Larry Fitzgerald still has vivid memories of his first home game in the NFL 12 years ago. It came against the Patriots, of all teams.
“Growing up a big football fan, I look across the line and see Tedy Bruschi and Ted Johnson and Vince Wilfork and Willie McGinest, Ty Law,’’ Fitzgerald said Thursday as he held court in the Cardinals’ locker room. “Rodney Harrison was talking trash to me and I didn’t even know him. He was crazy. It was a fun experience.’’
Fitzgerald also remembers the environment of that game, a 23-12 Patriots win in front of 51,557 at Sun Devil Stadium.
“I remember, they couldn’t give a seat away,’’ Fitzgerald said. “Now I look at the tickets and they’re $250 to buy a ticket now. A lot of change in [12] years and it’s great to be a part of that and see the growth in this organization and the growth in the support and the following we have.’’
The Cardinals have certainly come a long way during Fitzgerald’s tenure. Sunday night’s game against the Patriots will mark their 107th sellout in a row — every game they’ve played in University of Phoenix Stadium since it opened in 2006 (including preseason and postseason).
Sunday night’s showdown between the Patriots and Cardinals is all about the starting debut of Jimmy Garoppolo for fans in New England. But in Cardinals country, an appearance on the NFL’s signature “Sunday Night Football’’ broadcast is a sign of respect and an acknowledgment that the Cardinals have reached the big time.
The Cardinals aren’t exactly used to national TV showcases, or entering a season as one of the league’s darlings. Now they’re being featured in an all-access NFL Films series for Amazon, and Tyrann Mathieu and Patrick Peterson are among a dozen of the game’s top stars recording an SNF intro song with Carrie Underwood.
More importantly, the once-hapless Cardinals are coming off a 13-3 season and a spot in the NFC Championship game, have made the playoffs two years in a row, and are 34-14 in three years under coach Bruce Arians.
“Playing on national TV, it’s something you earn,’’ Arians said last week. “Obviously we’ve had a decent record a few years — has nothing to do with this year — but we’ve earned the right. I think everybody is pretty excited about it. You can feel it in the city already.’’
There’s also an anxiousness to erase the taste of the disappointing end to the 2015 season. It began in Week 15 when Mathieu, the heart and soul of the Cardinals’ defense, tore his ACL.
“From a morale standpoint, losing him last year was like a kick to the stomach,’’ Fitzgerald said. “It was demoralizing for all of us. You feel sorry for him, and you also feel sorry for your team.’’
The Cardinals regrouped to beat the Packers at home in the playoffs, but then collapsed in spectacular fashion in the NFC Championship game. Carson Palmer committed six turnovers — four interceptions and two lost fumbles — as the Panthers blew them out, 49-15.
Palmer, entering his 13th NFL season, has accepted the heat from the performance, and swears that he doesn’t dwell on the game.
“Last year is last year. There is no lingering,’’ Palmer said last week. “I’m focused on today. You move on. You start working on what you need to improve on and preparing for what’s ahead, not what’s behind. There’s no other choice.’’
The Cardinals certainly seem to have the makeup to move past 2015 and once again compete for the NFC crown, after observing the team up close for two days last week as they prepared for the Patriots. They get invaluable veteran leadership from Palmer, Fitzgerald, and Calais Campbell, have a tremendous core of young veteran leaders in Peterson, Mathieu, Deone Bucannon, and Chandler Jones, and great skill players on offense in Michael Floyd, John Brown, and budding star running back, David Johnson.
Getting Mathieu back is also a huge boost, of course. Mathieu tore his ACL on Dec. 20 against the Eagles but returned to practice on Aug. 21 and plans on playing every snap against the Patriots. At 5 feet 9 inches, he would have had a tough time covering Rob Gronkowski, but he could be a physical and competitive matchup for Julian Edelman.
“I’m just excited to get back out there, obviously play in front of the entire world, show people how much work I’ve been putting in,’’ Mathieu said.
