Improved communication atop Cardinals’ to-do list after ugly loss to Chiefs

TEMPE — The Kansas City Chiefs showed up on Sunday. The Arizona Cardinals did not.

The Chiefs were by the far the better team on both sides of the football in their 44-21 victory over the Cardinals.

Say what you will about overreacting to Week 1, but Arizona left State Farm Stadium embarrassed and reeling, with miscommunication and miscues at the forefront of the Cardinals’ problems.

Time after time, Arizona looked out of sorts and clearly not on the same page over the 60 minutes of play.

And following a light preseason workload in which a majority of Arizona’s starters got to sit back and watch from the sidelines, the issues aren’t all that surprising.

“I think a lot of the things that happened in the game just came down to communication and so that is something we can definitely clean up,” linebacker Nick Vigil said Tuesday. “To even have a chance in this league, everybody’s got to be on the same page.”

“Early on those were the first reps we got as a group together and I think it showed early on in the game,” the linebacker added. “We just got to be better in communication and make that a point of emphasis moving forward.”

And at the end of the day, this game comes down to simply making plays, another area Vigil thinks the team must improve on, himself included.

But among all the doom and gloom, Vigil saw a bright spot in the middle of the field in second-year pro Zaven Collins.

No, he didn’t sport the green dot nor did he quarterback the defense like many envisioned him doing at the start of the season, but he did leave Vigil impressed with his overall performance.

“He was aggressive, he was decisive,” Vigil said. “I think he played really good in the run game and he in particular communicated well out there.”

Ahead of the team’s film session on Tuesday, running back Eno Benjamin called the performance nowhere near the team’s standards. He is confident the team can remedy the past mistakes throughout the week before taking on the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2.

The running back knows the loss has weighed on a lot of people’s minds within the organization. Luckily for them, another week of preparation awaits, helping the team move forward in its goal to rebound.

This isn’t the preseason anymore. Arizona must lock back from the jump during this week of practice. Unlike what head coach Kliff Kingsbury said Monday, it can always get worse.

“I feel like the attention to detail has to be there, especially when you play a team like the Chiefs or just any of the teams coming up herein the next few weeks,” Benjamin said on moving from preseason play to the regular season.

“The attention to detail has to be that much great and our focus has to be there.”

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