Who and what are up, down and holding steady after Cardinals first game

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Since we’re all about the team, let’s put the whole team under this category. It was one of the most impressive victories in Kliff Kingsbury’s two-plus seasons as head coach.

The Cardinals played with toughness and grit, which hasn’t always been the case in recent years.

They jumped on the Titans early, led 17-0, and took the Titans out of their game.

…Pass rusher Chandler Jones finished with five sacks and two forced fumbles. The Titans couldn’t block him and they tried with three or four different people.

…Quarterback Kyler Murray. He does at least a couple of things every game that make you reach for the remote to rewind and see if your eyes cheated on you. They did not. He passed for four touchdowns, and all carried with them a high degree of difficulty.

…Coach Kliff Kingsbury and his offense staff put together a nice game plan against a defense that wasn’t very good a year ago and might have dodged improvement this year. No matter, the Cardinals did a little bit of everything. They had long scoring drives (70, 75, 75) and short ones after turnovers. They made difficult catches, rushed for 136 yards and committed only one turnover.

…DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk each had two touchdown receptions. None of them were easy. Kirk made a brilliant over-the-head catch after adjusting his route to the ball. Not easy. Rookie receiver Rondale Moore is fast, quick and tough. His skills could make the Cardinals a far better screen team than they were last year.

…Center Rodney Hudson. O.K., a person usually has to watch video of the game to see for sure if the center played well. But it sure looked like Hudson, obtained in an off-season trade with the Raider, had command of the offense.

…Maybe put defensive lineman J.J. Watt in this category, too. He finished with two tackles, including one for loss, but it looked like the Titans devoted considerable resources to liming him.

…The Megawatt formation. That’s what the Cardinals call their short-yard formation that featured Watt, defensive tackle Leki Fotu and offensive lineman Justin Murray as lead blockers. Except they didn’t block for Kyler Murray. Murray faked the handoff left and rolled right for a 2-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Fun play. Kingsbury said on post-game radio that Fotu is lobbying to carry the ball. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves there.

…Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph promised that linebacker Jordan Hicks would play a prominent role this year, despite the Cardinals drafted inside linebackers the last two years and General Manager Steve Keim handing one of them a starting job.

Joseph was true to his word. Hicks, Isaiah Simmons and rookie Zaven Collins played a lot together on Sunday. Hicks called defensive signals, although Simmons said he and Collins also have the authority to make adjustments, such as changing the fronts.

In nickel situations, Hicks and Simmons stayed on the field while Collins came out.

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…The Cardinals spent all off-season and training camp emphasizing the need to be more disciplined. So what happens? They are called for four penalties on their first possession. What should have been a touchdown became only a field goal.

There also were problems with substitutions, which led to timeouts being wasted. Things were sloppy early.

…The officiating crew led by referee Jerome Boger didn’t help. Kingsbury let them know early when they inexplicably wouldn’t let the Cardinals snap the ball even though no personnel changes had been made.

…Receiver A.J. Green caught only two passes for 25 yards. Another potential reception was ruled incomplete because Green had stepped out of bound prior to the catch. He didn’t impact the game.

Holding steady

…The run game. The Cardinals averaged 4.1 yards a carry. Not bad but a handful of Murray’s runs were called back because of holding.

…Kicker Matt Prater made all five extra point attempts and a 34 yard field goal. He kicked off well, too, and his ability to kick high gives the Cardinals some coverage options. But he also missed a 43-yard field goal.

Reach Kent Somers at Kent.Somers@gannett.com. Follow him on twitter @kentsomers. Hear Somers every Friday at 7:30 a.m. on The Drive with Jody Oehler on Fox Sports 910 AM.

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