The first week of the 2024 NFL season is finally upon us! It feels like we’ve been waiting forever for meaningful football to be played, and tomorrow, we’ll finally see our Buffalo Bills take the field for the first time this season. Despite the Bills being full of offseason questions, their Week 1 opponent, the Arizona Cardinals, have plenty of questions of their own.
They might have finished toward the bottom of the NFC the past few seasons, but they’re not an opponent to be underestimated. Nonetheless, there’s three specific areas that the Bills can attack on Sunday to increase their chances of victory.
Cardinals Weak Pass Rush
The Cardinals did a lot of work over the offseason to bring in new names to elevate their pass rush, which finished 28th in the league in Pass Rush Win Rate (PRWR). Nonetheless, they’ll still be facing weaknesses along their defensive line, as 2023 second round pick BJ Ojulari and 2024 first round pick Darius Robinson were both placed on Injured Reserve. Without many reinforcements behind Zaven Collins and Justin Jones, the Cardinals may not be able to have everything they need to get to Josh Allen in the pocket and make him uncomfortable.
Another major question mark on their defensive front was their acquisition of DT Bilal Nichols this past offseason. Nichols put up impressive numbers last season with the Las Vegas Raiders being flanked by Maxx Crosby, in particular, 48 total tackles and a fumble recovery. The Cardinals signed him to a three-year, $21 million deal, which shows their confidence in his ability. How he performs without a superstar next to him remains to be seen, compounding the urgency to attack the Cardinals questionable pass rush.
Cardinals Secondary
The Arizona Cardinals passing defense last season was nothing short of abysmal. Not only did they allow opposing quarterbacks to complete 68.6% of their passes against them, but they also allowed opposing quarterbacks to attain a 102.9 passer rating against them. One of their most important needs during the offseason was cornerback, and the only way they acknowledged the weakness was by signing CB Sean Murphy-Bunting. Granted, he is a true star at the position, showcasing his talent during the 2020 Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs, however, Murphy-Bunting hasn’t played a full season since that 2020 Super Bowl run. If he can stay healthy, he’ll provide a boost to a weak secondary, but time will tell.
Despite the experience that Murphy-Bunting brings to the Cardinals backfield, the majority of the CB and safety room remains the same as the team last year. To that end, Joe Brady needs to utilize the passing game much more in crucial situations, specifically, TE Dalton Kincaid on medium routes and rookie WR Keon Coleman in red zone situations.
Virtually all of the receivers on the Bills roster should be able to make gains on this patchwork secondary. Look for Brady to exploit one of the weaker defensive units the Bills will see this season with plenty of targets spread around.
Inexperienced Wide Receiver Room
Is this a bit of a bold take? Yes, absolutely. The Cardinals drafted Marvin Harrison Jr. with the fourth overall pick in this year's draft with the intention of giving QB Kyler Murray a true superstar to build chemistry with over the next half decade. Harrison Jr. is expected to perform right out of the gate, despite his first matchup being against a very stout secondary featuring nickel cornerback Taron Johnson and left cornerback Rasul Douglas.
Lining up next to Harrison Jr. on the field will be WR Michael Wilson, the 2023 third round draft pick that posted 38 receptions on 58 targets for 565 yards and three touchdowns last season. Granted, he was the rookie and fourth receiving option on the team last year with the emergence of star TE Trey McBride and WRs Marquise Brown and Rondale Moore making up most of the targets that season, but in his limited action, Wilson showed that he could be a great player.
The rest of the pass catching unit consists of fourth year veteran Greg Dortch, TE Trey McBride in his third season, and WR Zay Jones, whom they acquired in free agency, but is suspended for the first five games of the season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy and won’t be a factor in the game against the Bills.
Putting all of this together, you’ve got a pass catching group consisting of a rookie at WR1, a second-year player at WR2, a fourth-year player at WR3 (until Zay Jones returns), and a third-year player as the starting tight end. Combine this with their offensive coordinator Drew Petzing being in his second full season with the team, and you’ve got a recipe for miscommunications and pure chaos within the offense due to the inexperience of their key players.
This does not mean that this group won’t adjust and learn from mistakes, but this is still a weakness that Bobby Babich needs to aggressively attack. If he can take advantage of a younger offense that is still finding its footing and gaining chemistry, he can create mismatches that will slow down the Cardinals' passing game. Particularly, if he can keep Marvin Harrison Jr. contained and kept off balance, he shouldn’t be able to gain a foothold in the game, forcing the Cardinals to adjust their game plan.
On paper, the Cardinals look like a relatively weak team that the Bills should easily get past, but if there’s ever a lesson to be learned in the NFL, it’s that anything can happen any given Sunday. The keys to victory for the Bills will be to utilize their key strengths against the listed weaknesses above, and keep the football clean all day long. Win the turnover battle, contain Kyler Murray in the pocket while ensuring Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. don’t run wild in the secondary, and properly utilizing Keon Coleman in the red zone will give the Bills the best chance at victory this Sunday.