It doesn't get much more simple in the game of football than tackling. And the Cardinals didn't do it well enough against the Patriots to open the season. Blame the lack of work in the preseason, blame a practice environment in the NFL that doesn't really allow pros to practice true tackling. But it has to get better. Truth be told, I believe that even with everything else staying the same from that night, even with the Brandon Williams mistake and uneven offensive play, that if the Cards had tackled better, they would have won.

"The tackling overall was an issue for us," defensive coordinator James Bettcher said. "There were runs that got out on us that if we made the tackle on first hit ... we had them at about 95 yards after contact and that's too much. We haven't had that in a while around here."

Patrick Peterson missed a tackle on a third down that was notable (although the Patriots were already in field-goal range and the way Gostkowski was kicking, were going to get the field goal they eventually made anyway. It burned time but in the end I'm not sure that made a difference.) Tyrann Mathieu missed a couple tackles. Deone Bucannon did not play the way he was capable. Bettcher and coach Bruce Arians talked about a loss of leverage in getting in the right spots and that happened too often -- the Cards losing the edge. Even Justin Bethel missed a couple of tackles on special teams.

On a night when the Cards played some zone with the idea that you tackle and keep a team short of the sticks, wayward tackling doesn't work out all that well. "We were kind of rusty on our tackling," said safety Tony Jefferson, who was one of the players who didn't look that way.

I'd expect it to be different this week, given the emphasis the Cards have had. It's crucial that it improves.