Cardinals Legend Isn't Worried After Latest Collapse

“I believe this team has a lot of heart, character and a lot of fight, and I know we’ll respond,” defensive lineman Calais Campbell said following the loss.

As a veteran presence, Campbell has been through it all. He’s seen playoff teams and awful teams, and he knows what it takes to get through a 17-game season with all its highs and lows.

The 16-15 defeat to the 49ers was certainly a low for the Cardinals, as they had an opportunity to take control of the NFC West, yet they let it slip right through their fingers. To Campbell, though, he’s not fixating on the fact that Arizona isn’t 3-0 at the top of the division.

“The only thing this really means is that we're not going to be undefeated this season. I know what we’re capable of, and we just have to respond. We have another division game on Thursday night at home, and the next one's just as big as this one,” Campbell explained.

This could certainly be interpreted as blind optimism in a press conference, but as an 18-year veteran, he’ll always tell it like it is. Campbell has been around the game more than anyone in the NFC West, so when he explains that Sunday’s loss isn’t a cause for concern, that carries weight.

And Campbell is right. Thursday night’s matchup with the Seahawks is a second chance to get right back into the division race. Improvements have to be made, but it would be hyperbole to say that all hope was lost when San Francisco clinched the game at the buzzer.

At the end of the day, the Cardinals’ defense showed up. It may have allowed the game-winning drive, but it was painfully obvious that the defense wasn’t the issue on Sunday. This gives Campbell and the Cardinals hope that they’ll be able to bounce back against Seattle, while also understanding that the loss against the Niners isn’t all doom and gloom.

“For us to play as good as we did, you really want that win, but at the same time, you know that you're not going to get them all,” Campbell said.

GRADES: Cardinals Have Serious Problems

Thursday's matchup might give Arizona a second chance

You might still be frustrated with how Arizona played — and for good reason — but, like Campbell mentioned, there’s another massive game looming on Thursday. It’s a quick turnaround, which gives the Cardinals even more reason to flush what happened on Sunday.

“This is one of those games where you don't really get to even break it down because we play on Thursday. We won't even watch the tape,” Campbell said. “You watch on your own, but we won't even talk through it. We just have to move on. There were a lot of good plays out there. We showed a lot of really good ball out there today, but they just made the plays to win it.”

Hopes of a 3-0 start to the season are gone, but optimism inside the locker room isn’t. Especially on the defensive side of the ball, there’s reason to keep the faith ahead of Thursday’s clash with the Seahawks.

It certainly wasn’t ideal to have the Niners move down the field and clinch the victory with a last-second field goal, but there were several positives to take away from Sunday’s matchup. The offense may not have been up to par, but it would be naive to believe that there wouldn’t be struggles at any point throughout the season.

Take it from a veteran in Campbell: A Week 3 loss doesn’t define this group, and for as poorly as Arizona played at times, there are 14 more opportunities to improve as the quest for the NFC West crown marches on.

Latest Arizona Cardinals News