Bye weeks are a blessing and a curse for the Arizona Cardinals in 2023

The Arizona Cardinals have been cursed with a late bye week for the second straight year. But the bye will also bless this team to an extent.

The Arizona Cardinals will be forced to play 13 straight weeks without a bye week. Last year, this couldn’t have cursed the team more, as the injury bug struck and they limped into a late-season bye, at which point most of the Redbirds were thinking more about their offseason plans. 

This season, the Cards are a younger football team. So even if they are something terrible like 2-11 when they reach their bye week, it doesn’t mean they’ll be looking forward to their eight-month stretch between regular season games. In developmental years, or supposed developmental years as 2023 is supposed to be, every game is meaningful, even if the team finds themselves out of playoff contention early. 

But still, young teams are vulnerable to hitting walls, and it’s possible that we will see an exhausted squad come the Week 14 bye. But there is good news regarding bye weeks this season for the Cards.  

Arizona Cardinals will play just one team coming off of a bye week in 2023

The Cardinals will play just one team following either a bye week, or the “mini bye week” Thursday night games bring. This means they will face 16 of their 17 opponents this season coming off of six days between games, which could, to an extent, negate the effects of their late bye week. 

Most of their opponents won’t have the advantage of additional rest, and for a young team like the Arizona Cardinals, it at least evens the playing field to a degree. It might be a little-known fact that most pay little attention to, but it’s a definite blessing for Big Red in 2023 as they try to formulate a new identity on both sides of the ball. 

Source: 2023 NFL schedule analysis: Which teams benefit most, and which are challenged? by Warren Sharp, FoxSports.com