With Kyler Murray injured, Colt McCoy leads the Cardinals to an impressive 31-14 road win over the 49ers

Chandler Jones got a sack for the first time since Week 1, allowing him to reach 67 and set the franchise record finally. Markus Golden continued his huge season with three sacks of his own. Jordan Hicks recovered a pair of fumbles punched out by Byron Murphy and Isaiah Simmons.

"The spirits are definitely high right now," Jones said with a smile.

Said Golden, "We were going to play hard no matter what, but you can always add a little more motivation, your best player not out there so you want to play a little harder. But you've got to be real and give the credit to Colt."

The story was always going to be about McCoy, the 34-year-old signed for just this occasion.

He isn't anything like Murray. McCoy is prepared, intelligence and calm in the pocket. It showed Sunday as the Cardinals upped their road record to 5-0.

"(Colt) reminds me of when we had Carson (Palmer) and Drew (Stanton), with so much wisdom," tackle D.J. Humphries said. "We always knew there was going to be a moment in time we'd need to lean on him."

Kingsbury said he wasn't ready to "make the prediction" that Murray and/or Hopkins will be back next week for a home game against the struggling Panthers. With all the other maladies cropping up, the injury report Wednesday figures to be lengthy.

If Murray doesn't return, however, McCoy will be ready. He always is.

"I got pretty locked in," McCoy said. "Sometimes I have to remind myself to smile. Even when we were up big, I was not ready to let up on the gas."