Arizona Cardinals strength of schedule middle of road

The Arizona Cardinals have a fairly tough schedule in 2019 but certainly nowhere near the toughest

While we all can’t wait until April to find out when the Arizona Cardinals will play certain teams on their schedule, we do know it won’t be easy sledding despite the worst record in the NFL in 2018.  The schedule will be released sometime in mid-April prior to the NFL draft on April 25th.

The Cardinals schedule is tougher because of the Los Angles Rams and Seattle Seahawks being on there twice as usual.  They will be the only playoff teams from 2018 however they will play at home at State Farm Stadium.

Overall their strength of schedule is .508.  The overall record of their 2019 opponents was 129-125-2, which is tied for 12th toughest in the NFL.

Playoff teams they play on the road will include the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens.  They also play two AFC North teams at home that just missed the playoffs, the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers.

What happens year over year though isn’t as big of a factor as to when these teams play each other.  For a last place team, the Cardinals play four other last place teams on their schedule, two of them based on divisional rotation and two directly because of a last place finish.  They play the New York Giants on the road and the  at home specifically for finishing last.

They also will play the AFC North last place Cincinnati Bengals and the NFC South last place Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road.  That game against against the Bucs should have a lot of eyes on it.  Don’t be shocked if that game gets tabbed for a Thursday Night Football slot.

The other teams on their schedule at home include the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers and two games against the San Francisco 49ers.  Atlanta and Carolina are two places the Cardinals have traveled to recently, so it will be nice to have those two visit Glendale this fall.

The schedule doesn’t seem as daunting as it is made out to look like.  We all know playoff contending teams change a bit from year to year.  This is why we play the games.