Can Cardinals rebuild home-field benefit by beating Chiefs?

The Cardinals have a home drawback. Their dwelling life has gone stale.

They’ve gained simply 10 of the previous 32 video games performed at State Farm Stadium. They carry a five-game dwelling shedding streak into Sunday’s season opener towards the Chiefs. Their stadium is definitely accessible to transplants, vacationers and infidels.

Within the realm of Homes Divided, we’ve clearly regressed as a soccer city.

There are straightforward alibis. Within the NFL, home-field benefit is now like the additional level. It’s now not computerized. Athletes journey higher, eat smarter and sleep longer. Newer stadiums present snug housing for the enemy and visiting locker rooms are now not the dimensions of aspect closets. Street groups are profitable greater than ever earlier than within the NFL.

However in Arizona, the home-field drawback is difficult to disregard.

There was a time when a gleaming soccer stadium constructed in the course of Glendale cotton fields appeared to supply magic on a weekly foundation. The stadium is 2-for-2 in internet hosting blockbuster Tremendous Bowls. Additionally it is propped up by a large cement column poured by me in a hardhat, on the invite of Michael Bidwill. We agreed to name it the Dan Bickley column.

There was a time when crowd engagement in Arizona turned the discuss of the NFL. Statistics had been stored on what number of offsides penalties had been referred to as on guests who couldn’t hear past their earholes. And when the Chiefs final got here to Glendale in 2014, they misplaced to an ascendant Cardinals workforce that improved to 10-3 on the season and 7-0 at dwelling.

The latter mattered an excellent deal to former head coach Bruce Arians. He virtually willed it into being.

This Sunday, there’ll probably be an infinite gathering of Chiefs followers in attendance. Sports activities followers have grow to be empowered by quick access to secondary ticket markets, the place no scalper interplay or road nook weirdness is required. And ticket patrons at the moment are prone to be enterprise followers, able to monetize their funding every time the market will get sizzling. In consequence, State Farm Stadium is like a global airport, and solely the soccer workforce is accountable.

They need to regain a home-field benefit in 2022, and the power trade begins with their actions on a soccer discipline. The Cardinals should regain our belief earlier than they regain our collective voice. There have been too many letdowns, too many big-game meltdowns. And as destiny would dictate, the historic Hail Murray cross to beat the Payments occurred throughout a pandemic, with solely 4,200 followers in attendance, unfold out in dystopian pods. If that second had occurred earlier than a full home in Glendale, it could’ve echoed for an eternity.

The 2022 Cardinals have already got loads on their plates. They’re overtaxed by damage. The offseason has been a relentless stream of drama and adversity. They’re unusually underfunded on protection, a certain signal that common supervisor Steve Keim is working on a shoestring price range.

However one way or the other, the Cardinals must gentle the hearth, restore the roar and make their stadium the place to be on any given Sunday. Beating the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes is a good way to create some warmth, a good way to strike the match.

Follow @danbickley