TEMPE, Ariz. -- Last weekend, with the Arizona Cardinals on their bye week, second-year wide receiver Michael Wilson got to do things he normally doesn't have time for.
Like go to Target.
He spent time strolling the aisles, stocking up on things he'll need at home for the next seven weeks -- or longer -- until he has time to go back. The time off gave Wilson and the Cardinals a chance to unplug one last time before the final month-and-a-half of the season.
"I think it allows you to get away for a week and now you don't have that mental fatigue, mental fog," Wilson said. "I feel refreshed."
Just in time for a critical seven-game stretch that includes four matchups against NFC West opponents, with their first coming Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox) against the Seattle Seahawks. Arizona (6-4) has a one-game lead over all three of its division rivals, who are in a three-way tie at 5-5 heading into Week 12. If it can remain in the division's driver's seat, Arizona will claim its first West title since 2015 and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2021. Or, the Cardinals will start their offseason after their season finale against the San Francisco 49ers.
But don't bring that up around the locker room. Any mention of the playoffs was welcomed the same way: The players are focused on the next game, and that's it.
"They're not thinking about the last seven games," coach Jonathan Gannon said. "They're thinking about Seattle. Yeah, I think the bye week is a good time to reset and put a lot into your health bucket. Take a little time off."
Arizona was riding a four-game winning streak and had won five of its last six before having the week off. Gannon said this week that he doesn't enjoy being in a tight division race. It's almost impossible for players to be completely immune from the playoff chatter. Wilson said he sees the postseason projections on social media but added that he doesn't wake up in the morning wondering about their odds.
But Wilson admitted the fan in him sneaks a peek at the standings.
"I'd be lying if I said that doesn't creep in my head," he said. "I think the best mental frame and mental model is to say, 'I'm not going to pay attention to that.' You can look at it and envision. I think that's what everyone does, but not allowing that to affect your process and your approach is the best way to handle that."
Arizona returned from the bye in better shape than it was heading into it.
The Cardinals are getting starting right tackle Jonah Williams and rookie defensive lineman Darius Robinson back from injuries, possibly as early as this week. Williams played only 22 snaps in Arizona's Week 1 loss to the Buffalo Bills before being injured and Robinson has yet to make his NFL debut because of a calf injury he sustained in August.
It feels as if everything is coming together at the right time for Arizona, defensive lineman L.J. Collier said.
"It for sure does, man," Collier said. "It's kind of like what we guessed when we seen those guys go down. We knew if we handled business, did what we had to do, we knew everything was going to come right when we needed to."
To quarterback Kyler Murray, all that matters is that Arizona can pick up where it left off.
"We have to maintain the level of play that we were playing at," he said. "We have to continue to play at a high level. It doesn't matter who's in, we have to continue to do that. I'm very confident in Darius, Jonah if they're back to step right in and do that."
Gannon said he saw a focused team during the first few days of the week, which included a bonus practice Monday. Left guard Evan Brown said the bye at this point can be a double-edged sword.
"I think that you get time off, get some guys back healthy, get a little mental reprieve, but you got to make sure to lock in that week coming back," Brown said. "You see sometimes that teams can come out rusty, they don't look as sharp as they did when they come out and you had that time off, but the time can also hurt you a little bit."
Though he and the rest of the team won't know until Sunday whether the bye helped or hurt, Brown is optimistic, saying he thinks the Cardinals are on the right track.
To Gannon, every game is a big game. Nothing changes -- and good teams don't let games later in the season weigh more.
It's something his quarterback echoed.
"I'm just taking it one game at a time," Murray said. "I know that the guys are as well, so I think that's the message that we're preaching. No game's bigger than the other. The one that we've got right now is the biggest one. We have to win it."