The Arizona Cardinals are the fourth team to start an NFL season with a regular season win total over/under lower than four as DraftKings have set the bar at four.

Even the most optimistic Cards fan will hold their hands up and admit that this year is going to be a tough one for the Birdgang. The team starts the season without their franchise quarterback with Kyler Murray on the PUP list as he recovers from an ACL injury meaning that journeyman Joshua Dobbs is the current QB1. There is a severe lack of star power and depth on a roster experiencing the first stage of a total rebuild.

The coaching staff is young and inexperienced – Defensive Coordinator Nick Rallis is the youngest coordinator in the entire league at 30 years old while both he and Drew Petzing will make the first play calls of their NFL careers in the season opener under the watchful eye of first time Head Coach Jonathan Gannon.

This daunting outlook along with the lingering stench of the previous regime that lurched from one farce to the next has made the Arizona Cardinals the go-to punching bag for the media as well as the rest of the league.

This season is going to be rough. There’s no denying it. So how are we going to get through this?

1.Trust the Process

Monti Ossenfort is going to be well equipped to spearhead an overhaul of the team in 2024. The Cardinals hold 11 picks in the ’24 draft (including two first-rounders) with an additional compensatory pick also possible while Spotrac currently projects their available cap space for next season at a whopping $68,944,0007.

The GM and his staff have already impressed fans with the haul they secured in this year’s draft, with 3 of those rookies slated to start against Washington while BJ Ojulari is primed to push himself up the depth chart now that he’s healthy. The Cardinals will be a dominant force in the 2024 offseason.

Fans can also take heart from the change round in fortune in Detroit. One of the most maligned franchises kicked off the season by beating the reigning Super Bowl champions and are expected to challenge for the NFC North title for the first time in over a decade.

Who was a major player in the creation of the Lions current roster? Cardinals Assistant General Manager Dave Sears.

As the iconic You’ll Never Walk Alone anthem says “at the end of a storm, there’s a golden sky” and for the Cardinals that is the 2024 offseason.

2. Celebrate the Little Victories

If DraftKings are to be believed, there won’t be many actual W’s for Cards fans to celebrate this season so we have to make the most of the little victories.

If Nolan Cooney bombs a few punts? Celebrate it. If Nick Rallis looks cool as fuck on the sideline? Celebrate it. If James Conner wins another Angry Runs sceptre? Celebrate it.

Those little victories can soon add up.

3. Celebrate the Actual Victories Even More

Should this season play out as the general consensus predicts it will and the Cardinals are only able to accumulate a handful of wins, then each one should be treated as a special occasion.

Every time this team wins, likely starting every game as the underdog, it is a middle finger salute to everyone in the media who has made the organisation a punchline. It’s payback for every sneer at Jonathan Gannon’s delivery, for every Kyler Murray joke, for every frankly disturbing and obsessive M**e F****o story and every “expert” that has ranked the team at the rock bottom of the league.

So when the Cardinals win, go nuts. Reach for that extra beer, have a heavy pour of bourbon, smoke a cigar, sneak a few more doughnuts or order that pizza. Let’s make the little corner of Twitter (X or whatever it’s called) that belongs to the Red Sea one of the noisiest.

4. Raise Up Those Rookies

Paris Johnson Jr., Kei’Trel Clark and Michael Wilson are all expected to start against Washington if the mandatory depth chart is to be believed. That’s 3 day one starters from the new regime’s first draft class with Ojulari set to join them sooner rather than later and Dante Stills well positioned to carve a path to regular snaps. That’s before corner Garrett Williams, who could be the gem of this group, returns from injury.

They signed all 9 of their rookie picks to the active roster and how they manage in Year 1 will be a great insight into the possibilities to come. If the Cardinals can end the season with a number of them performing at a true NFL level, that would be a major success.

There will be mistakes and a sharp learning curve to overcome now that shit gets serious. Despite the hype that it brings, preseason is still only preseason. So don’t jump too harshly on one of these young guys if they get torched or blow a play. They’ll get there.

Every pass defended by Clark, every catch by Wilson, every time a pass-rusher is denied by Johnson or every sack from Ojulari is a step in the right direction to rebuilding this franchise. The young ones are the future and the future is now.

5. If You Don’t Know, Get to Know

As highlighted earlier, the Cardinals figure to be major players in the 2024 draft and have the staff in the building to make the most of those valuable assets. They will get to replenish the ranks from a draft class that is supremely talented with a number of players who would’ve been highly sought after if they’d declared in 2023.

There’s the headline acts of course – Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Marvin Harrison Jr., Olu Fashanu, Jared Verse and Kool-Aid McKinstry – but they are supported by a wide range of class acts across every position.

There’s Harrison’s fellow Buckeyes receiver Emeka Egbuka, tackles Joe Alt, Graham Barton, a horde of running backs from the devastating Trey Benson to the fleet-footed Blake Corum and the entire Michigan offensive line.

Defensively, there’s a battalion of d-linemen in all shape and sizes (music to Cardinals fans ears) with Jer’zhan Newton, Leonard Taylor III, Maason Smith and Kris Jenkins the key names while Kalen King and Cooper DeJean will push McKinstry to be recognised as CB1.

In keeping with having something to look forward to, go out of your way to get to know these names. They could be in Cardinal red this time next year.

6. Two Bites of the Cherry

For all of the doom and gloom that the national media has poured on the team, the Arizona Cardinals are in a unique position this season as they get two chances to win every week. Not only do they play but every time the Houston Texans take the field it represents a second bite at the victory cherry for us fans.

The Cards possess Houston’s first-round pick in 2024 so every Texans loss equals a win in Cardinals eyes. Whoever plays the Texans will automatically become our “second team” for the week as we push towards controlling the Top 10 of the draft. If the Cardinals wind up in a position where they hold two top-end picks, they can supercharge the rebuild.

Sorry Texans fans, it’s not personal, it’s just business.