On paper, everyone seems to be in love with the Arizona Cardinals heading into the 2020 season.

Following an offseason that saw them land multiple new key pieces on defense, trade for one of the best wide receivers in the game in DeAndre Hopkins and seemingly nail the draft, especially with their pick of first-rounder Isaiah Simmons, they’re being hailed as the Cinderella team to watch in the NFL.

Mix all of that and more with the fact that quarterback Kyler Murray, coming off Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, is expected to take a giant leap forward in his progress and that innovative head coach Kliff Kingsbury will be a wiser, more dangerous play caller in his second year in the league, and like Murray said, “The sky’s the limit for this football team.”

But the NFL isn’t played on paper. This isn’t your grandfather’s game of football Strat-O-Matic where wins and losses are determined by sheets of statistics, a handful of dice and some playing cards. (Google it.)

As well as General Manager Steve Keim seems to have assembled his latest roster, mixing in a combination of experience and youth to a returning core group that includes name talent such as pass rusher Chandler Jones, receiver Larry Fitzgerald, safety Budda Baker, running back Kenyan Drake, cornerback Patrick Peterson and inside linebacker Jordan Hicks, nothing is guaranteed.

Like virtually every other team, even the so-called Super Bowl contenders, they haven’t really hit anyone. They didn’t play in any preseason games. Oh yeah, and they haven’t enjoyed a winning season in five years. That hasn’t stopped the Cardinals from feeling good about themselves heading into Sunday’s season opener at the 49ers.

“At the end of the day, I think the sky is the limit for this team, too, for this defense, for this offense,” said Hicks, the “quarterback” of Arizona’s revamped defense under second-year coordinator Vance Joseph. “We just have to put things together. We have to build confidence in ourselves and understand that when we go out there we’re not hoping to win, but that we expect to win.

“I truly believe that’s been the difference between the good teams I’ve been on and the great teams I’ve been on. That mediocre type of deal, it’s a difference in mindset. It’s a mindset of knowing that when you go out there, you’re going to dominate someone rather than hoping to.”

At the tail end of training camp at State Farm Stadium, Kingsbury was asked what his confidence level was about his team’s chances this season and if he felt reasonably comfortable with the work his players got.

He was blunt in his response.

“As comfortable as you can feel,” Kingsbury said. “I’ve said it all along, all of us will have high anxiety Week 1 more so than in the past just because we haven’t lined up against anybody other than ourselves for the past month. There will definitely be some anxiety around the league on that first week.”

Don’t be surprised if that uneasiness and uncertainty lingers into Weeks 2 and 3, either. Remember, no preseason games meant no live work with real referees in game-like conditions. NFL refs and their crews were barred from league camps this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Penalties could be through the roof as the league enters its first week of the season.

“Unfortunately, probably so,” Cardinals right guard J.R. Sweezy said. “I’d like to think not, but just like the preseason where there’s usually a lot more flags than usual, I think there will be some points of emphasis on new rules and stuff that would usually get taken care of in preseason. They’re going to have to take care of it now, so with that being said, I do think there probably will be more penalties. But we’re doing everything in our power to make everything clean.”

That can be easier said than done, though, according to Joseph, whose defense allowed the most yards in the league last season, the most third-down conversions and the second-most touchdown receptions.

“Not playing football full-speed with officials, that’s tough because guys are just trying to do their jobs and sometimes, guys cheat when they’re beat,” he said. “And in practice, there’s no consequences so you see more cheating in practices than you do in games. As coaches, we’ve done a good job of re-enforcing ‘Don’t cheat. Play with your feet. Don’t grab.’ So that part of it, I feel good about.

“But obviously, full-speed game action is going to be different than practice and guys have consequences. Hopefully, our guys play clean enough to not have a bunch of penalties, but the tackling part Week 1, the penalties part Week 1, it’s going to be more than usual because no one’s had full-speed action with real officials, so I expect the numbers to go up a little bit.”

