Greg Dortch was talking about how fun it is to play on the current version of the Cardinals, and how he scored his two touchdowns Sunday in the finale against the 49ers by working and knowing "I'm going to have my opportunity some day."
But Dortch has always come across as a realist too, and he was ready when it was suggested that the Cardinals could turn the flourish of a finish into something more.
No, Dortch said. This team was done. Next year's Cardinals will be totally different.
"This season," Dortch said, "is over."
That works on multiple levels. Jonathan Gannon likes to have a little fun about the momentum thing, but there is no way a game in January of 2025 carries over in any way to the season opener in September of 2025. Too many things happen.
That's also the fun of the offseason, however. What any team does in free agency, who they draft – the Cardinals have the 16th pick of the first round – and what it all looks like when the team does take the field in September.
Gannon noted the work starts Monday. There will be changes. There always are.
That's the point, really.
-- OK, without further delay, it was crazy to see those back-to-back plays in the first half. First cornerback Starling Thomas V and 49ers wideout Jajuan Jennings had a scuffle where each were grabbing and pushing facemasks well away and well after the play, earning both personal foul penalties.
Then Jennings lined up across from cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, and it felt like an NHL deal where the players basically agree to combat before the puck is even dropped. Those two got into it after the snap, well away from the play, and this time, both were ejected. Safety Budda Baker said you could tell it was going to happen before the play.
Murphy-Bunting was not available for comment. Said Jennings, "Just a normal pancake in a book of football. I took him to the ground and I tried to get up and he wouldn't let me get up. (He) just kept grabbing my jersey, grabbing my face mask as much as he could. Anything to grab me and I was just trying to get him off of me."
Jennings came into the game needing 77 yards receiving to reach 1,000 on the season. He was going to get there with college teammate Joshua Dobbs under center. Jennings had 52 before getting booted. He admitted missing that milestone "hurts a lot."
Thomas said the Cardinals were just defending themselves.
"Instead of just playing football, he's trying to do a little extra," Thomas said. "We're no pushovers here. I know he went viral last week pushing somebody and bullying somebody, but it's not going over over here."
Added Thomas, "It definitely set the tone for us being violent for the rest of the day. Like, 'You want to think you could bully us? Now we're going to show you who is the bully.'"
-- Chad Ryland played only 13 games but soared past the 100-point mark, finishing with 110, making 26-of-27 extra points and 28-of-32 field goals as a replacement for Matt Prater.
-- DeeJay Dallas started the season with a fantastic 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in Buffalo. He ended with a fantastic 22-yard fake punt run in Week 18, setting up a field goal early in the game. You can see why the Cardinals wanted him so badly for special teams.
-- I know Trey McBride doesn’t want to make hurdles his thing, but goodness gracious what a great play.
-- Marvin Harrison Jr. had 63 yards on five catches. After getting 96 against the Rams, it was the second time all season MHJ had back-to-back games of at least 50 yards receiving. His arrow is only going up. His 62 catches as a rookie (for 882 yards) gives him the second-most receptions for a rookie, trailing only Anquan Boldin's 101.
-- Harrison's TD catch was his eighth of the season, tying Anquan and Larry Fitzgerald for the most TD receptions as a rookie.
-- Kyler Murray ended up with 21 touchdown passes this year. It's his fourth season with at least 20 TD passes tying him for the most in franchise history. Nope, it isn't Kurt Warner or Carson Palmer. They only had three each, if you can believe it. It's Neil Lomax – and Murray figures to own that mark by himself after next season.
-- Dobbs came back to Arizona and in a losing effort, threw for a career-best 326 yards. One of the TDs was to Tempe Corona del Sol High School product Ricky Pearsall, who was playing his first NFL game at State Farm Stadium
-- Zaven Collins hit Dobbs as he was getting ready to throw a swing pass in the third quarter, and the hit caused Dobbs instead to fling the ball backward for a fumble. The play was officially a strip-sack, Collins' fifth of the season. According to spotrac.com, the fifth sack earned Collins a $300,000 incentive.
-- Brophy Prep junior wide receiver Devin Fitzgerald – yes, the son of a certain legendary Cardinals wideout – was named as Arizona's representative for Nike's "The Next Ones." The grassroots program invites 33 top HS athletes to compete in the "ultimate football experience" at the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
-- And yes, Larry Fitzgerald was at the game, and when they flashed him sitting in a suite with Ossenfort and owner Michael Bidwill, the "Lar-RY, Lar-RY" chants started up again, like always.
-- The last word belongs to Kyler, who said he's only going to take about a week off right now before he dives back into workouts.
"I don't ever want to get too far away from the game. Just because this is my life."
And so closes my 25th year covering this team. The offseason awaits. Time to go home.
