Mike LaFleur - Head Coach, cardinals Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-11 | Full transcript (primary source).
Mike LaFleur, Head Coach of the Cardinals, addressed the media during a press conference on September 11, 2026, to discuss the team's preparations for the upcoming game and provide updates on player injuries and performance expectations. The session focused on the team's strategy and the importance of player health and operational efficiency as they approach the new season.
Related analysis: Our take on what this means
Transcript
LaFleur: There's a report that Jeremiah is expected to play this week. He's confirmed. Where is he at right now? Still got another good day of work today, to kind of figure that out. But he's trending well.
LaFleur: Is there a possibility, I guess with Horan, you're talking about injury or running back, that you would play a guy on kind of a limited snap counter? If someone plays, are they kind of going to be full? Well, I think the backs in some aspects are limited anyways, because we're going to sub them. I don't really care if everyone was 1,000%. I don't believe in playing those guys. 65 of the 65 snaps, or 72 of the 72 snaps. So we'll always do what we think is best for these guys health-wise, first and foremost, and then second, what's going to help us as a team.
LaFleur: If you want to talk to Lacheran about how much talent this offense has, when you take a step back, kind of look at the guys, especially the skilled players, who are your thoughts on just that group? Yeah, no, I mean, I think individually, there's a lot of talent. We've got to go put it together for 60 minutes. And it takes a lot more than talent in this league. We've got to go operate the way we're capable of. We've got to have our play style. We've got to do all the things that take absolutely no talent to have any sort of success. I think our guys understand that, but we'll see if it comes to life on Sunday.
LaFleur: Where do you, as far as dialing in your role on game days with nuances as far as challenges, going forward? Yeah, I mean, everywhere I've been, you lean on a team. I feel like we had a great team here that I can lean on, particularly Kenny Bell. He's a guy that, truth be told, I always respected the process of how Arizona did things. You're naturally aware, and I'm not going to give a scenario, but there was a situation last year, in the last game of the regular season, when Arizona came to LA, and I was very impressed with how a situation played out. I wouldn't have thought of it that way, and it made sense to me in the moment. I didn't know if I was right, it just made sense, and then be able to go through some of those things with Kenny. It was cool, because he kept me connected. Sometimes I didn't probably even like it, but throughout the entire summer, we had the 40-some days where people were away, and obviously doing our own football stuff, but him and I had a text every single day, and we went through one situation every single day for 40-some days, and sometimes that situation had eight different examples with it. So those were the times I did have my phone with me, but it was from a work standpoint, but it was good. And I believe in, with players, especially bite-sized increments, I think when you give them a whole gamut of stuff, I think that's in life. I think it's hard to consume all that, and I told Kenny, I'm the same way. You give me 40 situations, I'm gonna be bored quick. Give me one a day, I'll be all right.
LaFleur: You made it clear, and the players, obviously, have heard your message about ignoring the noise, that kind of thing. In this league, how difficult of a task is that for coaches and players to win? Yeah, I mean, listen, an ignore might be the wrong word, because you're naturally gonna see it. That is what it is, but that's just life in general, really. It's more kind of above the noise, because it is just noise. It doesn't matter. And I'm not saying that people's words don't matter per se, but it doesn't matter in our locker room. Same thing happens when you're winning a ton of games. Forget all that, too. That's just noise when people want to crown you. This is a week-to-week league, and our focus is gonna be trying to be one to know every single week. And really, above all that, is playing good football. And I think we've talked enough about what good football looks like and what bad football looks like.
LaFleur: Going back to what you were just saying there about Kenny and having a whole team of people to lean on. With analytics, obviously, that's a big part of the game. Are you the type of coach that leans on analytics, or is it more so just rhythm of the game? Analytics breaks the tie to me. So, there's a human element to this that I just, there's 22 variables, and there's a couple of officials out there, too. And by a couple, a lot. And there's a lot of cameras and stuff like that. So there's a ton of variables. But with that being said, if it's like, wow, this is, there's a human element, I'll give it to the tie right there. So we'll see where it goes to even immerse yourself in every situation. I'm just, I'm flat out not smart enough to think about the thousand different things that can happen. Let me make the decision in the moment. You know, and hopefully we've all been trained enough to, in that moment, make those decisions. And I think that's, you know, pretty similar to how life works, too.
LaFleur: You get on analytics, breaking the tie immediately, or is that something you had to get to throughout your career? I heard someone really smart say, and it made sense to me.
LaFleur: Well, you said you guys have talked a lot about what good football looks like. What does good football look like? I've talked to you guys about it. You know, I don't think it's, I don't, I think the average fan can watch a game and say they're tight, they're sharp, they're buttoned up, they know what they're doing. That looks difficult for the opposing side, offense, defense, special teams. It doesn't look as difficult for them, you know? And again, I fully expect the team that we're about to play on Sunday to play good football and have the same stuff. And so now, hey, good football versus good football. And that's why I'm not really immersed into the whole wins and loss thing. There's a lot of things that can happen in games, but all we can control is one play at a time, playing as good as we can with the operation, with the play style, and then you let the chips fall where they may. The enemy's always gonna have a say in it, you know? So we'll evaluate it one day at a time, one week at a time. I'm excited to finally get it rocking and see it when it does count, and then go after the game and evaluate it and then talk to our team about it.