Arians, meanwhile, is a fascinating tone-setter for the organization. He’s about the exact opposite of Bill Belichick and most NFL coaches in terms giving out information about his team. In a six-minute press conference Wednesday, we learned more about Arians’s strategy than we will from Belichick the entire 2016 season. Arians told us that rookie linebacker Kareem Martin is two weeks away with his knee injury, rookie linebacker Lamar Louis “tweaked a knee yesterday’’ in practice, that Mathieu has gotten about two interceptions every practice since he returned, and that Peterson won’t be matched up on any one Patriots receiver Sunday night.
Arians also confirmed that rookie third-round pick Brandon Williams will start opposite Peterson at cornerback, and was asked if he thinks the Patriots are going to pick on Williams.
“I don’t give a hell who you put him over, he’s getting picked on,’’ Arians said.
Are you ready for it? “He’s the best we got, so we better be.’’
Of course, Arians could just be messing with everyone. But an attitude of “we’re good, we know it, and we don’t think you can stop us’’ permeates from Arians and trickles down to the rest of the locker room.
“We understand there’s a big difference between being a hunter and being hunted,’’ Fitzgerald said. “We’re not sneaking up on anybody anymore.’’
AT ATTENTION
Protest doing plenty of good
Colin Kaepernick’s decision to not stand during the national anthem could have divided his locker room, turned his team against him, and torpedoed his NFL career. Instead, interestingly, the political statement has brought out a lot of good from Kaepernick and the 49ers organization.
Last week, Kaepernick announced that he would donate $1 million of his $11.9 million base salary to Bay Area organizations that focus on racial and social inequities. That was followed by team owner Jed York, who has been supportive of Kaepernick’s right to protest from the beginning, announcing Thursday that the 49ers would also donate $1 million.
“Today, I am committing that the 49ers Foundation will contribute $1 million to the cause of improving racial and economic inequality and fostering communication and collaboration between law enforcement and the communities they serve here in the Bay Area,’’ York said in a statement. “We are partnering with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation in this effort. We have chosen to work with these two organizations because they have proven track records of effecting change in the face of challenging problems and have the collective reach to make the greatest impact.’’
Kaepernick also said he will donate a portion of his jersey sale revenue to those causes. Kaepernick’s jersey was the 20th-best seller on his own team before the controversy erupted, and since has become the No. 1 seller in the entire NFL.
Kaepernick hasn’t appeared to catch much grief from his teammates (at least outwardly). And Kaepernick has altered the delivery of his message, thanks in part to former Green Beret and NFL hopeful Nate Boyer, who has befriended Kaepernick during this controversy. Instead of sitting on the bench during the anthem before a preseason game Sept. 2, Kaepernick and teammate Eric Reid took a knee on the sideline as a sign that their issue is with social injustice, not the military.
“I felt uncomfortable about sitting,’’ Reid told reporters after that game. “Talking with Nate, it came up, ‘Why don’t we take a knee? It’d be more respectful.’ ’’
Kaepernick’s protest has caused a minor uproar over the meaning of patriotism and civil disobedience, and it will be interesting to see if there are any protests Sunday on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. But it has also been interesting to see how the 49ers and the NFL — both players and league executives — have provided nothing but measured and open-minded responses to Kaepernick’s protests.
STARTING POINTS
Facts and figures for consideration
A few interesting factoids as we kick off the season:
■ Historically, teams that win in Week 1 are twice as likely to make the playoffs than teams that lose. But that doesn’t always hold true on a year-by-year basis. In 2015, seven Week 1 winners made the playoffs, but so did five teams that lost.
■ The poor Browns have lost 11 straight season-opening games, while the Jets and 49ers have won five in a row.
■ Something’s got to give Sunday night in the desert. The Patriots are 16-4 on the road against the NFC over the past 10 years, but the Cardinals have won their last six home openers. In addition to dealing with a blitz-happy Cardinals defense, Jimmy Garoppolo will have to deal with the crowd noise in a closed-roof University of Phoenix Stadium.
■ This is the NFL’s first Week 1 without Tom Brady or Peyton Manning on the field since 1997. The No. 1 pop song at the time was Third Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Life.’’
■ The NFL has had at least four new playoff teams each year since 1990. Last year Kansas City, Minnesota, Houston, and Washington accomplished the feat. This year we’re picking the Colts, Bucs, Raiders, Ravens, and Giants.
■ The NFL has also had at least one worst-to-first team in 12 of the last 13 years. Washington did it last season.
