2026 Cardinals left off NFL prime time. Game schedule released…

Ever check your phone at a long stoplight? I was on my way home from a business meeting on Thursday afternoon, sitting at a red light in heavy traffic. Figured I’d take a glance at my emails and saw the Cardinals had sent out the 2026 schedule. Red was my way just long enough for me to see no Sunday night, Monday night, or Thursday night games, and the bye week not until December, and I thought, “Who did the owner piss off in the League office now?” 

 

It’s a schedule that says, without needing explanation, “We don’t want, or need you, in ANY primetime windows. You would’ve thought that adding the top running back in the draft, along with the league’s best tight end and the son of a Hall of Fame wide receiver, would be enough to at least get ONE stand-alone showing. But there are ZERO times when we will have Al Michaels, Mike Tirico, or Joe Buck show up to call a Cardinal game in 2026. Looking at the games, I believe there might be a  Jim Nantz/Tony Romo booth for the game at Kansas City. Possibly Tom Brady on the game at Dallas, but we are going to get a steady diet of the same lower-level 2- 3 announce crews that we’ve seen the last several years. 

Now, because the NFL has become like the NBA, where early-season games are nothing more than extended training camp, and the quality of the sport is barely watchable(unless you’re betting on games), I’d give your Cardinals a puncher’s chance to pull an upset. 

The opening game in LA will be billed as the Cardinals’ head coach making his debut back in the city he left. The Chargers simply have a better team 0-1 

Week 2 – Defending Super Bowl Champions in the home opener? Wouldn’t the NFL want to give a team that’s been wayyyyy down, like the Cardinals, a chance to get some buzz? Um, no. 0-2

From there, I look down the schedule and see the 10 am body clock game at the New York Giants, after a road game the week before. That’s a recipe for a L. As we all know, Cardinal games are never, ever, ever filled with…Cardinal fans….Already had a friend text me tonight that he’ll make back all his season ticket money and have a profit by selling just his Seahawks and Raiders tickets. The Jets game on December 20th will likely have fans of both teams wearing jerseys or signs to build up the “Arch Manning Bowl”… I can’t imagine what the security detail will look like if the Raiders come to the Valley in late December, still relevant. You want to talk about a stadium takeover as we’ve never seen. Silver and Black would be everywhere. 

Now you might think I’m being a little harsh on our hometown heroes of the gridiron, but I’m not. The Owner has run this thing into the ground, and the NFL is saying, “We don’t want anyone to see this product on our biggest stages and platforms. I’m not wrong on this one…