NFL Notes: Cardinals, Lions, Packers, Panthers, & Titans

Cardinals

Cardinals HC Bruce Arians said he feels his team lost their regular season opener against the Patriots because his players were not mentally prepared for the game.

“Where I think we failed a little bit last week was from Friday afternoon to Sunday night before the game of mentally preparing more for a game,” Arians said, via Bob McManaman of AzCentral.com. “We’re focusing on hopefully doing more mental preparation between now and game time than we did last week.”

Lions

• Kyle Meinke writes that C Tyler Swanson could permanently lock down the starting center role if he continues his strong play.
• Meinke could see DT Haloti Ngata and TE Brandon Pettigrew possibly being cap casualties next year, depending on they play this season.
• Cutting Ngata would free up $5.75 million against their cap while cutting Pettigrew would free up another $4.35 million next year.

Packers

• The Packers have ruled out CB Sam Shields (concussion) from Sunday’s Week 2 game against the Vikings. (Adam Schefter)

Panthers

• Panthers HC Ron Rivera expects RB Jonathan Stewart (ankle) and S Dean Marlowe (hamstring) to both play Week 2’s game, despite them being listed as questionable. (Joseph Person)

Titans

• Jim Wyatt expects to see Titans to utilize RBs DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry more moving forward.
• Wyatt also anticipates second-round OLB Kevin Dodd seeing more playing time this weekend with OLB Derrick Morgan out with a hamstring injury.