TEMPE, Ariz. — Coach Bruce Arians insists he won’t look back at the 2014 season and wonder, “What if?”

Everyone else who cares about the Cardinals will, however.

The Cardinals were rolling along with an 8-1 record when quarterback Carson Palmer was lost for the season with a knee injury. They likely would have hung on to win the NFC West had backup Drew Stanton not gone down in the 14th game with a knee injury.

With Ryan Lindley at quarterback, the Cardinals lost their last two games and their wild-card playoff game against the Carolina Panthers.

Arians isn’t bemoaning his team’s misfortune. Rather, he’s looking forward to 2015. If all of the injured players, including Palmer and defensive end Darnell Dockett, return as expected, the Cardinals will be instantly better.

They could get even more good news come May when linebacker Daryl Washington’s suspension will be evaluated.

“It was fun,” Arians said of the season. “I looked forward to coming to work every single day because of the guys and the preparation habits. I’ve been on teams when they lost their quarterbacks or they lost (someone like) Darnell Dockett; they tanked it. You couldn’t get them to work. They just put in their time. These guys played to win the game every week.”

As expected, the offense struggled without its top two quarterbacks. Far more mysterious was the demise of the defense, once regarded as among the NFL’s elite.

The Cardinals yielded at least 100 yards rushing in six of the last eight games, including the wild-card game.

In the first 10 games, it allowed 100 yards rushing just once.

There are probably several reasons for that. A handful of older players were pressed into duty, and they wore down as the season progressed. Linebacker Larry Foote (34) and defensive end Tommy Kelly (34) became starters because of injuries.

The loss of the quarterbacks likely had an impact, too. It’s hard to play consistent defense when you know your offense isn’t going to score more than a couple of times a game.

“We just lost our edge,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “We got too comfortable and started relaxing, especially once we got that 11th win. We just weren’t doing what we were capable of doing — playing with energy and stopping the run and forcing turnovers. We were horrible this month.”