A Cardinals' coach has not won his first game with the franchise since 1979, when interim boss Larry Wilson triumphed in his December debut.

Both Ken Whisenhunt and Bruce Arians dropped their openers, only to eventually become the two most successful coaches the Cardinals have had. And that's where Steve Wilks now wants to aim, after he too dropped his initial offering Sunday at State Farm Stadium – a disappointing 24-6 loss to Washington in which little went right on either side of the ball.

"As I told the guys (in the locker room), this one game doesn't define the season," Wilks said.

That was the message, not surprisingly, coming from all corners of the roster. It had to be, because no team would want this definition to be linked with them all season.

The Cardinals (0-1) were supposed to start with defending the run – and they could not, allowing the Redskins (1-0) 182 yards on the ground, including 96 (on 26 carries) to former Cardinal Adrian Peterson. They were supposed to be buoyed by one of the best running backs in the game, David Johnson, who had a nice start and then was beating himself up afterward for his own poor play. They were supposed to have a passing game built on quarterback Sam Bradford's accuracy – except Bradford misfired too much, and the offense generated little until it was much too late.

Punter Andy Lee was excellent, netting 46.2 yards per kick on five punts, and averaging 52.6 yards a punt overall. But the Cardinals can't have Lee be their star.

"There's no reason to panic," defensive tackle Corey Peters said. "But this is not OK. It is not acceptable. Everyone needs to take a good look in the mirror and point that finger at themselves and their responsibility in this, because when fail at this level, it's not one person, not one position group. Everyone bears some blame in this."

Johnson seemed to take it personally more than most. The running back signed his new three-year $40-plus million contract extension Saturday night, but by the time he was able to talk to the media about it, it meant little in the moment.

"I'm not even thinking about the contract," Johnson said. "I am thinking about the loss, what I did wrong, mental errors, dropped catches and how bad I played."