Quick thoughts on the Cardinals’ 2016 schedule
Apr 14, 2016, 6:04 PM
Arizona Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald catches a pass in front of Carolina Panthers' Luke Kuechly during the second half the NFL football NFC Championship game Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Bob Leverone)
(AP Photo/Bob Leverone)
The schedule is out, and like always there are things I like and things I don’t like.
The first thing that stands out to me is getting New England at home in Week 1. Love this advantage for the Cardinals. The benefit is not having any real games for Bill Belichick to break down. The greatest coach in the NFL is a master game planner and all he will see of the Cardinals is preseason games where Arizona will show nothing. If he had say three or four games to watch the Cardinals and break them down it would be advantage Patriots, so I really like the matchup in Week 1.
The second thing that stands out to me is the bye week in Week 9. Perfect time, especially coming off of games against Seattle and Carolina — two physical teams — so some much-needed rest will be imperative.
What I don’t like is ending the season with five of seven games on the road, including a stretch where they play at Atlanta, come home to play Washington, then travel back east to play Miami. Tough stretch.
I also don’t like playing the Rams on Sunday then a short turnaround playing San Francisco on Thursday night. Seems like a trap game to me even with San Fran not being good mainly because of how physical the Rams are and Arizona could be beatdown going into that game.