Special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers has to anticipate there will be challenges on his end of things as well. The lack of a normal offseason and no preseason games could lead to more game-changing plays on special teams, especially early in the season.

“I’m not going to share all my research with you guys,” Rodgers said, “but you’re on the right track with that.”

On the plus side, Kingsbury’s up-tempo, no-huddle offense with Murray at the controls operated so quickly in camp that it figures to draw plenty of pre-snap penalties just from a lineup and substitution standpoint. It was fast last year, but Kingsbury has it running at warp speed in Year 2 and that can only help to confuse and confound opposing defenses.

“It’s something I’ve never experienced before in training camp and it’s taken some time to get used to it,” new defensive tackle Jordan Phillips said. “They have so many weapons with Hop, Larry, KD, Kyler, (Christian) Kirk and the rest of the guys. It’s going to be explosive and hopefully, they can keep us off the field and we can put them right back on it.”

The addition of Hopkins can’t be overstated. Since entering the league with the Texans as a first-round pick out of Clemson in 2013, he ranks third in the league in receptions, third in receiving yards and second in touchdown catches. He’s been a generational talent and he just got paid like one, orchestrating his own massive contract extension that will keep him with the Cardinals through 2024.

The Cardinals were in search of a clear-cut No.1 wide receiver and now they have one in the 27-year-old Hopkins, who is sure to draw double coverage whenever possible. But that should only help open things up for players like Fitzgerald and Kirk, not to mention fellow receivers Trent Sherfield, Andy Isabella and KeeSean Johnson along with tight end Dan Arnold, whom the Cardinals expect to utilize extensively.

That, in turn, can help the Cardinals exploit their running game behind Drake, Chase Edmonds and rookie Eno Benjamin, while also allowing for Murray and his 4.3 speed to perhaps run even more than he did as a rookie when he rushed 93 times for 544 yards and four touchdowns.

“I don’t really have a number in my head,” Murray said when asked if he’d like to utilize his speed and run the ball more often. “I think the more comfortable I get, the more you’ll see me running and fighting for fresh yards. I feel pretty comfortable right now with where I’m at and what we’re doing, offensively. If coach calls my number, he calls my number. If I’ve got to make something happen, I’ve got to make something happen.”

With so many weapons on offense, it begs the question as to whether Kingsbury has enough footballs to go around. It’s a fair concern, he said.

“That’s always the case with great players. They all want the ball and you wouldn’t want it any other way,” Kingsbury said. “So yeah, there will be games where guys are going to be upset and that’s what you want. You want them to want the ball in their hands. We’ll be creative with how we distribute the ball, but we’re going to call plays to win games.

“Whatever it takes. If we’ve got to run it 80 times, we’re going to run it 80 times. If we need to throw it 80 times, we’re going to throw it 80 times.”

Defensively, Joseph will be on the hot seat until the Cardinals prove to be far better than they were a year ago. Then again, Keim said he gave his coordinator a “gun with no bullets” last season considering the holes the Cardinals had along the defensive line, at pass rusher, one of the inside linebacker spots and half of the secondary.

Things look much better now with Phillips up front, Devon Kennard as other outside linebacker opposite Jones, two extra inside linebackers in De’Vondre Campbell and Simmons, an available and motivated Peterson and an experienced new starting cornerback alongside him in Dre Kirkpatrick.

“I have no predictions, but we have more pieces than we had last year and if we coach them and they work, we have a chance of getting better,” Joseph said. “Last year is over. That defense won’t play this year. That defense is done. It’s a new defense, it’s a new year, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Everything looks a lot better this year concerning the Cardinals. Now, it’s time to finally get on the field and prove that it’s real.

“To me, the game is only fun when you win,” Hicks said, adding that things “getting better and better on paper” isn’t enough. “None of that means anything if you can’t go out there and perform the right way and win.”

Have an opinion on the Arizona Cardinals? Reach McManaman at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac. Listen to him live on Fox Sports 910-AM every Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 on Calling All Sports with Roc and Manuch and every Wednesday night from 7-9 on The Freaks with Kenny and Crash.

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