The Cardinals feel like they have been away from home for forever. I certainly feel like it. But now the team begins a three-game homestand with the Rams. The mailbag gets a chance to breath. Questions have been edited for length and clarity. Don't forget to send a question for a future mailbag with at least a first name and last initial.

From Chris K:

"I'm sure everyone is asking the same thing, but how does Marvin Harrison Jr. only have one catch? It's frustrating given what we were all hoping for from him. Tell me it's going to change."

It's going to change. (Technically, I have no influence over that, but still. I feel pretty confident.) For me, the most surprising thing is that it remained one catch even when the offense started to sputter. Early on, when the Cardinals were moving the ball, it didn't mean as much. They were moving the ball. But Drew Petzing is too smart to let a chess piece like MHJ go to waste. And one game is way too small of a sample size.

From John White:

"I'm cautiously optimistic about the Cards' chances this season, but it all seems to hinge on whether the defense can take a step forward. The division has some great offenses so how do we demonstrate that the Cardinals D has taken a step forward when these offenses are some of the most innovative in the league?"

It's simple to me, really. The only way you can demonstrate anything is by doing it against those teams. The Cardinals will start by playing the Rams Sunday. Matthew Stafford isn't nearly as mobile as Josh Allen. Can the Cards make that mean something?

From David B:

"Why did Drew Petzing call a running play with less than two minutes to go and then not call a timeout?"

In terms of the timeout, that's a Jonathan Gannon decision, not Petzing. But I'm not sure what you are talking about with a timeout -- the play before the ball was incomplete so the clock wasn't moving, and after the run they did call timeout. So ... what's the issue? As far as the run itself, Gannon has said a couple of times the hope was that the Bills would be so geeked at stopping the pass they thought they could pop Conner there. It didn't work, obviously.

From Louis F:

"I am a Cardinals fan from Toronto about 130 minutes drive from Buffalo and almost went to the game. Yes Murray had some dropped passes and missed open receivers that concern me, but the officials missed some astonishing calls."

I included this one for all those writing about the officials. Yes, there were some judgement calls against the Cardinals, just like there were against the Bills -- like the worth-four-point flag on the initial roughing Kyler penalty. Officials miss calls all the time, against all the teams. Just like defenses blow coverages, or receivers drop passes. Maybe I'm just hardened from decades of covering sports but I can't get worked up about 99.9 percent of what officials/refs/umpires do.

From Jason B:

"I'm not gonna make a big issue over a six-point loss; however, for some reason this team seems to only plays half a game. The offense scored no points the entire second half. The D-line got pressure but could not bring down Josh Allen. We still seem to have issues covering in the secondary. We spent a top No. 4 pick on a WR we aren't using. What can be done to fix these issues? To me it seems that not playing starters in the preseason is detrimental."

Here's the issue I have with the people saying "why didn't you play starters in the preseason because you can tell." The thing is, you couldn't when it was 17-3 to start the season. No the Cardinals didn't finish but it had nothing to do with playing or not in the preseason. They didn't come out flat. And most of the secondary did play in the preseason, at least some. Now, for your overall questions, what can be done is more practice, more coaching and understanding what needs work. We're one game in.

From Rob E:

"I know it's a little premature, but who do you see them releasing once these guys come off the IR or Zay Jones' suspension?"

A little premature? Oh, it's a lot premature. No way to guess right now because it'll all depend on the state of the roster when it's time for it to happen. You get a key injury, and a player you might want to move on from suddenly is a guy you need. Zay Jones is the only one coming back at a particular time; the IR guys could be back after four games, or six, or later.

From Sebas Quiros:

"How effective do you think it will be to concentrate on the run? I get that last season we were great, and of course a great running game will do wonders but, this season we have a vast amount of great pass catchers: Marvin, Michael, Dortch, McBride and even Conner. Maybe we are having tunnel vision on the run."

The idea of having all these "great" pass catchers is in place, yes, but they have yet to show they have that kind of passing game. The run game has been proven to work. And realistically, the Cardinals want to have a kind of grind-it-out offense to hold the ball and keep their own defense off the field.

From Oscar Jameson:

"Hey Darren. I have a gaggle of questions:

1. When is D-Rob expected back? I really expected more from the new guys.
2. Did Garrett Williams play? I don't think I heard his name once.
3. I thought Mack Wilson Sr. was a bright spot. Any chance at all he becomes the full time No. 1 ILB and Kyzir gets bumped to No. 2.
4. Any increased odds we call NY for Reddick, who has now gone scorched earth and is sitting out actual games. We need him. He needs us.
5. I know 90 percent of your questions will be Marvin-targets oriented but what about McBride? That was the most disappointing aspect of our offense.
6. I like Dortch but throwing deep jump balls to the shortest guy on the field felt like Smokey Brown/BA era all over again. THAT is my Marvin question.
7. Was the wind truly THAT bad? It didn't seem to affect the Bills.
8. Seemed like Xavier Thomas played quite a bit. Was Gardeck injured, or was this planned?"

