Terry McDonough, Michael Bidwill both look bad after allegations of Cardinals cheating emerge

There are no winners so far in this war of words.

When the news broke this week about the alleged cheating the Arizona Cardinals had performed during the suspension of then-general manager Steve Keim, it drew the headlines.

The Cardinals responded swiftly, and that response could get them in some trouble, but it also did something unexpected, at least for this writer and fan… It made them look worse than the initial claims.

I don’t want to make light of the claims made by Terry McDonough, but it seems more like an unnecessary and sloppy coverup that McDonough brought to light and not serious cheating allegations.

I mean, why would Michael Bidwill need to circumvent his own suspension of his general manager?

Trust me, if the Cardinals illegally were in contact with Steve Keim then they deserve whatever punishment they receive, just for being comically incompetent.

However, their PR response about McDonough was what worries me.

In their response, the Cardinals outline a series of issues with McDonough:

• A close family member of his, writing that he was “troubled and perplexed” about “recent changes in Terry’s behavior” and that Terry had “abandoned responsibility” to one of his children and cut her off financially.
• The statement says, “For legal due-diligence reasons, we conducted a records review in recent days that has uncovered a series of disturbing emails to and from Terry’s work email account that include alarming, first-hand allegations of extreme domestic abuse by Terry.”

So, they let a guy run rampant within their organization for a decade with continued personal and professional issues?

The PR response outlines years of alleged combative responses and outbursts with colleagues. Yet, he was still the third-highest ranking official within the organization?

While we don’t know this, it seems odd that no action was taken until the burner incident, where McDonough and Michael Bidwill were at odds. So, as long as McDonough’s rage and unprofessional behavior was aimed away from the top of the organization it was okay?

This paints a picture of incompetence at the top at best and pervasive toxic behavior at worst.

If the Cardinals cheated, that is an issue and it needs to be addressed.

If they allowed someone with these alleged challenges in and out of the office to operate unfettered for years, then that makes this a huge issue.