■ The NFL likes to tout the league’s ever-increasing touchdown totals, but defense still rules. While eight of the league’s top 10 scoring teams reached the postseason last year, so did teams ranked 15, 16, 19, and 21, with No. 19 (Denver) winning the Super Bowl.
■ Meanwhile, 11 of the top 12 lowest-scoring defenses made the playoffs (the Jets at No. 9 missed out), and Washington was 17th. The Super Bowl featured the fourth-stingiest defense (Denver) vs. the sixth-stingiest (Carolina).
ETC.
Vikings had to take aim at QB
Count us as one of the few supporters of Vikings GM Rick Spielman’s decision to trade first- and fourth-round picks to the Eagles for Sam Bradford after Teddy Bridgewater went down with a nasty knee injury.
The only other quarterback on the roster was 36-year-old Shaun Hill, and the Vikings couldn’t in good faith enter the season with Hill as their starter. He has started eight games over the last five seasons (all with St. Louis in 2014), and chances are good he’d get hurt at some point during a 16-game season, putting the Vikings in an even tougher bind at quarterback.
Bradford is no world-beater, but he was a decent 7-7 last year for the Eagles and was by far the best option available to the Vikings. And it’s not like Bradford has to come in and light it up. The Vikings went 11-5 last year with Bridgewater throwing for 202 yards per game, with only 14 TDs in 16 games. The Vikings need Bradford to avoid turnovers and let the defense carry the day. Bradford is also under contract for next year, which is important, given that Bridgewater’s injury might keep him out up to two years.
The criticism of Spielman comes with the cost of obtaining Bradford — giving up next year’s first-round pick. But first-round picks are 50-50 propositions at best, particularly in the middle to late parts of the round, where the Vikings likely will draft. And first-round picks need a few years to develop. The Vikings are ready to win now.
The Vikings are coming off a playoff season, and have an excellent defense and a great running back who is now 31 years old. They can’t just bail on the season once Bridgewater goes down. They owe it to their players and their fans to have a representative quarterback situation, especially with the team moving into a new stadium.
Extra points
The Dolphins certainly will be earning their frequent flier miles, with a Week 1 trip to Seattle and Week 2 visit to New England. The Dolphins left Thursday for Seattle to get acclimated to the time-zone change, will fly back to Miami Sunday night after the game, practice in Miami all week, then fly up to New England next Saturday. By our count, that’s 18 hours of flights — six each way to Seattle, and three each way to Providence . . . Bridgewater’s surgery was performed Thursday in Dallas by Cowboys team surgeon Dr. Dan Cooper, who also performed Jaylon Smith’s knee surgery in January. Smith was the Notre Dame linebacker who went from top-10 pick to second-rounder after suffering a multi-ligament knee injury in January’s Fiesta Bowl. The Cowboys still drafted Smith, but he remains on the non-football injury list and his season remains in doubt . . . Interesting evaluation of new Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett from Cardinals coach BruceArians: “A really good blocking tight end, and a guy that’s caught the ball well at times. So they can split [Rob Gronkowski] out and use [Bennett] as a blocker.’’ Fans envisioning big receiving numbers for Bennett might want to take note . . . The Seahawks, a Super Bowl contender, kept 15 rookies on their initial 53-man roster. According to the Seattle Times, it’s the most rookies for the Seahawks since their expansion 1976 season. The Patriots, by comparison, have nine rookies on their 53-man roster . . . The Giants have a new starting middle linebacker for the seventh consecutive year. This year, the lucky contestant will either be Kelvin Sheppard or Keenan Robinson . . . Colts owner Jim Irsay on quarterback Andrew Luck to Indianapolis reporters last week: “I think we have the makings of a third golden era, if you will. There was [Johnny] Unitas, there was Peyton [Manning], and now it’s Andrew’s time. And we think we can get to the top of Mount Everest and plant that Colts flag.’’ No pressure, kid.
Quote of the week
“Only time will tell because, you know what? I’m not going to tell.’’
— The always-revealing Chargers coach Mike McCoy on whether rookie defensive end Joey Bosa will play Sunday against the Chiefs (he won’t).
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin, Material from interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.