There’s a buzz around the Arizona Cardinals that hasn’t been this loud in years.
“Maybe in ’21,” Kyler Murray said Wednesday of the crowd at State Farm Stadium during the win over the LA Rams in Week 2.
He was reflecting on the last time fans in the Nest flocked together like a Hitchcock fever dream. It’s something that simply wasn’t going to happen when the Cardinals were going 4-13 each of the past two years.
There’s a real sense that things are different this season. The Cardinals have pecked out six strong quarters of football over their first two games, looking more like Angry Birds than Tweety Birds in the first half against Buffalo and the entire game against LA.
But can they sustain it against Detroit? Is Arizona going to announce itself as a playoff contender with a win over a team that went to the NFC title game last season? Can they continue to dominate offensively now that everyone in the league knows what they’re capable of doing?
“One of the secrets to being consistently good is pretending like you never did it,” guard Will Hernandez said.
“What you did last week doesn’t matter anymore … and we know that.”
It’s a mature and serious approach to what’s either a kids’ game played by grown men or a high-stakes business that’s become one of the most important flashpoints in American culture, depending on your perspective.
I think the players and coaches should be staying loose and having fun. It worked for Bruce Arians, after all.
But no one in the locker room cares what I think. (And can you blame them? It’s not like I’ve seen much winning football here over the past eight seasons.)
The Cardinals are focused on themselves and the task before them: figuring out how to tame the Detroit Lions.
“That’s a good football team coming in here,” coach Jonathan Gannon said.
“They play extremely hard. They’re very well coached, and they’ve got really good players. So, it’s a big-time test coming to our building this Sunday.”
Gannon said it hasn’t been hard to make sure his guys don’t get too full of themselves after knocking heads with the Rams.
“It’s easy to turn the page when they look at the tape and see Detroit,” Gannon said. “They know this is a week-to-week league. We’ve got a really good opponent coming in here, and they know what it takes to prepare to give themselves a chance to win.”
Ultimately, it’s just one game of 17.
Realistically, fans want to know whether this new Kyler Murray is the real McCoy. Is he the guy who freaked out on coaches and teammates during games and pointed fingers after losses? Or is he this new guy who exudes confidence in his teammates and coaches, setting the tone for a winning culture?
Is Marvin Harrison Jr. the boneheaded rookie who dropped an easy pass in Week 1? Or is he the guy who had two touchdowns and 130 yards on four catches in one quarter last Sunday?
And can this offensive line hold up against Aidan Hutchinson? Or blast holes in a top-five run defense?
We’ll find out for sure on Sunday.
The Cardinals know we’re all asking those questions. They just don’t seem to care.
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Murray said. “I don’t really allow that to affect what goes on inside the building or affect me mentally or anything like that. I’m worried about what’s going on here and what we’re trying to accomplish … But (all that) doesn’t really affect us.”
I’m not sold that “serious and mature” is the right approach for a football team.
But if it is, the Cardinals will have two wins after three weeks, representing their best start since 2021. And that would be the best comparison imaginable at this point in the season.
Not that Murray and the Cardinals are thinking about that.
“I’m looking forward to this weekend,” Murray said. “I’m not really satisfied with what we’ve done, so far.”
