Jonathan Gannon was talking with veteran wide receiver Zay Jones on Christmas Eve when Jones asked the coach if he was into "motivational things."

Gannon's quick answer? "No. I'm into discipline."

"Why I say that is motivation is fleeting," Gannon said. "If your performance is based on motivation, you're going to go (up and down).

"I think what I'm concerned about is, are we doing enough? Are we doing things the right way? Are we disciplined enough to stick to our process and make sure that it's good to maximize the opportunity to go out there to compete and win a game?"

There has been a lot of talk and reaction to how Gannon has reacted in the aftermath of the Cardinals' disappointing loss in Carolina and subsequent elimination from the playoffs. The emotion of a fanbase makes sense. But Gannon has, since arriving as coach, always wanted to downplay the emotion. He doesn't want it jumping after victories and he doesn't want it diving after losses.

Or after playoff elimination.

"I love that we're going to go play two games," Gannon said. "You have two more opportunities. It's obviously not the outcome we wanted. We're not going to be playing in mid-January, but I'm excited for these two opportunities.

"I understand how a lot of people think, but when you're in our seat, the joy is competition. Last year, we weren't playing for anything. We made a lot of hay and got a lot better and we did a lot of good things last year that I thought that we built on and followed us a little bit into this year. They're learning opportunities for us."