2011 Arizona Cardinals Schedule

The Arizona Cardinals are coming off a 5-11 season with a last place finish in the NFC West division.  They clearly missed Kurt Warner after he decided to retire following the 2009-10 campaign and were never able to replace him.  Arizona started the season by winning three of their first five games, but would go on to lose seven in a row after that which clearly took them out of playoff contention.

The Cardinals traded away Matt Leinart at the beginning of the season and signed Derek Anderson.  The experiment did not work as Anderson struggled all season, forcing Arizona to try both John Skelton and Max Hall at quarterback.  Nothing worked and now Arizona will be looking to add a veteran signal-caller in free agency this offseason.  Provided they can find one like Kevin Kolb or Marc Bulger, the Cardinals are in good shape after a solid 2011 NFL Draft class which included Patrick Peterson.

Let’s take a look at their 2011-12 schedule to see approximately how many games you can expect them to win this season.  The Cardinals will have six division games as they do every season and will have to do much better within the NFC West than they did a year ago.  After winning their opener 17-13 in St. Louis, they would drop their next five division games and finish 1-5.

Arizona is set to play four games against the NFC East division this season.  There are three very good teams in that division in the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.  They play both the Giants and Cowboys at home, but won’t be favored in either of those contests.  Arizona will also be an underdog on the road against the Eagles and Washington Redskins.

The Cardinals will also play the entire AFC North division this season.  A road game against the Baltimore Ravens and a home meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers are almost sure losses.  There is a good chance they will be favored at home against the Cleveland Browns, and while they’ll likely be an underdog at Cincinnati they should have a shot to beat the Bengals.

That leaves two games against the fourth place teams in the NFC South and the NFC North divisions.  Arizona kicks off the season with a very winnable Week 1 game as they host the Carolina Panthers.  With the quarterback situation in Minnesota, they won’t be too big of a road underdog against the Vikings in Week 5.  For the most part, their schedule as a whole is not too difficult.  The Cardinals should have a chance to improve upon their 5-11 record this season.

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