Most Important Cardinals Revenge Games on the 2026 Schedule

ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals are circling a few dates on their 2026 schedule after its release earlier this week.

Calling any game a "revenge" battle might be a stretch for various reasons, and admittedly so there's not many on the schedule that really should get fans going.

Yet with that said, there's a few matchups that could be of special interest:

Every NFC West Matchup

The Cardinals went 0-6 in the NFC West last season and have long been at the basement of the division, last winning it in 2015.

As a result, every game should be considered a "revenge" outing with battles against Seattle (Weeks 2/9), San Francisco (Weeks 3,18) and Los Angeles (Weeks 6/10) on tap.

Are the Cardinals likely to make noise in the division this coming season? Probably not, though they can still prove they belong under Mike LaFleur's new direction (who has experience coaching in the NFC West) while maybe stealing an upset win in the process.

Detroit — The Drew Petzing Game

Drew Petzing was Arizona's offensive coordinator for three seasons. Much of that was muddied with inconsistent play and results.

Fans quickly grew tired of what was described as a stagnant and vanilla attack, where players were largely stationary and when you took away their ability to run the ball, defenses were able to pin their ears back and turn Arizona into a one-dimensional attack.

Petzing's contract wasn't renewed, and after taking a lateral gig with the Detroit Lions, he's set to return to Arizona for a Week 5 clash at State Farm Stadium.

There's no ill will towards Petzing, but the Cardinals would love to prove they upgraded in terms of play-calling with LaFleur on the headset.

Denver — Sean Payton's Bargaining Chip

It wasn't long ago when the Cardinals had Sean Payton at their facility in hopes of luring him to become their next head coach before he ultimately went and signed with the Denver Broncos. Arizona pivoted to Jonathan Gannon, and the rest has been history.

Many believe Payton used Arizona as a negotiation tool to get Denver to match his desired contract demands, and while the Cardinals haven't had a winning record since, Payton's done tremendous work with the Broncos.

State Farm Stadium will play host to the Broncos in Week 7, and while this isn't quite a revenge game, it would be nice to upset Denver and a man who many believe wasted Arizona's valuable time in their head coach search years ago.

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