Arizona Cardinals get national television in preseason

ESPN must really believe either the Arizona Cardinals or Oakland Raiders will be drafting Kyler Murray

The NFL and Arizona Cardinals released the preseason schedule on Tuesday.  It was somewhat close to what was predicted. Preseason week one gets under way August 8th.

Preseason week one will feature the Cardinals hosting the Los Angeles Chargers.  This will be the second consecutive year the Cardinals and Chargers open the preseason at State Farm Stadium.

Last season the Cardinals came away with the win but in the end we were shown just how much that didn’t matter.  The Chargers defeated the Cardinals 45-10 during the 2018 regular season.

Week two of the preseason will have the Cardinals hosting the Oakland Raiders.  That game will be on national television.  ESPN will telecast that game on Thursday August 15th.

The belief is that ESPN assumes that either the Cardinals or Raiders will end up drafting Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray.  It certainly isn’t far fetched but wouldn’t it be interesting if neither team gets him?

The Cardinals already have Josh Rosen and the Raiders have Derek Carr.  Both still have a chance to show off their potential.  Both also could end up without a starting job in 2019.

In week three the Cardinals head north to face the Minnesota Vikings at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.  That game will be the week of August 22-25.

Finally in week four, as probably everyone and their mother predicted, the Cardinals will end the preseason once again with the Denver Broncos.  This year’s preseason finale will be in Colorado.

That makes three AFC West opponents during the preseason.  The Cardinals face the Chargers and Broncos again while seeing the Raiders in the preseason for the first time in two years.

The Cardinals faced the all four teams in the regular season in 2018.  They lost all four, losing to the Raiders and Broncos at home and the Vikings and Chargers on the road.