It was that famous philosopher of the 80’s, Ferris Bueller, who warned us all, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Look back at what we missed when the Cardinals started the season 2-0. With upcoming games against the then-winless Lions, supposedly inferior Panthers and still-winless Jets, a lot of people were predicting a 5-0 start for Arizona. The Cardinals might have been guilty of thinking that themselves.

According to some of their own players, they began losing focus in practice and stopped fully paying attention to the tiniest of details. It showed up in their play, too, as they lost back-to-back games against Detroit and Carolina – games in which they were favored to win.

And now here they are, entering Sunday’s matchup at the Jets, that suddenly feels like a must-win game. Wait a minute. A must-win game in Week 5?

“To me, that’s how I view it,” Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray said. “I view every game as a must win. Obviously, we haven’t won ’em all, but that’s my mindset. I can’t speak for anybody else.”

He didn’t have to.

Larry Fitzgerald is in his 17th season with the team and more than anyone, he knows how uncomfortable it is for a player or a head coach to peg any game as a “must-win” scenario. It’s one of those phrases they would simply prefer to avoid.

It was even awkward asking the wide receiver the question. But all things considered, Larry, is this a must-win situation for the Cardinals?

“I believe so,” Fitzgerald said. “You look at the leaders in our division and Seattle is 4-0 right now and they’re rolling. We have to be able to find a way to get back on the right track. We’ve got another road game, we’re going across three time zones to play, and we’ve got to find a way to put four quarters of good football together in all three phases.

“It’s as simple as that. We need to be able to keep pace with the Rams and other teams who are playing really good in our division, so yeah, it’s definitely a must-win.”

Most of the odds makers list the Cardinals (2-2) as 7-point favorites over the Jets (4-0), who will be without starting quarterback Sam Darnold (shoulder) and will be relying on 35-year-old Joe Flacco, who has thrown just two regular-season passes since last Oct. 27 when he suffered a neck injury that later required surgery.

The Jets are a mess. By their own admission, the roster is substandard. They are an undisciplined team, they’ve rarely been competitive and second-year head coach Adam Gase is on the hot seat.

Making matters worse, one of their players had a presumptive positive test for COVID-19 on Friday morning, which resulted in the entire team and coaching staff being immediately sent home from the Jets’ facility and casting some early doubt upon Sunday’s game with the Cardinals.

It’s not as if the Cardinals don’t have their own problems, either. After consecutive losses, they’ve been feeling terrible about their own play and the last thing they want is the possibility of not being able to get back on the field to redeem themselves.

MORE: Arizona Cardinals vs. New York Jets NFL Week 5 scouting report, prediction

“This week particularly, all of us want to get back on the field,” coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “There was frustration with how we played last week, so we’ve been champing at the bit to get back after it. So when you hear that initially, you’re like, ‘Oh no!’ We really want to get back out there.

“Then you settle in and realize, ‘Hey, you can only control what you can control,’ but yeah, definitely, there for a bit you’re just worried about not being able to play the game this Sunday.”

If the Cardinals needed any extra motivation, their general manager provided some during his weekly radio appearance Friday morning on the “Doug & Wolf Show.”

“I am very, very disappointed with the way we’ve played the last two weeks,” Steve Keim said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “It comes down to making plays and executing and to be quite frank with you, we’ve got a lot of guys making a lot of money … and when you see players who are making an exorbitant amount of money, those guys have to be productive. In my opinion, our stars have not played like stars, so to speak.”

Keim didn’t necessarily call anyone out by name, but the message is still probably reverberating around the organization. It was just as damning as comments made earlier in the week from Cardinals tight end Dan Arnold, who suggested the team had been losing its focus during practices.

In Arnold’s opinion, that’s been one of the reasons why the Cardinals’ offense hasn’t been able to find its groove. He said it’s been addressed from within, but added, “I think if we just have just a little more focus during the week of practice, really dive into what we need to do to be successful on Sunday, I think it will come. It’s bound to come. It has to.”

A day later, on Wednesday, Murray said the Cardinals had their best practice day of the season.

“I think there was a sense of urgency,” Murray said. “I haven’t felt that urgency since before Week 1, going into that game, you could tell there was a different vibe after finishing camp and then going into that first game (at the 49ers).”

Keim, meanwhile, said he thought Thursday was the best practice the Cardinals have had since the season started, adding, “Guys were physical, I thought the pace and the tempo was excellent, and there was definitely some urgency out on that field.”

Perhaps the energy level took a major bounce because of the return of safety Budda Baker, who missed last week’s game following surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb. He’s been called the “heart and soul” of the Cardinals and his relentless approach, even in practice, can become infectious.

It couldn’t have come at a better time considering how the team views Sunday’s game as a must-win.

“Nobody means more to this football team than Budda Baker,” Fitzgerald said. “You can take that to the bank. … He plays the game of football like he’s 6-4, 280 pounds the way he flies around and how selfless he is. If he’s asked to cover, if he’s asked to blitz, if he’s asked to do whatever and play different positions, he knows it all.

“I mean, this guy is the best of the best – as a human being, as a football player, as a teammate. I love him and I know his teammates all feel the same way about him. We’re very privileged to have him back on the field with us.”

Roster move

The Cardinals have elevated tight end Evan Baylis and safety Curtis Riley from the practice squad to the active roster. Baylis, who played in five games last season with the Packers, joined the Cardinals’ practice squad on Sept. 29. Riley has appeared in three games this season for the Cardinals, which included making one start.

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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