2011 Arizona Cardinals season

The 2011 Arizona Cardinals season will be the franchise's 92nd season in the National Football League and the 24th season in Arizona. For Ken Whisenhunt, this will be his fifth season as the head coach of the Cardinals; he has compiled an overall record of 32–32 in the regular season and 4–2 in postseason. This will be the Cardinals first season with new starting QB Kevin Kolb, and the Cardinals hope to improve on their 5–11 record from 2010, in which they started three QBs (Derek Anderson, Max Hall, and John Skelton). The team hopes that the drafting of CB Patrick Peterson helps out the defense, who struggled to get to the QB the previous season.

2011 NFL Draft
In April 2010, the Cardinals traded their original 7th-round selection and a 2010 4th-round selection to the New York Jets for S Kerry Rhodes. The Cardinals received a new seventh-round selection as a compensatory selection.

Acquisitions
On July 28, 2011 the Cardinals acquired Kolb from the Philadelphia Eagles for CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a 2012 2nd-round pick. The next day they signed former Carolina Panthers starting CB Richard Marshall.

Schedule
The Cardinals' preseason schedule was announced on April 12, 2011.

Schedule
LEGEND:
 * undefined Arizona is in the Mountain Time Zone, but does not observe Daylight saving time (except in the Navajo Nation), so it is effectively on Pacific Daylight Time from mid-March to early November. Therefore, all game times during the preseason and from Weeks 1–8 during the regular season are in Pacific time mode.
 * Indicates that the game time is subject to change as a result of flexible scheduling.

Week 7: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Coming off their bye week, the Cardinals went home for a Week 7 interconference duel with the Pittsburgh Steelers, in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIII. Arizona trailed early in the first quarter as Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completed a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Heath Miller. Pittsburgh would add onto their lead in the second quarter as Roethlisberger completed a 95-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mike Wallace. The Cardinals would answer with a 1-yard touchdown run from running back Alfonso Smith. The Steelers would close out the half with kicker Shaun Suisham getting a 41-yard field goal.

Arizona opened the third quarter with quarterback Kevin Kolb finding running back LaRod Stephens-Howling on a 73-yard touchdown pass, but Pittsburgh struck back with Roethlisberger completing a 4-yard touchdown pass, along with Kolb's intentional grounding penalty in the endzone resulting in a safety. In the fourth quarter, the Steelers continued to pull away with Suisham making a 33-yard and a 39-yard field goal. The Cardinals tried to rally as Kolb found wide receiver Early Doucet on a 2-yard touchdown pass (with a failed two-point conversion), but Pittsburgh held on to preserve the victory.

With the loss, Arizona fell to 1-5.