Marvin Harrison Jr. is better.

"I could feel his confidence," quarterback Kyler Murray said.

Trey McBride always is better, and showed it again Sunday.

Those two players are going to be the focal point of the offense, as well as they should. And it was easy to see what it could be. The Cardinals still need to get consistent, but there are seeds there for a passing game moving in the direction the Cards crave.

Harrison was blunt after the 20-13 win in New Orleans -- "Honestly, it's not good enough," Harrison said – but it was hard not to see the 45-yard bomb from Murray, with darn good coverage, as a huge step. Jonathan Gannon wanted more pass play explosives, and there it was.

The deep ball, Harrison acknowledged, was the biggest reason he feels that Kyler-to-Marv connection is paying off. Murray admitted "maybe last year we don't connect on that." There are no worries about the McBride security blanket either.

There will be a lot of people that will lament how the Cardinals ended up with Sunday’s win. The Cardinals won't have any of those people internally.

-- Harrison did have one near-miss in the second half, getting behind the defense with the Cardinals on their own 3-yard line. A catch, and Harrison might've had a 97-yard TD. But Murray was high and a little behind on the throw. I need to look back to see the pressure, although Murray knew that was the right target.

-- Jonah Williams, the Saints edge and not the Cardinals' right tackle, ripped Murray's helmet off on a run one play. Murray's head remained attached to his body, Williams got a 15-yard penalty, and center Hjalte Froholdt was the first to get up in Williams' face to defend his QB.

-- Josh Sweat didn't have a sack, and we'll have to go back and watch the video, but it sure seemed like he was in on multiple pressures during the game.

-- The gorgeous Murray bomb to MHJ in the first half covered 51.4 air yards from launch to completion according to Next Gen Stats. Considering Murray's longest such completion all last season was 44.8 air yards, it was a nice taste of what might come.

-- The second touchdown drive was built on McBride's back. The first three plays were McBride targets, but the initial two passes were poor by Murray and incomplete. McBride took the third pass short of the sticks and bulled his way to a first town. He later had another crucial catch-and-run for a first down on third on the drive (although that time, Murray was excellent in stepping up into the pocket and firing a dart to McBride.)

-- James Conner has his share of awesome straight arms, but he had one Sunday that didn't "count." Conner did a vicious get-off-me throw to defensive back Isaac Yiadom on a run. It was called back by a Cardinals penalty – just like a similar straight-arm throw of then-Steelers DB Patrick Peterson was wiped out in Pittsburgh in 2023.

-- Running back Trey Benson played third downs for the Cardinals, not Emari Demercado. That will definitely get Benson more touches and snaps if that is the plan alongside Conner.

-- Rookie cornerback Will Johnson had a pass breakup the first time he was targeted. The second time the Saints tested him on a bomb and Johnson ran the route better than the Saints receiver and made his first NFL interception in the end zone – except it was wiped out when Max Melton was called for illegal contact on the other side of the field.

"It would've been nice, but it'll come," Johnson said.

Later, Johnson absolutely lit up Saints wideout Chris Olave on a screen, breaking it up. It was completely clean, but between that and the INT that wasn't, Johnson had a heck of a debut.

-- The Cardinals had all four of their tight ends active and there was a reason. One came on a key third down inside the New Orleans 10, when Kyler kept the ball on a read-option. (Kyler made a great play at the end of the play too. He was going to try and get the edge, realized he wasn't going to get it, and ducked upfield into contact to make sure he at least got the first down.)

-- The last word goes to Murray, on what he was seeing from the sideline on the last plays, including the Saints' near TD. "I was kind of emotionless. I wasn't trying to watch per se – but I was watching."

Time to fly home.