By the numbers: Arizona Cardinals’ 2024 schedule

There is quite a lot to dissect when diving in the Arizona Cardinals’ 2024 schedule.

A closer look at the slate of games by the numbers:

Some home cooking early on

Three of Arizona’s first four games in 2024 are home matchups against the Los Angeles Rams (Week 2), Detroit Lions (Week 3) and Washington Commanders (Week 4).

It marks just the fifth time in franchise history (2019, 2018, 2012 and 1979) that the Cardinals will play three home games in the month of September.

When it comes to the Cardinals’ home record in the month of September, the Cardinals are 3-8-1, winning all three of their games in 2012. Arizona has never finished better than 5-10-1 when three of the first four games are at home.

A gauntlet right out the gates

Yes, the Cardinals have a handful of home games early on. They also have some legit competition.

Five of Arizona’s first six games of the season come against 2023 playoff squads in the Buffalo Bills (Week 1), Los Angeles Rams (Week 2), Lions, San Francisco 49ers (Week 5) and Green Bay Packers (Week 6).

It’s easily one of the toughest starts to the season for an NFL team, especially given the road opponents.

the Cardinals road games thru Week 8:

at Buffalo Bills
at San Francisco 49ers
at Green Bay Packers
at Miami Dolphins

#1 hardest in the NFL

(that late season schedule though…) pic.twitter.com/hZJLL1B5Rw

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) May 16, 2024

Two of those teams, the 49ers and Lions, are coming off NFC Championship appearances, with San Francisco making it to the Super Bowl last year.

Sportsbooks still have the five making some noise this upcoming season, too, with Arizona pegged as the underdog in each.

FanDuel and DraftKings have the Cardinals as 7-point underdogs against Buffalo, with the latter also giving the edge to the Rams at -1, the Lions at -4, the 49ers at -9.5 and the Packers at -5.

It’s safe to say this revamped Cardinals roster is going to be tested from the start.

But on the flip side of that, the schedule very much slows down in the back half, with just two teams (the 49ers and Rams) on the slate boasting a projection of at least 8.5 wins, according to Sharp.

Turn back the clock to the 1900s

The Cardinals are slated to meet up with some of their oldest rivals in the Lions, Commanders, Green Bay Packers (Week 6) and Chicago Bears (Week 9) this year.

Of the four tilts, the history between the Bears and Cardinals is the longest, with the first matchup dating back to 1920.

Green Bay isn’t far behind with a 1921 game, following by Detroit in 1930 and Washington in 1932.

Don’t let all that nostalgia hit you in the face all at once.

Back in primetime

After being among the only teams not on the 2023 primetime slate of games, the Cardinals will get one this time around in the form of a Monday Night Football tilt against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11.

Sure, it’s on ESPN+ but primetime is primetime.

As for how the Cardinals have fared in the MNF slot, they are 5-9 at home and 6-11 All-Time since heading to the Valley in 1988.

Arizona is 15-29-1 across all primetime games during that span.

Red Sea rising

There’s clearly more buzz centering around the Cardinals in Year 2 under head coach Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort.

Arizona’s season ticket numbers are proof of that, having already sold out of lower-bowl seats. It’s the earliest point that’s happened since 2009.

The Cardinals rank third in NFL for season ticket sales this offseason.

A limited number of tickets remain in the club and terrace level and can be purchased online.

Bad weather? What’s that?

Looking at the Cardinals’ slate of 2024 opponents before the schedule dropped, it wasn’t farfetched by any means to predict at least a couple cold-weather matchups for Arizona.

Fast forward to Thursday and that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Thanks to early road matchups against Buffalo and Green Bay, it looks like Arizona for the most part will miss the heavy stuff.

Playing in Seattle for Week 12 could also be a coin flip on weather.

Even Miami’s humid heat should be dissipated a bit in Week 8, too.

It could have been a whole lot worse for Arizona from a forecast standpoint.

Still hungry?

Remember that home cooking to start the year? Arizona will get some more of that to wrap up the season, playing three of its final five games at State Farm Stadium.

That stretch includes matchups against the Seattle Seahawks (Week 14), New England Patriots (Week 15) and 49ers (Week 18).

Fresh faces

Gannon is no longer the newest head coach in the league. No, that honor now belongs to eight others across the NFL.

Five of those eight — Dan Quinn (Washington), Jim Harbaugh (L.A. Chargers), Mike McDonald (Seattle), Jerod Mayo (New England) and Dave Canales (Carolina) — will be on the opposite sideline of Gannon and Co. at some point or another this season.

Another year, another late bye

With a bye in Week 11, the Cardinals once again have some later-season down time.

It’s not nearly as bad as in previous seasons, though, when Arizona didn’t see a bye week until at least Week 13 in each of the past two years.

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