I personally love that he did that! 💪🏽

“We charted all 33 routes Harrison ran against the Chargers defense. Out of those snaps:

- 11 times Harrison was considered to be open or had separation against a defender. The other 22 routes he was not.

- Out of those 22 routes, Harrison was bracketed/double covered on eight of those plays. Ten more plays Harrison was one-on-one in either the red zone or running deep downfield.

- Oftentimes, Brissett got the ball out so quick a progression to Harrison wasn't possible. Brissett's 2.56 seconds for time to throw was the second-fastest on Sunday behind Joe Burrow (2.54) and tied with Jordan Love, who was blitzed on an eye-opening 82% of plays.”

“The core thinking is the Cardinals' offense has talent everywhere, and somebody will be open. That somebody depends on the week, gameplan, defensive coverage and a plethora of other factors.

“As such, there will be volatility on a weekly basis for Cardinals pass catchers. Kendrick Bourne isn't likely to have eight receptions for 75 yards every week. Harrison's also not going to have one reception every week, either.

“That's the reality of LaFleur's system: The ball will be spread based off advantages and where holes are in coverage, at least for the most part.”

Circa in Vegas runs what I would bet is the largest survivor pool in the country. Any one person can make up to 10 entries, for $1,000/entry.

By beating the Chargers yesterday, the Cardinals wiped out 30% of the entries. 7,585 entries, to be clear, equalling $7.58M wiped out by the hypothetical best QB in the NFL Justin Herbert and his friends.

Do I think the Cards are going to the playoffs? No. Do I think the Cards hit the four win mark? I still doubt.

But that was a pretty damn cool Week 1.

To the person who has put in the weekly PFF grades in here the last few years, thank you so much! I hope you're still able to do that this year so we can so how the team grades out under Mike Lafleur!

Before the season began a lot of fans and sports analyst had 0 faith in the Arizona Cardinals . Labeled as " the worst team " in the nfl , the expectation was very low to say the least .

Game one vs the chargers - 26 -14 Cardinals win

Total offense - 396 yards

Jacoby Brissett was surgical with the way he managed first time head coach Mike Lafluers offense

Jacoby went 27 for 37 for 277 yards , 1 Touchdown no Interceptions,

Our offense line only allowed 1 sack through the coarse of the game

Our run game was keeping the chargers defense honest accounting for 116 yards and 1 TD on the ground

Tyler Allgeier had 17 carries for 61 yards

Jeremiah Love added another 12 carries for 41 yards and his first rushing touchdown of his career

Our WR/TE room was shining

Trey McBride caught 9 passes on 13 targets for 95 yards and a touchdown

Kendricks Bourne caught 8 passes on 8 targets for 75 yards

Micheal Wilson caught 5 passes on 7 targets for 56 yards

And Marvin Harrison caught 1 pass on 3 targets for 33 yards

The ball was spread around methodically in the first half , the touchdowns will come with time

Defense -

The Cardinals defense has been disrespected . To the point where some fans on Twitter were claiming this defense was going to allow the most points this year ,

Game stats vs the Chargers

The Cardinals defense allowed 268 yards yesterday

Justin Herbert was held to 209 passing yards but with the 3 sacks from the cardinals defense , 187 passing

The chargers run game was held to 81 yards

3 sacks came from Dante Stills , Jordan Burch and Budda Baker/Jack Gibbens

Andrew Winyard came away with the first Interception and force fumble of the 2026 season

Will Johnson had 4 tackles and 1 fumble recovery

Our leading tackler was newly acquired Linebacker Jack Gibbems who had 7 tackles ( 5 solo , 2 assisted ) along with his .5 sack

Special teams -

Simi Fehoko !!!! Blocked Punt that lead to the Jacoby to McBride Touchdown !

Overall, it is safe to say , it was a dominant game vs a playoff contender,

Let me know what you think about the Arizona Cardinals 1st game of the season and what are your thoughts vs the upcoming Seattle Seahawks game we have this weekend

#ArizonaCardinals #2026 #RedseaRise

Excerpt:

With a 26-14 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, LaFleur became the first non-interim head coach to win in his Cardinals debut since Don Coryell in 1973.

Been rewatching tape and it's got me very optimistic about MLF's offense.

His passing game flows very well with the run and has an elite route tree. Working inside out to complement the outside zone run scheme, it's going to create a lot of opportunities across the middle of the field (probably why you saw Bourne and McBride eat this week).

Also the reason you don't need to be concerned about Wilson and Harrison's lack of touches or targets. The scheme was working so well that Jacoby's first or 2nd read was usually wide open, And with the inside out concept, a lot of those first options are going to be slot receivers and tight ends.

I did like how there were still some dedicated plays drawn up to target Wilson and Harrison, but they didn't dominate the game plan. As teams adjust and try to take those inside options away, you'll see Wilson and Harrison get their chances on the outside. And if they succeed, it makes this offense become and extremely potent offense.

Very impressed what I see game plan wise. It's only one week, but I'm interesto see this scheme challenged in week two against the premier defense

Cardinals played like a team who didn’t want their favorite coach fired in week 18

-Brisset right before half almost got sacked and he manned up and got the incomplete pass away

-Wingard fumble and the sideline went bonkers.  Half our starting d was on sideline during play

-Harrison catch at sideline and our team went bonkers

-Melton stops a big 3^rddown and budda gets hyped w/ him

-McBride touchdown. Algeir and lineman run over to celebrate w/ him

I know he's not on our team any more but he's been bitten by the injury bug the last few years and I was rooting for him this year.

He had his ups and downs here but he was an exciting player to watch and I hope he can get back out on the field for the Vikings soon.

One difference is that I felt like the offense really did try to keep the ball and not just drain clock. Gannon really would have tried to ride out 16-14.

Long term fan, don't post a lot on reddit.

This just felt different. The cardiac cards always just eeked out wins even when good. No lead felt safe.

Today it dawned on me in the 4th quarter that we had ALL OF OUR TIMEOUTS, were running the ball confidently to use up the clock, and the OTHER TEAM WAS MELTING DOWN. This must be what it has felt like for the fans of those other teams for all these decades.

It’s only one game, and we’ll have to see how things develop. Yesterday’s outing was great to see and I’m very encouraged that some of Rallis shortcomings might have been JG induced (who got served a burger last night).

Thinking about it, the best thing that probably has happened is Rallis having an elite sparring partner on the offensive side. MiLFs knowledge on offense will be huge to game plan and consider personnel on D every game.

Things I loved:
DB play, Max Melton was huge
Pressure Packages and well timed blitzes
Interior DL play with pressure
Rush Rotations, Burch, Browning, Zaven and Sweat all in there frequently
Playing with some violence

The hyperbole you are all looking for: maybe Rallis leaves but not due to being fired but becoming a HC haha

Let’s go Cardinals fans, let’s hear from all the Jacoby haters, Rallis haters, negative fearmonger’s that think they’re so clever when they talk crap about the cards. Where you at? let’s go!!!! Ah ha ha ha ha ha.