Scouting report: Vikings at Cardinals

Sunday, 3:25 p.m. at State Farm Stadium (Ch. 9 and KFAN-FM 100.3)

ABOUT THE CARDINALS

• Arizona (1-0) won convincingly, 38-13, in Tennessee by shutting down Titans running back Derrick Henry and sacking Ryan Tannehill six times. The Cardinals jumped out to a 17-0 lead thanks to two touchdown grabs from receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

• Cardinals edge rusher Chandler Jones is motivated by a contract year and had a phenomenal start with five sacks and two forced fumbles on Tannehill. The two-time All-Pro selection ranks second among active players with 102 sacks in his NFL career. New teammate J.J. Watt is third with 101 sacks.

• Second-year linebacker Isaiah Simmons, the eighth overall pick in 2020, had a game-high nine tackles as the Cardinals held Henry, a two-time NFL rushing champion, to 3.4 yards per carry. It was an impressive debut for the defensive front.

• Playing with a lead, the Cardinals had a balanced attack on offense with 28 carries split between running backs Chase Edmonds and James Conner, the former Steelers starter. They each had 16 touches, but Edmonds started and led the way with 106 yards from scrimmage in Tennessee.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT | QB Kyler Murray

• Murray racked up five touchdowns – four passing and one rushing – in his first game without future Hall of Fame receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Receiver Christian Kirk caught two touchdowns while 5-foot-7-inch rookie Rondale Moore, a Purdue product, had four grabs for 68 yards as a screen threat.

• Murray was as elusive as ever against the Titans, ducking defenders while taking just two sacks on nearly 40 dropbacks. His 18-yard completion to Moore converted a long third down after scrambling from sideline to sideline.

• Murray on taking more control at the line: "Being in the offense for three years now, having the experience and reps, seeing a lot of looks, now knowing what to call at the line, what to check to. Instead of, you know, rookie season knowing to get out of a play but not knowing what to check to. Whereas now, it's natural and it's easy. There's definitely a difference."

• Vikings coach Mike Zimmer on Murray evading the pass rush: "If he gets out of the pocket, we've got to do a great job of locking onto our receivers. I can say we're going to keep him in the pocket all day, but I don't think that's truly going to happen."

COACH SPEAK | Kliff Kingsbury

• Kingsbury, 42, is in his third season as Cardinals head coach with a 14-18-1 record (.439) and no playoff appearances. He's coaching in what remains one of the toughest divisions in the NFC West, where every team started 1-0 this season.

• Kingsbury oversaw the NFL's sixth-ranked offense last season, marking just the fifth top-10 finish by the franchise in the past two decades. The former Texas Tech head coach still runs a pass-happy attack through spread formations.

• On the pressure caused by Jones: "It's tough when you know he's coming. If you continue to try to block him one-on-one, that's a tough matchup. Chandler took advantage of it. As a play caller, as well, you have to try to help that [offensive lineman] out. Sometimes that changes up your schemes."

• On Hopkins' big opening day: "The first touchdown, he paused in the back of the end zone, had the [defender] run into him and then accelerated to create separation. It's like some Jedi-type stuff. I've never seen anything like it."