Happy holidays, football fans. 

Maybe this is a good time for an extremely positive edition of Fact or Fiction. I’m sure I can find some good things to say about the New Orleans Saints after becoming the first team to get shut out in a game this season. They got crushed during the Monday Night Football snoozefest vs. the Green Bay Packers. (Wait, I’m already being critical.)

Does Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi have the best sideline reactions in the league? That, of course, is a fact. See, I can be positive during the holidays. But being extremely positive isn’t my style. I’m the guy who gets annoyed hearing Christmas music a week before Thanksgiving. 

All right, let’s get critical about a certain quarterback in the desert. I have a busy day of watching Home Alone and Jingle All the Way before eating tamales on Christmas and many days to come. 

Cardinals should make Kyler Murray compete for starting gig in 2025

Manzano’s view: Fact 

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that there seems to be a disconnect between Kyler Murray and Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing. It showed on the field and not much has changed since the crushing blown lead against the Minnesota Vikings and the two losses in three weeks against the Seattle Seahawks.

Ultimately, Murray’s struggles led to the Cardinals playing in two meaningless games to conclude the regular season after the Carolina Panthers eliminated them from postseason contention last week. 

There’s an argument to be made that the Cardinals (7–8) took steps forward during coach Jonathan Gannon’s second season in Arizona, after only winning four games in 2023. But you can also say that Murray hasn’t done much winning since the team selected him with the No. 1 pick in ’19. The Cardinals are 0–1 in the postseason in six seasons with Murray. They’re 35–44–1 with Murray as the starter. He’s also making over $46 million per year to do more than just deliver uneven performances for a mediocre team.

It’s time the Cardinals added real competition to push Murray as he enters the final year of guaranteed money on his contract—he’s owed $29.9 million guaranteed in 2025, according to OvertheCap.com. Maybe that means signing Justin Fields, Russell Wilson, Daniel Jones or even Zach Wilson, who could maybe be the next New York Jets outcast to do well with a different team.

The Cardinals have ideal surroundings to help a young quarterback revive their career, but for multiple reasons, Murray, who has 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions this season, didn’t take advantage of playing on an offense that includes rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., tight end Trey McBride and running back James Conner, who recently got a two-year, $19 million contract extension. There’s also promising left tackle Paris Johnson Jr., a 2023 first-round pick.   

The Cardinals started 6–4 this season by playing it safe with a conservative scheme that relied heavily on Conner. It does make you wonder why Petzing didn’t ask more of Murray this season. But when it came time to step on the gas, it was as if Murray forgot how to throw the deep ball and lost his feel for the pocket, costing the Cardinals twice against the Seahawks and in losses to the Vikings and Panthers in the past five weeks. 

Murray got bailed out by Conner against a bad New England Patriots team in Week 15 and wasn’t available to help in the second half in Carolina after exiting with a knee injury. Murray’s identity crisis eventually doomed Arizona’s playoff hopes. Now the team needs to examine what went wrong after such a promising start.  

Panthers are making a mistake by not tanking for No. 1 pick

Manzano’s view: Fiction 

Last week, I made the mistake of praising the Las Vegas Raiders too soon for supposedly tanking properly. Clearly, they haven’t learned their lesson from last year when they fell outside the top 12 in the draft order after winning meaningless games in December. Antonio Pierce’s Raiders decided to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars last week and lost the inside track for the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft and could again miss out on a top quarterback prospect. 

Now this doesn’t mean I’m in favor of all bad teams tanking. It’s more about each team’s current circumstances, but most teams without a promising quarterback should be aiming to lose in the final month of the season. Yes, that’s loser talk, but the league rewards teams that end the year with the worst records, giving them the priority to pick the best players first in the NFL draft. Send your tanking complaints to the league offices.

When it comes to the 4–11 Panthers, Bryce Young has shown enough improvements in the past two months to buy himself another season in Carolina. He has flourished behind a stout offensive line and a dynamic rushing attack that features Chuba Hubbard. Funny how those two areas can make or break a young quarterback. The Panthers failed to see that last year, but owner David Tepper finally got something right. He hired coach Dave Canales and got out of his way. 

Canales knew his team wasn’t ready to help Young on the field and did him a favor by benching him for six weeks. It was a difficult decision, but learning on the sideline clearly seems to have helped Young, last year’s No. 1 pick. By the time Young returned in Week 8, Canales started to see his scheme come to life on the field and decided to roll the dice on his second-year quarterback by naming him the starter the rest of the way.

Young is now playing with confidence, displaying accuracy and creating plays away from the pocket. I can’t remember the last time a quarterback was hit this hard and got up with a giant smile. Young is having fun again and the Panthers are in a better situation. Beating the Cardinals last week was the icing on the cake, and it wouldn’t hurt this franchise to get used to winning. They’re finally building something in Carolina.  

Cowboys should give coach Mike McCarthy another season

Manzano’s view: Fiction 

The Dallas Cowboys are also a bad team that doesn’t need to tank because they just paid Dak Prescott an average of $60 million per season. Also, the Cowboys could quickly return to the playoff picture next season by addressing a few roster holes, and more importantly, having better injury luck. 

But I don’t think McCarthy has done enough to save his job. Put it this way, you know the first half of the season was really bad when a 4–1 record since Week 12 wasn’t enough to keep the Cowboys (7–8) in playoff contention for the final two games of the regular season. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones can’t forget why it went so poorly this season and why he had his reservations about extending McCarthy’s contract. It wouldn’t make much sense to write up a new deal after forcing McCarthy to be a lame duck coach and rewarding him after his worst season in Dallas. 

Perhaps Jones will give serious thought to keeping McCarthy because this year’s coaching pool doesn’t have as much star power as last year’s. Bill Belichick is now coaching at North Carolina and the Los Angeles Chargers hired Jim Harbaugh in January. But Jones needs to at least call Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who continues to show off his innovative play calls. There’s also Mike Vrabel, who thrives in late-game decisions, an advantage in a league that needs more coaches who do well in that area.

The Cowboys need to swing big to finally get past the divisional round of the postseason for the first time this century. This isn’t the San Francisco 49ers’ situation with coach Kyle Shanahan, who can afford a few down seasons because of two trips to the Super Bowl and reaching the NFC title game in four out of the past five campaigns. Changes are needed in Dallas.   

Christmas games on a Wednesday need to be stopped

Manzano’s view: Fact 

Please, no more holiday remixing unless it involves a new song from Beyoncé, whose halftime show might be better than the actual game between the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans on Christmas Day.

The league is calling the two Christmas games on Wednesday the “NFL Holiday Remix.” The Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, Ravens and Texans might call it something different. Maybe something like “The Worst Holiday Schedule Ever.”  

The four teams are in the midst of a grueling three-game stretch in 11 days. And judging from the two Saturday games between these four teams, fatigue and wear and tear could show on the field with the Christmas doubleheader. There wasn’t much to be excited about with the Chiefs cruising against the Texans and the Ravens crushing the Steelers during Saturday’s slate. And it wouldn’t be surprising if we get more of the same Wednesday for Steelers vs. Chiefs and Texans vs. Ravens. 

But maybe the league doesn’t care how the product looks on the field because it knows people will watch Christmas games regardless of which day of the week it falls on. I fear for teams when the NFL decides to do a holiday remix on a Tuesday. Arch Manning won’t like that on Christmas 2029. 

Here’s hoping for a great Beyoncé halftime show and minimal buffering from the Netflix broadcasts.