DETROIT – David Johnson was a year wiser and a year better.

John Brown had his health mostly figured out.

Jaron Brown was back from ACL surgery.

Carson Palmer’s arm was well-rested.

Larry Fitzgerald was back.

The Arizona Cardinals’ offense this year was supposed to look more like the 2015 version, which led the NFL in total yards, than the 2016 edition. All the pieces were there. And then the Cardinals arrived at Ford Field on Sunday and barely managed 300 total yards in a 35-23 loss to the Detroit Lions.

For most of Sunday’s game, the Cardinals looked like they were still knocking the rust off from the preseason. Palmer, whose throwing arm was largely rested throughout the offseason and training camp, didn’t look rested. The quarterback threw three interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. He short-hopped a couple of passes and threw behind a few receivers.

Moreover, one of his best throws led to Johnson's getting hurt about midway through the third quarter. Johnson hauled in a 24-yard completion but injured his wrist on the play. He fumbled on Arizona’s next drive and then left the game, and did not return. Johnson finished with 91 yards from scrimmage.

With the showing from the Cardinals’ offense on Sunday, if Johnson’s injury is serious -- he reportedly did not break his wrist but will have an MRI on Monday -- the team may have to figure out a solution.

Still, when Palmer was on, he looked like the quarterback who was an MVP candidate two years ago. Early in the second quarter, he threw three completions in a row and kick-started the offense. But, as it would do all day, the offense sputtered in the red zone later that drive.

Palmer's play was described as poor by coach Bruce Arians.

"You can't throw that many interceptions. He was trying to force one there at the end on the pick-six and just hits Andre [Ellington] behind him and that's just bad luck, but the first one was just a poor throw," Arians said.

Late in the first quarter, the Cardinals had two third downs inside the 15-yard line.

On the first, Palmer missed a throw to Fitzgerald, leading Arizona to settle for a field goal. Phil Dawson kicked the 29-yarder, but a leaping penalty on Detroit gave the Cardinals life again at the 5-yard line. But they squandered it and settled for a field goal.

In the second quarter, on the drive that Palmer started out well, he threw three straight incompletions from the 14-yard line, leading to a field goal opportunity that Dawson missed off the left upright. Arizona scored just two TDs in the red zone, in the third quarter on Kerwynn Williams' 3-yard run and in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard pass from Palmer to receiver J.J. Nelson.

“He was hurrying everything,” Arians said. “It was footwork, reading things too fast and just accuracy killed him. His velocity was great, but his accuracy [wasn’t].”

Palmer’s struggles, however, weren’t all his fault. He was hit six times on Sunday, most coming after left tackle D.J. Humphries left the game with a knee injury.

Everything the Cardinals’ offense was supposed to be Sunday, it wasn’t.

"I thought the offense was OK," Palmer said. "But just disappointed in my play. Just disappointed in myself. Didn't make enough plays. Made some bad plays. Just disappointed."