Steve Wilks is entering just the seventh week of his career as a head coach, and he's already feeling the heat.
Wilks told reporters Monday he believes the seats are hot under every person associated with the Cardinals after a 1-5 start.
"I would say all of our jobs are in jeopardy, including mine, if we don't win," Wilks said when asked about the job status of offensive coordinator Mike McCoy.
Well, that was true before Wilks made the change to Josh Rosen. The rookie pairing of Rosen and Christian Kirk has brought some allure to the Cards. But Rosen is also a rookie playing behind the worst pass-blocking line in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus.
And the Cardinals aren't just bad at protecting the passer -- they're atrocious. Their PFF grade is a full 10 points behind the next closest unit, the New York Giants, and they're allowing a quarterback pressure on 43.6 percent of pass rush snaps. Nearly every other pass drop results in a pressure for Rosen.
That isn't exactly the ideal situation for a rookie quarterback.
What's more interesting, though, is a head coach just six games into his tenure already feeling the heat. Whether it's lip service for the horde of reporters clamoring for a hot quote or true concern, we won't know. But before these comments, the average person would agree that there's actually more pressure on the coach on the other sideline Thursday night: Denver's Vance Joseph, leader of a Broncos team that has lost four straight.
Might this be a case of next-level reverse psychology? Could Wilks be turning the burner up on Joseph by first drawing attention to himself before the masses stroke their chins, raise an eyebrow and collectively turn to Joseph for a rebuttal? If he's feeling the heat, you must be burning up!
Or is pressure in the NFL simply higher than ever?
No matter the answer, this much is true: We've got a little more spice for this TNF game after today.
