One game.

That is the appropriate amount of perspective to have after the Cardinals opened the Mike LaFleur era by beating the Chargers 26-14 in Los Angeles.

So no, I am not clearing space for a Lombardi Trophy.

But after last season? I’ll take it.

More importantly, Arizona didn’t stumble into this win because somebody missed a kick or the football bounced off three helmets and landed in a Cardinal’s hands. They were the better team.

Arizona outgained Los Angeles 393-268, held the ball for more than 37 minutes and didn’t turn it over once. The Chargers turned it over twice.

That’s not flashy. It’s also a pretty good recipe for winning football games.

Jacoby Brissett completed 27 of 37 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown. He didn’t throw an interception and, for most of the afternoon, looked like a quarterback who understood that his job wasn’t to rescue the offense every third play.

Sometimes boring works.

Trey McBride was Trey McBride: nine catches, 95 yards and the fourth-quarter touchdown that gave Arizona some breathing room.

Rookie Jeremiyah Love scored Arizona’s first touchdown of the season on a five-yard run and finished with 41 yards on 11 carries. Tyler Allgeier added 61 yards.

There was plenty to like.

There was also this:

Eight penalties. 111 yards.

That is ridiculous.

You can survive that when you are controlling the football, winning the turnover battle and holding your opponent to 14 points. Do it against better teams and eventually you’re going to spend Monday wondering how you lost a game you should have won.

Arizona also needs to figure out Marvin Harrison Jr.

I am not sounding alarms after one week. I am also not going to pretend one reception from Harrison is exactly what the Cardinals drew up when they built this offense.

Yes, the catch went for 33 yards.

Yes, McBride was open all afternoon.

Throw the ball to the open guy.

But somewhere between “force-feed Harrison because he’s Marvin Harrison Jr.” and “one catch is fine,” there is probably a healthier place for this offense to live.

That brings us to Seattle.

Oh Good. The Super Bowl Champs.

Nothing like easing into a new season.

The defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks come to State Farm Stadium Sunday at 1-0, although they will be without starting quarterback Sam Darnold because of a glute injury.

Before anybody circles that as an automatic advantage for Arizona, Cardinals fans have watched enough football to know how the backup-quarterback thing occasionally works out.

Drew Lock will start.

And he isn’t walking in cold.

Lock replaced Darnold during Seattle’s opener against New England and helped the Seahawks erase a 10-0 deficit. He completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown as Seattle came back to win 13-10.

So much for that easy backup-quarterback game.

Seattle’s defense was a big reason they escaped Week 1. The Seahawks intercepted Drake Maye three times in the second half, including one in the end zone on New England’s final serious threat.

That makes one statistic from Arizona’s opener especially important.

Zero turnovers.

Brissett doesn’t need to throw for 400 yards Sunday. He doesn’t need to play superhero.

He needs to keep doing what he did in Los Angeles: make the right read, take what the defense gives him and make Seattle earn everything.

Boring works. I mentioned that, right?

Harrison Is the Thing I’m Watching

There are plenty of matchups worth watching Sunday, but Harrison is the one I keep coming back to.

Not because the Cardinals need to manufacture 15 targets for him.

They don’t.

But Arizona drafted Harrison to change what defenses are allowed to do. McBride should benefit from that. The running game should benefit from that. Harrison should occasionally benefit from it too.

One catch a week isn’t going to accomplish much of that.

Seattle will provide a much better indication of whether Week 1 was simply the way the Chargers chose to defend Arizona or whether LaFleur and Brissett still have some work to do figuring out how Harrison fits into this offense.

And Then There Are the Injuries

Darnold is already out for Seattle.

Arizona has its own list to watch.

Defensive tackle Roy Lopez missed Thursday’s practice with a groin injury. Andrew Billings, Isaiah Adams, Jack Gibbens, Max Melton, Isaac Seumalo, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson and Garrett Williams were limited.

That is not exactly a list you want getting longer before facing the defending champions.

Seattle, meanwhile, has already shown that it can lose its starting quarterback during a game, fall behind by 10 and still find a way out.

Arizona needs to make sure there isn’t a sequel.

So What Do We Actually Know About the Cardinals?

Not much yet.

And that’s OK.

They are 1-0.

They went on the road and beat a Chargers team that was expected to beat them. They controlled possession. They protected the football. Their defense allowed 14 points. Their quarterback played efficiently. McBride looked like McBride.

Those are real things.

So are 111 penalty yards and one Marvin Harrison Jr. reception.

Sunday should tell us a little more.

Not whether Arizona is going to the Super Bowl.

Not whether LaFleur has fixed everything.

And certainly not whether we should start planning a parade down whatever Phoenix street we would actually use for a Cardinals parade.

It’s Week 2.

But beat the defending champions at home and start the season 2-0?

Then the conversation gets a little more interesting.

Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals
Sunday, September 20 — 1:25 p.m. Arizona time
State Farm Stadium, Glendale
TV: FOX