock.
LaFleur: What have you been thinking about a script for the start of the game offensively? That's a great question. Yeah, I've been replaying some of those plays in my mind for a few, like, two weeks now.
LaFleur: Hey, Mike, when you outside this building expectations for your team are not very high, do you use that at all for yourself or motivation of the team at all? Do you care about that? No, we're not concerned about the noise.
LaFleur: Do you replay the script like 15-30? Just depends on who we play. I think the whole, not saying that, I know probably some people still do it where they script 20, 24, 15, whatever it is. But with the amount of different packages that teams have now, there's certain plays that work against certain packages and whatnot. And I'm not talking even about the charge. I'm talking about all 32 teams. So not going to limit myself to a low number, high number. It's, you know, we'll have some scripted, but some weeks it'll be, if they play this, this is what we're doing. If they play that, this is what we're going to go to. So it'll be adaptable.
LaFleur: Now that you've seen him in practice for six weeks running this offense, what do you like about Jacoby's skill set and how it fits with your skill? Yeah, well, again, like I said kind of throughout, I feel like the spring and the summer, he's seen it all. Like, the hardest thing to teach a quarterback is just like, it's not teaching, it's just the amount of reps. Well, he's had a ton of reps. Whether it be lie bullets on Sundays or obviously preparing as a starter or preparing as a backup or coming in as a backup. He has seen it all, he's done it all, he's seen all the defenses. So all that stuff, it's like that's not going to be new for him. And I feel that way about a lot of our guys on our team. Like, we're not, we're a pretty veteran team that have played a lot of football. You know, like it's, yeah, Sunday is going to feel like they're going to have something different, you know, that they're feeling when they wake up and they start. Like, that's normal, that's all the teams. But like, our guys have been there and I expect them to act that way, you know. And so we'll go through a great week of preparation, but I know I kind of ventured off of the Jacoby one, but that's how I feel about a lot of our guys.
LaFleur: Do you feel like this offense is built well for a pocket passing kind of distributor type of quarterback? Yeah, I mean, I think this offense is built well for anyone that can play quarterback in whatever their ability is. You know, it's our job to suit it to their abilities and there's going to be foundational aspects of it. But, you know, I don't think we're going to look like the Chargers on Sunday because of what their guy can do too. And I don't know if Mike's going to look exactly like Miami, exactly like San Francisco, somewhere in between, or something that looks like none of it. Like, who knows what they're going to look like? And because he's got a guy back there that has a skill set that he really hasn't had, you know. And so, you know, I think it's our job to adapt to what those quarterbacks can do.
LaFleur: You were mentioning earlier this week about the back and forth you had a little bit over the weekend with Jacoby and having those texts. And we heard last year how involved he liked to be, his teammates would talk about how much he was texting them about different stuff off hours. Is that rare for a quarterback? I'm assuming it's not every quarterback is going to be like that. What's it like to have a quarterback like that? Yeah, I wouldn't say it's rare, you know. I mean, I'll just date back to my previous with Stafford. I mean, the trust that he had in us to put together a plan that made sense. But then there's things that players talk about, you know, player to player, a couple of players, maybe a position like not saying they're doing like player only meetings or anything like that, just that some quarterbacks do. We didn't do that in LA. But they would have their side conversations that I think were healthy to keep coaches away. Like, yeah, I'm saying it like this, but I kind of feel like this. And that's OK, you know. So I think Jacoby just appreciates the process, appreciates, you know, good football and what he thinks, you know, each place should look like.
LaFleur: When you say guys will wake up feeling a certain kind of way on Sunday, do you still get that as a coach, some kind of a look? I get excited for the guys, I really do. It's, you know, again, it's none of us are here without them. This is a player driven league. Anyway, you slice it. And so you just get excited for them to go do what they love to do. You know, so that's what I get excited for.
LaFleur: I think that will you take a moment to appreciate the moments when you're there, your first? Probably not.
LaFleur: Why? Well, I mean, I don't think of it like that. It caught me a little in Green Bay, looking across and seeing Matt, I guess. And I'm hoping that was my only moment. So I try to appreciate every moment I got, being right here right now, going on in the practice field for the first Wednesday of the regular season with these guys. So yeah, you know, obviously, 1 o'clock this thing kicks off or whatever time it ends up being at West Coast. But I try to appreciate all of it.
LaFleur: Did you ever go into so fine as a visitor? Yeah, because I had never done that. They opened in 20. So let me rephrase that. I only did it as a when there was no one in the stands. So it was like week 10 or something like that. And then actually coincided with us being told an hour later, we were getting kicked out of Santa Clara to come live down here. So it wasn't a memorable experience.
LaFleur: You said a few exercises that Cowboys preseason game. You guys had a sloppy week of preseason. We haven't been out there in practice these past few weeks. How have you guys responded to that way? I know it's been a long time now, but how have you guys practiced? I thought they answered. I thought they did a good job. It wasn't perfect, but I thought the one thing you don't want in training camp, I would say every coach would attest to this, you don't want one side beaten up on the other the whole time. So I thought we had good competitive practices that went back and forth. They got theirs. We got ours on offense. And that's the way you want it to be. It's harder for me now than it used to be. You just wanted the offense to do well, but then you had to think now it's like I remind myself, man, that guy makes an awesome pick. It's like, yeah, heck yeah, it's our defense. It's just being real. But no, so I thought they answered it well. And I thought we improved over those weeks. And here we are in preparation week.
LaFleur: Joshua's had a couple of weeks to kind of get his feet under him after being activated a lot of the pub. Do you foresee any restrictions, or is he going to be full-load this Sunday? I don't see any restrictions for Sunday, no.
LaFleur: Garrett Williams, where is he at? We're going to take that all the way up into the weekend. We want to make sure he feels as good as he can. I think there's a return to play and a return to performance. And you've got to lean on the player for that second part. And a guy like Garrett, he is as real as they come. So if he's ready to roll, he'll be ready to roll. And if he needs a little bit more time, then we'll go that way.
LaFleur: What do you like about Denzel's ability to move into the slot? Why was he kind of the guy that you tapped for that responsibility? I think all three are capable. I'm not going to limit them saying they're not, because why haven't seen Will do it? I think if we trained him there, he would. But I think it just, when we thought, what is the best? If we have to have the nickel pass coverage out there, what is the best way to go about it? And that is what we all kind of thought. Keep Max and Will outside. Move Denzel inside. Three guys that you have a lot of trust in, no matter where they're at.
LaFleur: Yesterday, or the day before the depth chart, Tyler Algeo was listed as the RB1 over Jeremiah Love. Does that mean anything? And why was this? Do those kinds of things mean anything to you? You know the answer to that, no. But I appreciate the question. I really do. But no, don't look too far into that.
