Cards notebook: Defensive lapses blamed on mental errors

Here's a measure of how poorly the Cardinals played Sunday.

They gave up a franchise-worst 56 points to the New York Jets, yet the defense probably wasn't the worst group.

Boldin tests OK; Jets' Smith suspended

That distinction has got to belong to the offense and its seven turnovers.

Still, the defense hasn't played well since about midway through the previous week's loss at Washington.

Coach Ken Whisenhunt blamed mental mistakes such as not being in the right gap and not communicating the correct coverages.

"That's something we're going to work on this week. Some of it was trying to take calculated chances to stop the run game (after the Cards had fallen way behind) and get them off the field.

"You're exposed to a certain degree. It's hard to judge them because it seemed like every series, we were giving them the ball."

Whisenhunt saw a positive in the debacle.

"We played about as bad a half as we could play offensively, but we didn't go in the tank. We responded in the second half."

INJURY UPDATE

Other than Anquan Boldin's situation, the Cardinals came out of the game healthy.

But there continues to be concern about safety Adrian Wilson's sore hamstring, which kept him out of Sunday's game.

Wilson said he's "day to day" and will see how he feels at week's end before committing to play Sunday against Buffalo.

WILSON ON SMITH'S HIT

Wilson, the team's big hitter, was asked if players need to be more self-conscious in light of the NFL's increased emphasis on player safety.

"Not really, it's part of the game. It's a split-second decision."

Wilson said he wasn't sure if safety Eric Smith's hit on Boldin was dirty or not after Sunday's loss to the Jets.

"The flag didn't come out. Obviously, the referees thought it was clean."

That stands in contrast to Wilson's big hit last year in Baltimore on Todd Heap. He drew a flag for launching himself at Heap, a penalty that helped cost the Cards the game even though he didn't hit Heap helmet-to-elmet.

"I've never hit helmet-to-helmet," Wilson said.

GO EAST, YOUNG MAN

For the final time, here is Whisenhunt's view on the experiment of staying in the East for a week.

"If I had the opportunity, I think I would do it again," said Whisenhunt, arguing the team played well in the first couple of series before turnovers buried them.

"If you're facing the prospects of back-to-back games on the East Coast, even though it gets your team a little bit out of the routine, I would do it again, because I felt the benefits from Friday to Sunday were significant."

TWO FOR NOTHING

Whisenhunt has been mum on why the Jets tried a late 2-point conversion to increase their margin from 19 to 21 points.

"You'd have to ask them why they did that. I don't have an answer for that."