Wide receiver Trent Sherfield looked around and sensed a theme.

“I was on the sideline, and it was me, Dennis (Gardeck) and Zeke (Turner),” he said. “And I was just looking at all three of us, and I just kind of stopped and just thought about it for a moment, and was like, ‘Man. I think we may be the only three undrafted guys left from our class.’ And it’s great to be able to have those guys around.”

Their teammates on the Cardinals would confirm that it is nice having them around. Sherfield and Gardeck in particular were critical on special teams in Arizona’s 27-27 tie with Detroit in the season opener on Sunday.

Sherfield was the gunner for the Cardinals, providing strong punt coverage to pin the Lions deep. He found out officially on Monday he’d be taking on that role, though he had practiced there all preseason. Late in the second quarter, he recovered a muffed punt to give the Cardinals the ball back at the Lions eight-yard line. They were not able to punch it into the end zone from there, but the ensuing field goal from Zane Gonzalez snapped the shutout, making it 17-3. 

Gardeck was the one to get a critical block on the Lions’ punt late in the fourth quarter, with 2:42 left to play and the Cardinals down eight. 

“We knew they had a bunch of rookies on their punt protection, and we’ve just got to capitalize on the inexperience,” he said. “My job was to block it, so just doing (my) job.”

The block on Lions punter Sam Martin kept it to an 11-yard punt, and let the Cardinals take over on their own 40-yard line on what would be the game-tying drive to force overtime. 

“I was pretty pumped,” Gardeck said. “It seemed like it kind of helped shift momentum, and just kind of helped ride the wave. It was a good time. We did our thing on special teams throughout the day, so it was a fun day.”

Gonzalez perfect

For the bulk of the game, kicker Gonzalez was the only one who could get the Cardinals on the scoreboard, drilling field goals in the second, third and fourth quarters before the Arizona offense started to find the end zone.

“Everybody’s competing their butt off trying to get on the board,” he said. “It’s a new system, new scheme, the offense did a good job. And then second half, we were unstoppable those last few drives, so I thought for sure we were going to get a touchdown.”

His longest of the day came from 42 yards out. He was good on his one extra point attempt and added a field goal in overtime, accounting for 13 of the Cardinals’ 27 points. 

Gonzalez was not surprised that the Cardinals elected to settle for early field goals, most notably deciding to kick on fourth and 2 from the 2-yard line.  

“Not at all, I mean it’s a smart play… so it makes sense,” he said. 

Suggs makes debut for Arizona

Terrell Suggs has terrorized opposing quarterbacks all his career, and now, he’s doing it in red. Suggs notched his first two sacks with the Cardinals on Sunday, making his debut with the team from his home state.

Suggs’ two sacks pushed him to 12th place on the NFL’s all-time list, with 134.5, passing former Cardinals player John Abraham. He had five tackles, two for loss, and one quarterback hit. 

His first sack of the day was a strip sack on quarterback Matthew Stafford, though the Lions were able to recover it. All that led to some mixed emotions from the linebacker. 

“It was weird,” he said. “I didn’t think about it, and I was like ‘That was my first sack for my new team.’ I was a little disappointed in myself because I didn’t recover the ball. It’s one of the plays that I have to be better. It’s good to get the sack, but I think we all would have appreciated it more if I had recovered the ball too.”

The other Murray

Acquired via waivers just a week ago, Justin Murray got his first start for the Cardinals at right tackle. Marcus Gilbert injured his knee at Thursday’s practice, giving Murray a rapid promotion.

He has been with six different teams over four years in the NFL, mainly on practice squads. He has played in just two games total; Sunday was his first start. 

“It felt really good. I finally had the opportunity to go out there and start, and I just tried my best,” Murray said. “The coaches took extra time to get me ready. They stayed with me after practice, hammering the game plan, and I just studied on my own.

“Just to have the opportunity like this, the whole team believed in me, and I was very excited. I’m really excited and ready to continue to grow with this team.”

His chemistry with teammates already seems strong. Left guard Justin Pugh yelled out that Murray was available for interviews repeatedly, trying to get a few more cameras on his new pal. Murray blushed, but his excitement was clear. He was able to soak that in as he ran out the tunnel, announced as a starter for the first time in the NFL. 

“It was nice. It really was,” he said. “After that happened, I had to put the focus on my assignments and the game plan and all that and just be ready to play ball.”

Murray felt there were places he could have improved, but the early reviews from coach are good. 

“He did a nice job. Really proud of him,” Kliff Kingsbury said. “We just got him here, and we found out Thursday that he was going to be the starter. We kind of crammed the game plan, and he really took pride in learning it and getting up to speed. I thought he held up nicely.”

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 480-356-6407. Follow her on Twitter @kfitz134.

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