Trey McBride nearly was the hero Sunday. If that last TD pass had been completed for a heart-stopping win, which would've been a second TD of the game for the tight end.

But McBride was talking about the rest of the offense after another hard, late loss, this time in Indy. The team knew they already had a backup QB playing with Jacoby Brissett. But in the first half, the Cardinals lost third-string tight end Travis Vokolek – kind of a thing when you want to run three-TE sets at times – and Marvin Harrison Jr. and third-down back Emari Demercado. And they still put up 400 yards.

"I'm proud of the way all the receivers stepped up," McBride said. "Beach (OL Kelvin Beachum) and Elijah (Higgins), with Travis going down early. It changes a lot of stuff in the game plan. I'm really proud of the way the offense handled change. Emari going down. There were a lot of moving puzzle pieces."

I'll be honest. I thought the Cardinals were going to have to lean on their defense against the Colts to get a win. But the offense, even as players left the game over and over, played excellent. Brissett was looking down the field. They made plays when needed.

Jonathan Gannon made clear a couple of times Kyler Murray will be the starting quarterback when he comes back from his foot injury, although the national reporting before Sunday's game made it sound like Murray could need at least one more week. But that'll be figured out over the next few practices.

The Cardinals, as Calais Campbell emphasized during the week, did not let that Titans loss "beat them twice." They played well. They could've won. Eventually, the scoreboard can take its toll, however. Gannon stressed postgame the Cardinals have only one thing to think about Monday, and that's the Packers.

But Sunday was "disappointing," Gannon acknowledged. The performance was encouraging. But it still wasn't a win, which is what everyone knows is the endgame.

-- Brissett threw for 326 yards in 2019 for the Colts. That is his career-best. To think he would've topped that had his last pass to McBride had been complete would've been quite a story. Brissett wasn't perfect. But he was pretty good (and showed his mobility wasn't zero either, drawing some irritated sounds from the Indianapolis crowd when he escaped trouble.) He made a Mahomes-ian completion to Higgins while falling as tackled at one point.

It was a hell of a performance.

-- Bam Knight had a team-high 11 carries (and added a 20-yard catch) and rushed for a TD, although Gannon said Knight's increased playing time was in part because Demercado left the game.

-- It was a nice game for both Zay Jones and Michael Wilson, wide receivers that hadn't done much this season. They combined for nine receptions for 123 yards, and that's with Wilson dealing with an injured finger.

-- Rookie safety Kitan Crawford has had an excellent start on special teams, which is why he was drafted. He turned field position in the first half. The Cardinals were punting from their own 4 but the gunner Crawford beat a double-team and tackled the return man on the catch one-on-one in space. An additional 15-yard Colts penalty gave Indy the ball at their own 32, and on the next play, linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. snared his interception.

(The Cardinals turned it over on their own pick a couple plays later to cost them a scoring chance.)

-- We know the Cardinals have lost Blake Gillikin for at least four games (well, three more now that the Colts game is over) after going on IR with a back injury. It's notable because Gillikin missed the entire 2020 season with a back issue. Veteran Pat O'Donnell came in and punted twice for a 46.0-yard average.

-- There is nothing worse than a team suffering a pregame injury after inactives are already announced. The Colts lost their top cornerback, Charvarius Ward, after he suffered a concussion in pregame warmups in a collision with an Indy wide receiver.

-- The Cardinals played the offensive line with the group they went into 2024 with: LT Paris Johnson Jr., LG Evan Brown, C Hjalte Froholdt, RG Will Hernandez, RT Jonah Williams. It was the first time the group had played as a unit since the first quarter of Week 1 of 2024.

-- The last word goes to Brissett, who has been around long enough to have perspective on the Cardinals' situation:

"We just have to continue to get better. The speech that JG gave us after the game was, 'We're not as far as we think, but we still have a lot of work to do. Guys accepted that challenge."

Time to fly home.