ARIZONA CARDINALS

Cardinals coach Whisenhunt excited for home opener

Sep 7, 2011, 9:41 PM | Updated: 10:46 pm

The wait is finally over.

The Arizona Cardinals, after a busy offseason which saw a flurry of big moves, are preparing for the regular season opener.

That fact is exciting to head coach Ken Whisenhunt, and he believes his team feels the same way.

“We got some things done in the preseason,” he said. “We’re by no means there, though, we’ve got a lot more work left to do and I’m sure there will be some things in the game that we’ll have to learn from.

“Our guys are excited about being able to focus on an opponent.”

Thing is, the Cardinals didn’t really focus on their opponents during preseason play, instead choosing to look at what they could do to improve.

While that’s still a goal, the focus now shifts from the Cardinals to the Carolina Panthers. The opener will be at University of Phoenix Stadium September 11, and the head coach is glad to begin the year in the state of Arizona.

“I think it makes a huge difference,” he said of home-field advantage. “My expectation from the way our crowd was in preseason and the way they have been at University of Phoenix Stadium is we’re going to have a great crowd.

“I’m excited that we have an opportunity, with as many new faces as we have on this team, that we have the opportunity to play at home first and get our fans behind us.”

Arizona Sports’ Kyndra de St. Aubin contributed to this report

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