LaFleur: I thought for months ago, being sharp and making sure it's kind of straight and narrow, I guess. Presam penalties, you had a few of them in the preseason. How have you worked on those and how do you kind of make sure that they're- Yeah, you just point them out. I mean, you could have a false start because we're trying to use hard cadence, if you will, hard counts and whatnot. And you could say, well, we're not gonna do that again, or you could double down and work on it and get better at it because it is to our advantage. One of the few things on offense that is our advantage, we know when we're snapping the football, the defense should not know. Maybe they do know, but they should not know. So you work on it and you talk about it and you hold yourself to a standard.
LaFleur: You said a few weeks ago, it was too early to talk about the plan for Carson Beck's development. I'm saying this is a game we go, how have you guys approached his- Yeah, no, it's a good question. I told you guys I would tell you. So it's typically, not all the time, but typically the backup quarterback, who is Gardner, gets all the look squad reps, if you will. So 32 on Wednesday, 36 on Thursday, 20 on Friday. Obviously, you don't practice on Saturdays. With our situation, we're splitting it up. So making sure that Carson is connected with it. Regardless, even if we had not done that, the other thing that what we do is with kind of those potential inactives, the practice squad guys, the guys that just don't get a ton of reps with their side after practice, they have a five to 10 minute window where in Carson's case, he can spot throw through the script and stuff like that. So try to keep him as connected, as we know, you're one or two plays away from being the guy. So you got to keep him connected with that and continue their development.
LaFleur: What do you mean by the look squad? It's the scout team, but look squad.
LaFleur: As the Adams hasn't practiced in the last two days, how's he trending for you? Yeah, he'll be out this week. He's trending well, but just not well enough to go out there and perform on Sunday. So he'll be out.
LaFleur: Yeah, Gaines will start at every grade. Yeah, he's played a lot of football. I think Gaines is a really good football player and he's got the look in his eye that's not going to be too big for him. He's had a lot of reps, obviously, over the last few weeks. It's unfortunate why he had the reps because of Isaiah, but that's ball, so he'll be ready to roll.
LaFleur: Does it help him that he can kind of, he plays center, he's the backup, primarily a throw, does that help him? Yeah, you'd have to ask him, I think so. But I've also been around people that are right tackles, throwing a left tackle. It's like, well, it's tackle to tackle and it looks like a whole different deal. So I haven't asked him, but I think that's fair to assume. I think we can all say, yeah, he knows the calls, he knows from a center perspective, but I just know that what I've seen, very confident in him, and I know his teammates are as well.
LaFleur: Coach, kind of random, but I know you're focused on the charters this week, but all three division teams have played already and it's fairly rare, do you pay attention to that? I saw the scores, I didn't see any of the games, so can't really comment on that. I just, I saw the scores and I saw, we did our situations meeting today and there were some situations that arose over these last two games, just to point out kind of what the officials are looking for and stuff like that, so.
LaFleur: Well, what we've seen in practice, you guys, with the wide receivers practicing, a lot of one-handed catches, the last few weeks, what is the kind of, why don't you think of having the wide receivers practice? I guess if their inside hand is caught because you've got a savvy corner that you can catch with one hand, so I don't know, I haven't asked Tony on that one, so thanks for bringing it up.
LaFleur: And then back to Carson, what is the benefit of, I mean, I guess, it seems obviously like, well, what is the need to have him kind of get those live reps and practices and why are those so important for a player's development? Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things and we talked to Gardner, we've communicated with him like it's, Gardner's played a lot of football and Carson hasn't in the NFL. And so as you're trying to develop these guys, we just thought it was right to do that. If had Gardner been a second year guy, then, and was our number two, then probably wouldn't be doing this, but because he has played so much football, so much meaningful football in this league, understands this system, obviously took all the reps through OTAs, took a ton of reps in training camp, that's why we felt comfortable being able to do this.
LaFleur: Will you guys anticipate knowing who's going to be active on Sunday? I mean, for the most part, we know who's going to be active, but there are going to be some game time, you know, decisions right there. So, Rabbit will be down and Garrett will be down as well. I'll just give you guys that. So, and obviously Isaiah.
LaFleur: Three quarterbacks though, or is that? Well, we'll keep the two and then you get the emergency third because of what happened over in San Francisco, Philly in that playoff game, so.
LaFleur: Carson will be dressed. Yes, that's what I mean by that emergency.
LaFleur: Is Joe Allen one of those game time decisions? Um, yeah, I'd say so.
LaFleur: Oh, thank you. Thanks, guys.
