The Arizona Cardinals played nearly a perfect half of football to start the season against the Tennessee Titans. They had it going on both on offense and defense, jumping out to a 24-6 lead.
Their performance was led by the players one would expect — Kyler Murray, DeAndre Hopkins and Chandler Jones.
Jones looked like a man on fire.
After picking up only one sack in five games last season before suffering a season-ending biceps injury and then not getting a contract extension, he was dominant.
He had three sacks in the first quarter. One of his sacks forced a fumble that led to one of the Cardinals’ three first-half touchdowns. He finished the half with four tackles, three tackles for loss, three sacks and a forced fumble.
Murray had 201 passing yards and two touchdown passes. He completed 15-of-22 passes. He also added 19 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Hopkins had a 38-yard reception on the Cardinals’ first play from scrimmage and finished the half with five catches for 73 yards and two touchdowns.
As an offense, they picked up 260 yards in the first half and did not turn the ball over. The one negative? They had four penalties.
Defensively, they held Derrick Henry to only eight yards on nine carries. The Titans only had 116 yards and were 2-of-7 on third down.
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