Veteran QB Jacoby Brissett playing well for Cardinals as they prepare to host surging Jaguars

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Jacoby Brissett's 10-year NFL career has seen all kinds of twists and turns. The veteran quarterback has been a project, a starter, a backup, a Super Bowl champion and he has soldiered through some mediocre seasons.

In his latest chapter with the Arizona Cardinals, he might be playing the best football of his career.

Brissett has thrown for 1,570 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions in five starts since replacing two-time Pro Bowl selection Kyler Murray, who's on injured reserve with a nagging foot injury. The 32-year-old Brissett will start his sixth straight game when the Cardinals (3-7) host the Jacksonville Jaguars (6-4) on Sunday.

“I’ve wanted to be in this position all my life and it’s come in different waves in my career,” Brissett said. “But whenever I do get the opportunity, I make the most of it. I’m a kid inside. I’m having a lot of fun.”

Brissett has been one of the most productive quarterbacks in the NFL since taking over for Murray, trailing only New England's Drake Maye in yards passing since Week 6. The only problem with Brissett's career renaissance is that the Cardinals aren't winning — they are 1-4 in his five starts.

Arizona has lost seven of their past eight after starting the season with a 2-0 record.

Jacksonville coach Liam Coen said he's not surprised Brissett is producing at a high level. Coen said when he was with other organizations evaluating free agent QBs, it was obvious Brissett “could really throw it.”

The Jaguars have won two of their last three games, including a dominant 35-6 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers last weekend.

“Everything I’ve heard of him — I don’t know him personally — is just (he's a) pro’s pro,” Coen said. “Not really outcome driven and just kind of goes through it, knows his talent, knows that he can throw the ball, really well at a high level.”

Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence played with a wristband last week for the first time this season. He initially opted against it in Coen’s new offense because he felt like hearing the call from Coen and repeating it in the huddle would help him better visualize the play before the snap.

But a few games of clunkiness and pre-snap penalties prompted Lawrence and Coen to try the band against the Chargers. It worked as the Jaguars were flagged once in the game, so the wristband is seemingly back for good.

“You can just get calls in faster, really is all it is,” Lawrence said. “You’ve got a number on your wristband and then you read it off to the guys. Calls get pretty long in certain situations.”

Arizona's Michael Wilson is back as the team's top receiver on Sunday after a stellar performance last week.

Wilson caught a career-high 15 passes for 185 yards in last week's loss to the 49ers, stepping into Marvin Harrison Jr.'s usual role. Harrison is out of the lineup for a second straight week after having surgery for appendicitis.

Wilson — a third-year receiver out of Stanford — has been a solid option throughout his career, but thrived in a bigger role. Brissett said he wasn't suprised by the results.

“He’s one of those guys that after every series, he was coming up talking to me on the sideline and I just felt his energy,” Brissett said. "I thought that was very commendable.”

Jacksonville had reason to play angry last week against the Chargers. The team was coming off the biggest collapse in franchise history, blowing a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter at Houston. How does the team harness that moving forward?

“Ultimately, we now owe it to each other to play that way for the rest of the year as much as possible and see what the result is,” Coen said.

The Cardinals were called for an eye-popping 17 penalties in last week’s 41-22 loss to the 49ers, which set a franchise record and was the most for any NFL team this season.

Arizona has been a relatively disciplined team during most of Jonathan Gannon’s 2 1/2-year tenure, raising questions about why it was suddenly such a problem. Gannon said no matter the cause, it needs to get fixed quickly.

“I think it’s very challenging because it’s kind of deflating when you’re going backwards,” Gannon said. “Again, you have to focus on the next play and control what you can control and try to move on, but it’s a challenge, especially when you have that many.”

AP Pro Football Writer Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida, contributed to this story.

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Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Michael Wilson, right, runs against San Francisco 49ers cornerback Renardo Green (0) during the first half of an NFL football game in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Jacksonville Jaguars' Devin Lloyd reacts during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) celebrates a touchdown run during the second half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) passes against the San Francisco 49ers during the first half of an NFL football game in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Launch preparations have begun for the Artemis II mission, NASA’s planned lunar fly-around by four astronauts that will be the first moon trip in 53 years.

Tensions were high as hydrogen fuel started flowing into the rocket hours ahead of the planned launch. Dangerous hydrogen leaks erupted during a countdown test earlier this year, forcing a lengthy flight delay.

