No way around it: That one hurt. You can say over and over that it's the Patriots and Bill Belichick is the arguably the best coach in NFL history, and I do think the Cardinals worked hard this week on avoiding overconfidence, invoking last year's painful loss in Pittsburgh. Still, losing to the Brady-less (and Gronk-less) Pats would be easier to take if the Cardinals played well and they were outplayed. It didn't feel that way, though. Losing on a missed field goal actually seemed apropos for the evening. Close, but not enough. The Cards looked off in all three phases.

The last time they lost an opener at home, it was a disappointing outing against the 49ers in 2009. The Cards won 10 games that season. We'll see how this one plays out.

-- Would Mike Leach have delivered a better snap on the final field goal? Probably. But I will say this, I have big-time respect for Kam Canaday, a rookie from Portland State who hasn't had many chances to be interviewed period but who stood there in front of a flood of cameras and reporters answering questions about a play he'd rather soon forget. He's in the NFL and it comes with the job, but still, he manned up.

(And props to Chandler Catanzaro too, not only for doing the same but also saying publicly it wasn't the rookie's fault.)

-- It's too bad the field goal was missed because a win would have been one of those epic, Fitz-put-us-on-his-back victories. On a day the retirement thing came up again to boot. The vet was spectacular when they needed him.

-- Speaking of which, if you get a chance, watch again Fitz's 21-yard catch on the Cards' final drive. Down on the field near where Fitz caught it, I have no idea how he did. The ball was on him before he got his head all the way around -- it seemed to surprise him how quick it was there -- yet he unbelievably snagged the pass andturned it into a 21-yard gain.

-- Rough debut for rookie cornerback Brandon Williams, who blew a coverage on a touchdown and had a couple other mistakes. Justin Bethel, dealing with the sore foot, only played special teams I believe. You have to wonder if Bethel getting healthy or newcomer Marcus Cooper getting more practice will change the lineup at any point.

-- Bruce Arians said J.J. Nelson could have returned with his shoulder injury. We will see. But there was Jaron Brown making a clutch catch at the end, setting up the final field-goal attempt. He's there when the Cardinals need him.

-- David Johnson looked pretty darn good.

-- The defense, overall, didn't. Or at least, it didn't look like everyone expected. The Patriots had 363 total yards and converted 10 of 16 third-downs, and it was that last drive that was the killer. The Cards get the lead and then allow Jimmy Garoppolo to convert a 3rd-and-15 from his own 20? Can't happen. Especially for a 32-yard gain. A stop there, and it's hard not to think the Cards would've been in great shape even only up one with 8 minutes left.

"Back to the lab," linebacker Kevin Minter said.

Indeed.