It had been 47-7, a dismantling of an NFC West rival, and Calais Campbell was happy. But not too happy.

"My message the whole time will be, 'Keep putting work in, keep respecting the process,' " the defensive end said. "We have a long way to go. We haven't accomplished anything yet."

Those weren't just words to Campbell. As he spoke, he used his hands to emphasize his point. There were some laughs last week about Bruce Arians telling his team they weren't (insert bleep noise here), and more chuckles Sunday when Arians said his team now smells just a little bit better. But the idea that the Cardinals will keep their heads about them even though they have scored a ton — 126 points in three games, seven points better than the high-flying Patriots — and dominated two weeks in a row.

"The kind of guys we have on this team now, no one is going to get carried away," said long snapper Mike Leach, who is playing in his 16th NFL season and has a good pulse on such things. Leach noted that the best part of the Cardinals is that even in spots where they are young, there are vets who have taken guys under their wing.

Plus they have a coach who, while he might smile a bit when he says it, is willing to say they ain't (need that bleep again) and mean it.

That isn't to say the Cardinals didn't play really, really well Sunday.

-- The Cardinals have 17 touchdowns in their first three games, only the fourth team in NFL history to do so. The last was the Cowboys, who had 18 touchdowns in the first three games of 1968. Kind of mind-boggling.

-- Carson Palmer is now 16-2 in his last 18 starts with the Cardinals. He made one really bad decision — he said he was trying to throw his interception out of bounds but instead, the floater was not even close to anything but 49ers cornerback Kenneth Acker — but had a bunch of nice throws. Plus he had two dropped, including what would have been a 28-yard TD to Smokey Brown.

-- Chris Johnson turned 30 Sunday and he averaged 5.0 yards a rush and gained 110 yards on the ground. And he's the youngster in the offensive trio that lit up the 49ers, alongside Larry Fitzgerald (9 catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns) and Palmer (311 yards passing and the two TDs.)

-- He'd never ever say it, but I can't help but think Fitz is sitting back having "I told you so" thoughts to the NFL world.

-- Tyrann Mathieu. "Savage season" indeed.

-- Justin Bethel not only had his first interception of his career for a touchdown, but it came on his first defensive snap of the season. Plus he forced a fumble on a kick return (the 49ers kept it) and downed a punt. What a day.

-- Drew Butler did not hit a great punt that ended up being returned inside the Cardinals' 20-yard line and set up San Francisco's only touchdown. But he did strike a good punt on the play where Bethel caught it cleanly at the S.F. 1, held for a beat, and then tossed it back so he wouldn't take it in the end zone.

The officials first threw the beanbag around the 4 where the Cards ending up grabbing the ball, but Leach was there to help.

"They were just discussing it and I was just letting them know, reminding them what the rule was just in case," Leach said.

The Cards had the same play last year with Bethel against the Lions. Leach wasn't going to forget. And on the next play, the Cardinals swarmed Carlos Hyde for a safety.

-- That punt-and-return by the Niners for their only score was the only time the 49ers crossed the 50 the whole game.

"The passion the defense plays with is … unbelievable," Leach said.

-- Colin Kaepernick was bad. The Cardinals made him look so with the four INTs. But Torrey Smith had no catches against cornerback Patrick Peterson. And Anquan Boldin was held to two catches for 16 yards.

-- There were a ton of good performances, but linebacker Kevin Minter stood out again too. It felt like a make-or-break year for Minter. Three games in, it feels like he's making it.

So … the last time the Cardinals put a defensive back in their Ring of Honor, it was at halftime of the game against the 49ers, which the Cardinals won. And then they later reached the Super Bowl. Just sayin' …