Arizona Cardinals: Jonathan Cooper is the Guard of Bruce Arians’ Dreams

Jonathan Cooper has landed with the perfect Head Coach in Arizona.

The defining moment of Super Bowl XL remains that touchdown pass that Antwaan Randle El threw to fellow wide receiver Hines Ward. Ward’s score helped the Pittsburgh Steelers seal a 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Then offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt received much of the credit for designing the play, while head coach Bill Cowher’s bravery was lauded by the franchise’s fan-base.

Often overlooked in that play is the impact of the team’s wide receivers coach, a coach by the name of Bruce Arians.

Arians would succeed Ken Whisenhunt as the Steelers’ offensive coordinator 12 months later, after Mike Tomlin took over the Steelers’ head coaching role and Whisenhunt filled the same position for the Arizona Cardinals. Arians helped his team back to the Super Bowl during his four years as the Steelers’ offensive coordinator, beating Whisenhunt’s Cardinals in the big game, but soon found himself unemployed once again.

Because of his previous work as Peyton Manning’s quarterback coach, Arians was offered the opportunity to become the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive coordinator under Chuck Pagano. Having already successfully aided the development of Manning and Ben Roethlisberger, Arians was tasked with fitting Andrew Luck into his new role as the Colts’ franchise quarterback.

Little did Arians know it, but he would quickly fill that head coaching role that had eluded him throughout his NFL career. When Pagano was diagnosed with cancer, Arians took over the mantle of interim head coach before guiding the team to an unexpected 9-3 record.