For me, the moment was a couple of plays before Carson Palmer hit Michael Floyd for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. It was after Palmer had delivered a couple of lasers on out routes to Smokey Brown, passes Palmer seemed to have had some issues with earlier in the season. But here the Cardinals were on the New York 33. On first down and second down Palmer threw incompletions, and Palmer was hammered to the turf both times. Not ideal, but Palmer got up both times.

And on third down, with a decent pocket but still some pressure, Palmer stood tall. He stepped into the throw. And he delivered a bullet to Jaron Brown for a first down.

That felt like the Palmer -- and the Cardinals' offense -- that had been absent. Things might go awry, but the quarterback would stand tall and deliver when needed. In some ways, the second half Monday night was vintage Palmer. It wasn't necessarily 2015 Palmer, because the Jets were not going to let the Cards beat them deep and the Cardinals are definitely running more than ever before. David Johnson makes that smart. But while Palmer's numbers aren't going to fetch an MVP, they were good in context. The Cards might just be where they want to be.

It gets harder. The Seahawks come to town next Sunday night. The Seahawks, who have beat the heck out of the Cardinals in each of the three games they have played the Cardinals in Arizona since Arians arrived. But the performance against the Jets, that was one to note.

-- The teacher definitely bested the student. Todd Bowles has some injuries, and he definitely doesn't have the talent on the back end. But Bowles wasn't going to give up the deep stuff, so the Cards ran and ran and when they threw, it was in front of the defenders. Smart playcalling by Bruce Arians, and good execution.

-- Floyd had a TD catch, but it's clear that he's not coming back up the depth chart for now (although if Jaron Brown is banged up, that could be a factor.) The guy who made some plays Monday was J.J. Nelson, including on a couple of jet sweeps. I like that wrinkle.

-- Speaking of wrinkles, having six or seven defensive backs on the field at times was interesting to watch. Justin Bethel was getting his first defensive snaps of the regular season, and Tharold Simon also got some work. Now, if Tyrann Mathieu can turn flashes into what he was pre-injury ...

-- Robert Nkemdiche was active and played a handful of snaps. "I couldn't even see him out there from my angle," Arians said, deferring his analysis until he saw the tape. "I didn't see him on the quarterback," Arians added with a smile. "I would've seen that."

To be fair, Nkemdiche did knock down one pass and was credited with a quarterback hit.

-- He didn't fill up the stat sheet, but linebacker Chandler Jones had a heck of a game.

-- It's hard to believe that the Cardinals actually had D.J. Swearinger on their practice squad for about a week last season. He's been a nice pickup that went under the radar. His quality play is magnified with no Tyvon Branch around.

-- It was a good night for DJs overall -- Swearinger, right tackle D.J. Humphries and David Johnson. Not so good for Williamses (All three guys named Williams on the roster were inactive.)

-- What else can you say about David Johnson, other than superstar in the making? What's funny is he missed a blitz pickup and was dwelling on it -- "(Number) 25 (Calvin Pryor), that was definitely my guy," he said.

You don't want your QB to get whacked on the blitz. But it feels a little bit like picking at nits. Yes, the Cardinals want Johnson humble. But everything expected of him before the season? He's that guy. And those expectations were kinda big.