Jonathan Gannon assesses Arizona Cardinals’ depth
Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon talks about having every player on the team ready to step in at any time.
However football fans choose to deal with certain kinds of adversity is their own business.
That said, the Arizona Cardinals fan base is No. 1 in a major regard, according to a survey.
The Arizona Republic is in no way encouraging alcohol abuse, but reporting that The Action Network has Cardinals fans ranked first among NFL fan bases in heavy drinking. Per The Action Network, 18.5% of Cardinals fans drink at least five alcoholic beverages on game days. That ranks the highest out of any NFL fan base.
As of Monday, Dec. 8, the Cardinals had 20 players on injured reserve, the most in the entire NFL. Half of those players are out for the season. Clearly, Cardinals fans have found a way to deal with this issue.
Clearly, the fans are paying attention to the injury reports and not just seeing that their favorite players are not out there during the games. That is because The Action Network has also found that “59% of Cardinals fans pregame, and 19% have 5+ drinks before kickoff — the highest heavy pregame rate in the NFL.”
In addition to the IR list, Cardinals starting defensive back Garrett Williams has missed five games, starting cornerback Will Johnson has also missed five games, 2025 first-round draft pick Walter Nolen has missed nine games and 2023 second-round draft pick BJ Ojulari has also missed nine games. This is all out of 13 games, of which the Cardinals have won three.
The fans do not stop, however, at the pregame tailgates. During games, The Action Network has found that 63% of Cardinals fans drink during the games, and 18% of the fans get their five or more alcoholic drinks in during the games. After all, the Cardinals’ performance in-game has led to the team ranking 21st (out of 32 NFL teams) in points scored per game and 26th in fewest points per game allowed.
There were 3,058 NFL fans surveyed for this study. No other team’s fan base drinks five or more drinks on game days at even a 16% clip, per The Action Network. With Arizona heavy underdogs in their upcoming Week 15 matchup against the red-hot Houston Texans, fans’ drinking habits have an opportunity to keep going strong.