Sep 15, 2026 · 35 min · 8 segments
The Arizona Cardinals knocked off the LA Chargers 26-14 in Week 1, despite being the biggest underdogs of the week. Jess and Seth react to the win and discuss whether expectations have changed. They…
Yeah, they had the bad after that d- defensively, but ready for the rest of the game, they were under no duress.
They never found themselves in really any high-leverage situation, either on offense or on defense.
And, and like what we talked about last year is that e- early in the year when they were starting to win games is that the defense looked good until they were in higher leverage situations, and the offense looked good until they were in high-leverage situations.
And the Cardinals avoided needing either one, n- n- needing to be that in either way, and as a result, they made plays, they win the game, and they, they were in control of this game basically from the f- second quarter on.
Yeah, and it was one of those games where I think a lot of the things that we were hoping would improve did.
But overall, you know, the, the overall outcome of the game obviously, uh, was buoyed by, uh, you know, the best defensive performance we've seen in, in maybe years and, and a, and a special teams game for the ages, right?
I mean, they, it was, it, they, it kind of all came together and, and again, I, I think this is, dare we say, good coaching, good preparation, and they executed everything.
This is... 'Cause it felt like last year there was a lot of questionable coaching, and then things sort of s- spiraled.
And at least early on, the message that Mike LaFleur is preaching is hitting home, and they're healthy enough and have enough talent to be able to execute it.
I think, I think you have, you know, a group of players that buys into what, what they're doing, which is always important.
Um, I think you had a, a really solid game plan coming in, but more than that, I think what you saw was the adjustments that were made, uh, by one side that wasn't made by the other, a- and that was the Arizona Cardinals for, for this time.
Yeah, they had the bad after that d- defensively, but ready for the rest of the game, they were under no duress.
They never found themselves in really any high-leverage situation, either on offense or on defense.
And, and like what we talked about last year is that e- early in the year when they were starting to win games is that the defense looked good until they were in higher leverage situations, and the offense looked good until they were in high-leverage situations.
And the Cardinals avoided needing either one, n- n- needing to be that in either way, and as a result, they made plays, they win the game, and they, they were in control of this game basically from the f- second quarter on.
Yeah, and it was one of those games where I think a lot of the things that we were hoping would improve did.
But overall, you know, the, the overall outcome of the game obviously, uh, was buoyed by, uh, you know, the best defensive performance we've seen in, in maybe years and, and a, and a special teams game for the ages, right?
I mean, they, it was, it, they, it kind of all came together and, and again, I, I think this is, dare we say, good coaching, good preparation, and they executed everything.
This is... 'Cause it felt like last year there was a lot of questionable coaching, and then things sort of s- spiraled.
And at least early on, the message that Mike LaFleur is preaching is hitting home, and they're healthy enough and have enough talent to be able to execute it.
I think, I think you have, you know, a group of players that buys into what, what they're doing, which is always important.
Um, I think you had a, a really solid game plan coming in, but more than that, I think what you saw was the adjustments that were made, uh, by one side that wasn't made by the other, a- and that was the Arizona Cardinals for, for this time.
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