A mixed campaign for the birds.
As the curtain falls on the 2024 season for the Arizona Cardinals, it is time to reflect on the season that has been and look at what went right and what went wrong for the birds along the way.
This season has absolutely flown by. One minute everybody was talking about the race for the NFC West. The next Arizona were out of contention before the Week 17’s divisional games even started.
The Cardinals kicked off their season with a trip to Buffalo, a place notoriously hard to play against a well-fancied team in the Bills.
At one point during the second quarter, the Bills were down 17-3 and an upset was on the cards. The game ultimately finished 34-28 to Buffalo, but it was a spirited performance from the Cardinals, with plenty of positives to take from it.
The following week the Cardinals absolutely blew out the Rams 41-10 in a dominant home display. Rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. had himself a day with his first career touchdowns.
The next four games threw up a daunting schedule against Detroit Lions, Washington Commanders, San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers.
It did not come as much surprise when these games resulted in three losses. What was encouraging was the fight back in San Francisco to win the game by one point.
What followed from there was quite extraordinary – four consecutive wins. The first two were walk-off field-goal wins over the LA Chargers and the Miami Dolphins. Newly signed kicker Chad Ryland was making quite the name for himself.
Arizona followed the Miami win with emphatic home victories against Chicago and Aaron Rodgers’ New York Jets.
A turn for the worse
Just as Cardinals fans and the NFL media were placing Arizona as the front runners for the division, they went and lost three games in a row. That run including getting swept by division rivals Seattle.
After beating the New England Patriots 30-17 in Week 15, the Cardinals match against the Rams in Week 17 was flexed to a Prime Time slot. Many saw it as the decisive game for who gets to head to the postseason.
In classic Arizona fashion, they lost a Week 16 overtime classic 36-30 to the struggling Carolina Panthers. This meant they had little to play for the following week against LA.
They closed out the season by sweeping the San Francisco 49ers at home 47-24, to avoid finishing bottom of the division.
Finishing 8-9 was way above what was predicted. At the same time it shows there is still work to be done.
Rookie receiver Harrison Jr. finished the season strongly and second year tight end Trey McBride was voted to his first Pro Bowl.
Safety Budda Baker was voted to his seventh Pro Bowl, as well as signing a new multi-million dollar contract to keep him in Arizona.
Ryland was so good that questions will be asked about if remains the first choice kicker in 2025.
Overall, I would rate the season a generous 7 out of 10. Before the season started, most Cardinals fans would have agreed 5-7 wins would show good progress.
They have surpassed that. Sure, there was bumps along the way, but some of those emphatic home wins showed what they are truly capable of achieving in 2025.
