Arizona Cardinals enjoying big homefield advantage in Bruce Arians era
Dec 4, 2014, 3:09 PM | Updated: 3:19 pm
It’s been a long time since University of Phoenix Stadium has meant a consistent home-field advantage for the Arizona Cardinals.
Since the stadium’s inaugural season in 2006, no coach has lost less than two home games in a season. Former head coach Ken Whisenhunt lost seven home games in his first two seasons at University of Phoenix Stadium (and tallied at least four home losses in four of seven seasons at UOP), and while he managed to record three seasons with two home losses, two were immediately followed by at least four losses at home the next year.
The record stands at two consecutive seasons with two losses or less at home — Whisenhunt accomplished that during a swell of Cardinals fervor when Arizona went 8-8 in 2007 and headed to the Super Bowl the year after.
Then the home losses started stacking up — there were 14 of them between 2009-2012 — and fans and players alike suffered.
Things are different now.
Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians has the chance to follow last year’s two home losses with a big, fat goose egg in the loss column this year, and become the first coach to do so at University of Phoenix Stadium.
It has been a little over 11 months since the last time the Arizona Cardinals lost a game at home. The last one came Dec. 29, 2013 — a 23-20 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
This season, the Cardinals are one of five NFL teams with an undefeated home record, joining Green Bay, Philadelphia, New England and Denver. It’s an elite club and Arizona is a part of it.
In two years, Bruce Arians has helped re-cultivate this home-field culture and in doing so has attained the best home record of any of the seven second-year NFL head coaches. Arizona has beaten its opponents at University of Phoenix Stadium by an average of 8.1 points, with its biggest win notched at 31-14 over the St. Louis Rams on Nov. 9, and its closest shave scraped over San Diego on Sept. 8, 18-17.
And get this — Arizona’s hiring of Arians in 2013 was his first official NFL head coaching job.
Not too shabby for a “beginner”.
After a 10-6 record in his first season (the second-most wins in a Cardinals head coach’s inaugural season), Arians proved his chops at home weren’t just beginner’s luck.
He’s now at nine wins for the second-straight season with four games left, two of which the Cardinals will host — Sunday vs. Kansas City and Dec. 21 against Seattle.
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