TEMPE (AP) — Ken Whisenhunt didn’t bother going home after the Arizona Cardinals landed at 5:15 a.m. on Friday.

He went straight to the office and began dissecting film of the Cardinals’ humiliating 48-20 loss at Philadelphia on Thanksgiving night.

Whisenhunt broke down the specific problems in the loss, including a feeble running attack that mustered 25 yards on 10 carries. But he also looked for answers to the Cardinals’ struggles on the East Coast this season.

The loss to the Eagles left the Cardinals 0-4 in their trips to the Eastern time zone—a problem that could haunt them in the playoffs.

“It wasn’t all negative,” Whisenhunt said of his bleary-eyed film session. “There were some positive things on the tape, and things that we can build on. But it’s fairly obvious to me that we’ve still got a good shot at the playoffs, and if we get into the playoffs and do anything there, we’re going to have to travel east and play a game. So it becomes important that we learn as much from that game as we can.”

All the Cardinals have learned in the past five days is that they’re lucky they don’t play in the NFC East, as they did when they made their nest in St. Louis, then in Arizona until the NFL’s 2002 realignment.

Last Sunday, the NFC West leaders lost at home to the New York Giants 37-29 in Glendale, Ariz. Then they trekked across the country to absorb a holiday pounding by the Eagles, who hadn’t won in three weeks.

Both games were viewed as a chance for the Cardinals to make a national statement. Instead, they flubbed their lines.

“It’s very disappointing because we feel like we’re a better team than what we showed last night,” Whisenhunt said. “For that, I’m disappointed for our fans and I’m disappointed for our team, because on that type of stage you want to show everybody what you’re made of, and we didn’t do that.”

Arizona split with the other two NFC East clubs, losing at Washington and defeating Dallas at home.

The Cardinals are still a virtual lock to win their first division title in 33 years; they could back in as early as Sunday with a San Francisco loss at Buffalo.

But even if they capture a feeble division, the Cardinals will face the perception they’re a different team on the East Coast.

“I think there’s a lot of perceptions about the Cardinals and this team,” Whisenhunt said.

 “We’ve changed a number of those perceptions this year. I believe that we’re going to have an opportunity to change that one.

“We didn’t do anything to change it last night, but I believe that we’ll get another opportunity to do that. The only way we’re going to change those perceptions is for us to go into that type of situation and be successful, and that’s what we’re working to do.”

Arizona will make one more regular-season eastern trip, visiting the New England Patriots on Dec. 21. Although the Patriots are in the AFC, Whisenhunt hopes the game will give the Cardinals a taste of what the playoffs might be like, with a stout opponent, dicey weather and a hostile crowd.

“It’ll be a great chance for us to use as a measuring stick,” Whisenhunt said. “Hopefully by then we’ll have played much better in two games, we’ll have a lot more confidence, we’ll play better and that’ll put us in a situation where we won’t stink like we did last night.”

In the meantime, the Cardinals will look to avert their first three-game losing streak, and the NFC West appears ready to come to their rescue. Next up is a Dec. 7 visit from the 2-9 Rams, whom the Cardinals drubbed 34-13 in St. Louis earlier this month.

So it’s not all doom and gloom. Whisenhunt seemed as if he were committed to finding a bright side, even after a long and not particularly restful night.

“Another positive was that we got in at 5:15 this morning when a lot of those stores were opening,” he said with a chuckle, “and we stopped the bus coming back and got some of our Friday shopping in.”