That's a lot of questions, Oscar. I suppose I can try and help out. (This many questions, you get quick-hitter answers.)

1. Robinson can't return before Week 5. That's assuming he will be ready. He was playing so well before he got hurt, he will obviously help.
2. Yes, he played. He did not seem to be targeted much, but he had the third-most CB snaps.
3. Wilson played well. But I thought White remains solid and he isn't being displaced.
4. Reddick isn't coming to Arizona.
5. McBride had the most targets of all the pass catchers so I am not sure why you were upset.
6. Kyler saw Dortch with the one-on-one coverage. That's why the ball went there.
7. It seemed pretty swirly to me. The last Bills kickoff went out of bounds because of it.
8. Thomas played 18 snaps, Gardeck played 40, out of 62. That's just rotational.

From Amanda Ybarra:

"How does a team avoid finger-pointing when the fault is fairly obvious? If a team misses field goals it'd be the easiest to see. But a defensive performance as a whole, or a QB missing wide-open receivers? I know Terrell Owens wouldn't have been silent about that, and that's arguably a fair point."

If you are a professional athlete -- a professional anything, really -- finger-pointing doesn't do much good. Everyone makes mistakes, or has a bad day. You can argue that a pro athlete, more than anyone, has the reality of accountability more than most do in "real" life. You keep making mistakes, you lose your starting job or your roster spot. What's the bible saying - "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone." It doesn't mean things can't break down, but that can have as much to do with the pointer than the pointee.

From Derek Cooper:

"Do you think there is an edge rusher free agent available that can improve us? Also, do you think a few reps for Mike Wilson and Marvin Harrison in preseason would have helped with more targets. BTW I love Dortch as the star."

I have already noted I don't think there would have been any difference with preseason snaps with what happened Sunday. Maybe Harrison a few snaps might've wiped out any nervousness. But generally, no I don't think it would've changed much. Everyone was fine for a quarter-and-a-half. As far as free-agent guys, anyone who could help you considerably probably is already on a roster. Especially at that position.

From The Walker:

"Is there any chance that the media department would do more podcasts with ex-players. It would be nice to hear a different one each day during the season. I enjoy The Big Red Rage and the Red Sea Report. A few more like that would be excellent from week to week during the season recapping the game and looking forward to the next one. Thank you for your time."

This will be taken into consideration. Doubt it would be daily -- not with our resources -- but something regular might be explored.

From M Travers:

"Hello Darren. JG said it the best, coaches have to do a better job. The five minutes before and after the half defense was suspect. The Rams are going to attempt to run wild this week (no surprise). What do you think the defense needs to do to limit the Rams running game?"

I mean, you better be careful about getting too myopic; Cooper Kupp can still kill you. These questions are tough. They need to play better. I don't know what else to say. The fact the Rams' offensive line is beat up hopefully will help the Cardinals' efforts. But a lot of times, I see run defense kind of like rebounding in basketball -- it's about want-to. I'd like to see the Cardinals' offense be more efficient running the ball too. That would help the defense.

From Robert Nations:

"When do the Cardinals plan to release the 2024 Media Guide?"

It should be soon. As in hours from this posting.

From Kenny Williams:

"Much has been said about why MHJ jerseys are not available, but why can't I find a Trey Benson jersey on any NFL shopping site?"

Generally, if you can't find a player, that means the manufacturer doesn't see a market yet for a particular player. But you should be able to customize a Benson 33 if you want.

From James Johnson:

"Hi Darren. I'm a long-time reader, occasional writer. I know that the mailbag timing shifts occasionally, maybe for special occasions or schedule conflicts. However, in general, if somebody wanted to get a question in that week (for any particular reason, say fantasy football related), what's the deadline? What day/time does Darren sit down to knock it out?"

In a perfect world, in-season, it's done Monday afternoon to post Tuesday. But I sit here finishing this up Tuesday, and wrote a lot of it during the Jets-Niners game Monday, because there is so much going on. I'll be honest, if I have enough questions, I'm not going to look at many if any once we pass, say, 3 p.m. on Monday. Don't know if that's gonna help anyone's lineup -- which I don't love answering questions about anyway.