The launch team needs to load more than 700,000 gallons of fuel (2.6 million liters) into the 32-story Space Launch System rocket on the pad before the Artemis II crew can board.

The 32-story Space Launch System rocket is poised to blast off Wednesday evening with a two-hour launch window beginning at 6:24 p.m. EDT at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Artemis astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will be on board. They’ll hurtle several thousand miles beyond the moon, hang a U-turn and then come straight back. No circling around the moon, no stopping for a moonwalk — just a quick out-and-back lasting less than 10 days. NASA promises more boot prints in the gray lunar dust, but not before a couple practice missions.

Unlike the Apollo missions that sent astronauts to the moonfrom 1968 through 1972, Artemis’ debut crew includes a woman, a person of color and a Canadian citizen.

Artemis II is the opening shot of NASA’s grand plans for a permanent moon base. The space program is aiming for a moon landing near the lunar south pole in 2028.

The Latest:

L-minus tracks the overall time to liftoff, counting down the days, hours and minutes away before the planned blastoff. It doesn’t include built-in holds, or pauses — that’s T-minus time.

The T-minus countdown in the final 10 minutes is where nerves tense up and hearts start pounding. Automated software kicks off a series of highly choreographed milestones. During this period, the clock can be stopped if a problem is spotted and restarted if it’s fixed in time.

T-0 is the moment of liftoff — zero — when the boosters ignite and the rocket begins its journey.

NASA has a narrow time frame each month to fly to the moon.

The Earth and moon must be aligned just so to achieve the proper trajectory for the mission. In any given month, there’s only about a week when Artemis II astronauts can lift off.

The Orion capsule needs to get a check of its life-support and other systems in near-Earth orbit. If that goes well, Orion will fire its main engine to hurtle toward the moon, taking advantage of the moon and Earth’s gravity to get there and back in a slingshot maneuver that requires little if any fuel.

Orion also needs sunlight for power and can’t be in darkness for more than 90 minutes at a time. Plus NASA wants to minimize heating during reentry at flight’s end.

The latest launch window runs through April 6. The next opportunity opens on April 30.

The hydrogen tank of the rocket’s core stage is 100% filled. NASA said no significant leaks have been observed so far in fueling. It was hydrogen leaks that prevented the rocket from flying in February.

The alarm clocks just went off in Kennedy Space Center’s crew quarters.

That means it’s rise and shine for the three Americans and one Canadian who are about to become the first lunar visitors in more than 53 years.

They have a long day ahead of them, whether they launch or not.

After breakfast, they’ll start suiting up. NASA’s launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. and lasts a full two hours.

Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson is wearing green as are many of the controllers alongside her in the firing room.

Green represents “go” for NASA, a color symbolizing good luck.

The team is monitoring the fueling of the 322-foot moon rocket, set to blast off Wednesday evening.

A plush toy named Rise will ride with the Artemis II astronauts around the moon, carrying the names of more than 5.6 million people.

Rise is what’s known as a zero gravity indicator, which gives the astronauts a visual cue of when they reach space.

The design was inspired by the iconic “Earthrise” photo during Apollo 8, showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968.

Rise was selected from more than 2,600 contest submissions. It was designed by Lucas Ye of California.

Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew tucked a small memory card into Rise before the toy was loaded into the Orion capsule. The card bears the names of all those who signed up with NASA to vicariously tag along on the nearly 10-day journey.

“Zipping that little pocket on the bottom of Rise was kind of the moment that put it all together for me,” Wiseman said. “We are going for all and by all. It’s time to fly.”

NASA is fueling the new rocket that will send four astronauts to the moon.

Launch teams have begun pumping more than 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the Space Launch System rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It’s the latest milestone in the two-day countdown that kicked off on Monday when launch controllers reported to duty.

It will take at least four hours to fully load the rocket before astronauts climb aboard for humanity’s first flight to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The two-hour launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. EDT.

▶ Read more about Apollo vs. Artemis

The Americans who blazed the trail to the moon more than half a century ago were white men chosen for their military test pilot experience.

The Artemis II crew includes a woman, a person of color and a Canadian, products of a more diversified astronaut corps.

▶ Read more about Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen and Reid Wiseman

NASA's Artermis II moon rocket sits on Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center hours ahead of planned liftoff Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NASA's Artermis II moon rocket sits on Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center hours ahead of a planned launch attempt Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Photographers set up remote cameras near NASA's Artermis II moon rocket on Launch Pad 39-B just before sunrise at the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)