The Cardinals couldn't have cooked up a more concerning performance in their regular-season opener.
The primary source of trouble centered around veteran passer Carson Palmer, who tossed a trio of picks in Sunday's 35-23 loss to the Lions.
"You can't throw that many interceptions," coach Bruce Arians told the team's official website after the game, calling it a "poor" showing by the 37-year-old signal caller.
Palmer's first turnover on Arizona's opening drive was forgivable after Detroit's Matthew Stafford turned around and lobbed a pick-six to Cardinals cornerback Justin Bethel, who took it 82 yards to pay dirt.
Palmer, though, went on to throw a second interception that set up a long Lions touchdown march. His third errant lob, coming late in the fourth quarter, was snagged by safety Miles Killebrew, who returned it 35 yards for a score that put Detroit up 35-17 with 4:03 left in the game.
"I just didn't do a good enough job," Palmer said. "I put that solely on myself. I'm disappointed in myself. I just felt like had I made a handful of throws, we would have been in a different position."
Palmer spent much of the offseason resting his arm, hoping to solve some of the fatigue issues that plagued him early last autumn.
That didn't help on Sunday, with the veteran lacking accuracy on too many of his throws despite finishing with 269 yards and a touchdown.
It's too early to panic, but even Palmer admits the issues better be fixed in a hurry.
"We will get past it. I will get past it," Palmer said. "We've got another big road game playing in another environment similar to this next week [in Indianapolis]. Sunday can't come fast enough. We've got to get the work done, but at the same time, I can't wait to get this taste out of my mouth and move past this."
