Arizona Cardinals 2012 Schedule is Brutal
By Scott Allen
Are you looking for the Arizona Cardinals to build on their 8-8 finish in 2011? Well, you may want to take a look at the 2012 schedule before you get all excited about where this team is going and the potential it has. Finishing second in the NFC West combined with the rotational schedule pitting the NFC West against the AFC East and the entire NFC North in 2012 has just put the Cards in line with one of the toughest schedules next season.
Let’s take a look at the home schedule for the Cards in 2012:
Divisional games – San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams
AFC East – Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins
NFC North – Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions
Other 2nd place NFC team – Philadelphia Eagles
Road games in 2012:
Divisional games – San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis
AFC East – New England Patriots, New York Jets
NFC North – Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings
Other 2nd place NFC team – Atlanta Falcons
The home schedule seems a lot more manageable in 2012. I like that Chicago and Detroit are at home, meaning two of the top three teams in the NFC North are here. I also like that Philadelphia is here and Atlanta on the road. Atlanta is an indoors game, so it doesn’t matter what time of the year it is played. With Philly and Chicago here, that eliminates two cold weather possibilities. Minnesota is indoors, so again, Cards get lucky.
New England, Green Bay, and the Jets all are the cold weather game possibilities and all will be very tough for the Cards to win no matter what the makeup of their roster is. I would give the Cards a 7-1 home record in 2012 if they are looking for improvement. Coach Ken Whisenhunt has stated he looks to improve the road record in 2012, but really I just can’t see more than two wins on the road. I think Seattle and St. Louis are your best bets for road wins. Atlanta and Minnesota are loud venues and the Cards have historically not played well in either place.
So, we may be looking at 9-7 if the Cards have their stuff together. It may be much worse if the Cards start 2012 just like they started 2011. I can’t see another 7-2 stretch like this season given the schedule for next season. We shall see in April how it all comes together.