Trey McBride is, well, still Trey McBride.

The Pro Bowl tight end leads the Cardinals with his 24 catches for 234 yards, and both numbers are near the NFL lead for tight ends. He has at least three receptions in 32 straight games, the longest streak in the NFL (Larry Fitzgerald's 50-game streak from 2015-2018 is the franchise record.) He still is the No. 1 guy on offense the team turns to.

"He's one of our premier players," coach Jonathan Gannon said, "so he needs to impact the game accordingly."

But ask McBride for his thoughts four games into the season, and he feels some kind of way.

"I don't feel like I've played to my ability," McBride said. "I feel like I've left a little bit out there. At the same time, it's different.

"It's harder to get open than it used to be. I don't feel I've dropped off, it's just more challenging to get open. I'm getting chipped at the line more, I'm not getting that free access. I feel very confident in my ability and I feel like I'm still playing at a high level. But the way teams are playing us, the way teams are playing me, is significantly different."

To be clear, McBride is not complaining. It is the residue of a frustration of not being able to lift the offense more than he already does. He said it "feels more rewarding" to get open these days with so much attention being put on him.

He acknowledged losing top running back James Conner was a significant blow to the offense, and that the overall run game issues impact the passing game – including him. But perhaps the biggest deal to McBride about Conner being down is Conner's leadership. And that too has become a focus.

"I think guys look at me as an emotional player, a guy who brings a lot of energy and juice," McBride said. "I really do try to provide that positive energy. After a play I am jumping and yelling and screaming. I can be better at that, being a better leader and bringing guys together. Losing James, he was a big part of that. Now that he's gone, I feel like that's my responsibility."

-- The Titans have had a rocky week after falling to 0-4. That was lead off by a shutout loss to the Texans, when rookie quarterback Cam Ward was blunt in his assessment of his team.

"If we keep it a buck right now, we ass," he said. "We're 0-4. At this point, we've got nothing to lose. We dropped a quarter of our (expletive) games, and we've yet to do anything. So we have to lock in. Especially myself."

That's something the Cardinals have been stressing all week. The NFL is not college. There is a reason Any Given Sunday is a cliché. No one picked the 49ers to beat the Rams on Thursday given the circumstances. The Cardinals know the Titans are desperate to get that win and very well, like Ward said, be locked in. But the Cardinals also should be locked in. After two crushing last-play losses, this is a game you need to get to get back above .500.

-- With starting left guard Evan Brown doubtful as he battles a hamstring issue, this could be the week Will Hernandez – who is still officially questionable as he comes back from his torn ACL – finally plays. Isaiah Adams has been the starting right guard. Hernandez talked Friday about his hard journey back from his first serious injury and the chance to get on the field again.

"It means more than just coming in and playing a few snaps of football," Hernandez said. "It means everything to me. It's everything I worked for my entire life and everything I always took pride in. It means literally everything to me."

-- Coach Jonathan Gannon said the minibye would allow the coaches to tweak some things for hopefully more success. Gannon was asked if he felt the work on the offense produced the changes for which he had hoped.

"We'll see on Sunday," Gannon said. "I like what we're doing though. I liked a few things. It'll probably go a little bit under the radar. It's not going to be like, 'Oh, we're now the Mike Leach spread offense.' But I like how we are going to try to attack, and it's going to come down to execution."

-- Gannon was giving no hints about how he will deploy his running backs. My pure guess, given their roles last season (and this), is that Michael Carter would be the main guy for early downs and Emari Demercado, as good as he is on third downs, would be that guy. But I wouldn't think they'd be locked into those roles. And I don't know what, if any, offensive role Bam Knight might have.

- Marvin Harrison Jr. said he moved on from his down-than-up Thursday performance pretty quickly, as he always wants to do. I did think it was interesting that he clearly felt the mistakes he made but wasn't all that juiced about the big plays he turned in later in the game. I'm supposed to do that, he noted, and while he's right, it's always good to take the positives and celebrate, at least for a moment or two.

-- One guy outside the building that hasn't lost faith in MHJ is Cardinals legend Larry Fitzgerald, who was asked about Harrison this week during a SiriusXM NFL radio interview.

"I think the second half of that game on Thursday was the best thing that could've happened to him," Fitzgerald said. "He had the two drops early in the game, one that led to an interception, he could've easily put his head in the sand and that could've gone really bad. He came back and made play after play when his number was called in that second half and it really showed me this guy has got a lot of fight.

"He's got a lot of high football-resolve character. It's in his DNA. I hope that positivity of that second half can carry on. When I talk to people in the organization and the facility, there is no one who works harder than he does … Catching the football, you do it routinely and often enough to build the confidence you'll do it at a higher level. He checks the boxes."

-- Both Harrison and OC Drew Petzing said they had no concerns about the miscommunications, when they happen, between Harrison and Kyler Murray. It is interesting to note that while the Murray-to-Harrison completion percentage is probably not where the Cardinals want it (59.3 percent) it is better than a handful of other key receivers around the league:

• Malik Nabers (51.4)
• Rome Odunze (57.1)
• Tetairoa McMillan (51.4)
• Davante Adams (48.6 before Thursday)

-- Murray is up to 20,240 yards passing with the Cardinals over 86 games. He is now third in franchise history behind only Jim Hart's 34,639 yards (in 199 games) and Neil Lomax's 22,771 (in 108 games).

-- Both Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis spoke this week about the need for the Cardinals to limit explosive plays against – and considering how well the Cards have done in allowing few points, improvement in preventing explosives would likely take the unit up another level.

The Cardinals have allowed 57 plays of at least 10 yards, 10 more than the league average, and 15 plays of at least 20 yards, which is in the lower third of the league.

"You can't have a five-play drive that goes 70 yards, and they score a touchdown," Gannon said. "That's not good defense, and (Rallis) doesn't call it accordingly like that. I think it's self-inflicted explosives we have to minimize."

-- The last word goes to Kyler, when I asked him if he was able to get away from the game during the minibye last weekend and reset.

"Honestly, it's hard not to watch (football) right? Loving the game, being a fan of the game, it's on TV on Sunday (and) Saturday. Kind of pisses you off though. It pissed me off at least. Just kind of a bad taste in my mouth from Thursday. But yeah, we have to reset. We have another opportunity (against the Titans)."

See you Sunday.