Arizona Cardinals looking to benefit from soft schedule

The Arizona Cardinals want to be back in the playoffs and this year’s schedule may be a help to them in reaching that goal

The Arizona Cardinals organization will tell you that their 2017 schedule is a tough one. Try to tell head coach Bruce Arians or his players that the slate is soft and they’ll almost certainly disagree. Then again, coaches and players don’t always tell the truth.

Upon examining the upcoming season’s opponents, there appears to be only three, maybe four games that Arizona needs to worry about. Obviously, as with any NFL club, their success is based on the squad remaining at least relatively healthy. No team will get through a campaign completely injury-free.

The two toughest matchups appear to be, as usual, the pair with their division-rival Seattle Seahawks. Odds are that the Cards will lose to Pete Carroll’s bunch once, most likely when they meet at University of Phoenix Stadium in November. Seattle’s home crowd (known as the “12th man”) appears to have little effect on Carson Palmer. The Cardinals’ quarterback is 3-0 as a starter there since 2013, so there’s no reason to think he’ll lose there this year.

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Arizona should begin ’17 with road victories over the Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts provided they’re not banged up from training camp. When they finally come home for Monday Night Football in week three, the Dallas Cowboys will provide a stiff challenge. Dallas’ young stars and dominating offensive line have a good shot at handing the Cards their first defeat of the season.

Another game that doesn’t feel right is the week 11 road affair with the Houston Texans. The Cardinals will probably be coming off of an emotional loss at home to Seattle and unfortunately succumb to a very talented Houston roster. The good news is that the following week Arizona will host the Jacksonville Jaguars, putting an end to the two-game losing streak.

If the Cards do end up losing a fourth game in 2017, the week 15 shootout on the road versus the Washington Redskins could be the slip up. The ‘Skins will be in revenge-mode after falling to the Cardinals in the desert last year. Also, Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins still has an array of weapons at his disposal, even after losing wide receivers Desean Jackson and Pierre Garcon.

So that’s it Arizona fans. We’re looking at 13-3, possibly 12-4 if Cousins and company get their revenge. Either way, the Cards find their way back to the postseason, thanks to a schedule that has to have the franchise feeling confident.

Whether they’d admit it or not.

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