OK, so the Cardinals already knew their playoff chances were basically done after the loss in Miami, but they were officially killed off Sunday. Drew Brees hadn't done anything for two games, and then he erupted to tear apart the Cards. All the while, it was the last home game of the year and one of those games where many players understood what that meant -- Calais Campbell had already been talking about it, and Tony Jefferson tweeted about it pre-game -- as contracts are ending and there is so much up in the air for 2017.

Carson Palmer is under contract for 2017. He was asked about next year, and he said he expects to be playing. Larry Fitzgerald is under contract for 2017. He said he will play the final two games "as hard as I can" and then see how the offseason plays out. If Fitz is gonna stick around, he's going to want to know he's got a chance to make the postseason and win.

Nobody coming into this season -- even if you expected the Cardinals to take a step back from 13-3 -- thought the Cardinals would be a pedestrian 4-3-1 at University of Phoenix Stadium. But here they were again, in a one-score game late, unable to win it like they had so many times the past two seasons at home. That's what stuck with Bruce Arians, and that's one of the (many) things to undo the 2016 season.

-- It wasn't his best game statistically but it was a very good game for David Johnson, tying the franchise record for touchdowns in a season and playing more regular wide receiver than normal because of a thin receiving corps. The Saints were also attuned to Johnson as a receiver, bracketing him often on passing plays -- which is new for him.

"I was joking with one of their DBs and he was telling me when they were scouting us, (they said) don't think of me as a running back, think of me as a receiver," Johnson said. "That was cool to hear."

-- But Johnson now needs 200 receiving yards the final two games to reach 1,000, against two good defenses. So that will be tough.

-- Palmer was good, and that was with an inability to hook up with John Brown on one wide-open deep pass (Brown did haul in a 30-yard TD bomb later) and with J.J. Nelson dropping what would have been a 56-yard TD bomb. It helped that the offensive line -- from left tackle to right, Wetzel, Iupati, Shipley, Boggs and Watford -- held up perhaps better than expected.

"I was happy with the way we played up front," Shipley said. "There were obviously a couple things we would like back. But for a guy like Boggs who really hasn't played and going against a top 10 pick (Nick Fairley), I thought he did admirable. There was one play early but other than that, he did a pretty good job. And Earl being in a position he hasn't played in a long time, and Wetz, I don't know what number combination of offensive line this is (for us) ... I was happy with how the guys responded."

-- Another rough night for special teams. Chandler Catanzaro missed a long field goal and another extra point, although the latter ended up not mattering. Justin Bethel's offsides on the field goal was painful though, as was the fact Bethel was offsides on three different kicks -- the field goal and a pair of extra points, yards added on the kickoffs.

-- Linebacker Sio Moore, on the questionable blow-to-Brees'-head penalty that killed the chance for the Cardinals to hold the Saints late in a seven-point game: "I didn't even know the flag was on me until late," Moore said quietly. "It was unfortunate timing for a call like that. I can't argue with the refs. I've just got to figure what I've got to do so that situation doesn't come up on my bill."

-- If you missed it, team president Michael Bidwill before the game addressed -- strongly -- the Michael Floyd situation.

-- Campbell, in his ninth NFL season, scored on a 53-yard fumble return and that was the first time Campbell had been in the end zone since his senior year in high school when he had a four-touchdown game as a tight end. That was 2003.

-- Tim Hightower is famous around these parts for scoring the game-winning touchdown in the NFC Championship game back in the 2008 season. He was traded away before the 2011 season, suffered a terrible knee injury and didn't play in an NFL game from 2012-14, but has resurrected his career in New Orleans. Sunday, he scored two touchdowns in the same end zone where he beat the Eagles in 2008.

"I'm just thankful," Hightower said. "This process has been one that has tested me in every way. ... Just thinking of the last (Saints) loss here a year ago (in the 2015 opener). I wasn't even on the roster. I was released the day before the game. It kind of had everything come back full circle. It was special."

-- Hightower was in the same Cardinals draft class as Campbell. It wasn't surprising to see the two friends swap jerseys after the game. Campbell said he knew Hightower was behind him on his touchdown run, as Hightower tried to Beebe Campbell from behind. "I felt it," Campbell said. "I pulled the ball up when I felt him coming for it. I told him, 'If you had knocked the ball from my hands, we wouldn't have been friends any longer.' "