The schedule release is ... well, the schedule release. Yes, it's true that we have known the opponents for months, that Wednesday's news was only about when all those games would be played. That doesn't mean when doesn't matter. It does. It matters more when a team has a chance to push for the postseason; right now, the Cardinals know they have to make a couple steps forward from 2018 before worrying about anything else.

All that said, here are some of my thoughts about how this looks here in April, before the draft, before training camp and long before we know what this team will actually look like:

-- Three of the first four at home, just like last season. If you want to make any moves, a good start is imperative. And, given that Kliff Kingsbury's offense is somewhat of an unknown, maybe that will be to the Cards' advantage early on. He did jump out to winning his first seven games as a college head coach.

-- The Terrell Suggs reunion game won't take long to get to. It's the second week in which the Cards travel to Baltimore.

-- There are a lot of long road trips, but we knew that already. But the potential cold-weather games in Baltimore, Cincinnati and New York aren't an issue given how early in the schedule they will be played.

-- I thought, with the Cardinals have a bye at exactly the midway point of the season each of the last two years, they'd be stuck with an early bye. Instead, it is laaaaate. Week 12 is the latest bye -- Nov. 24 -- the Cards have ever had other than a Dec. 1 bye weekend in 1991.

-- The stretch of games before the bye -- four road games in five, including trips to New York, New Orleans and Tampa -- is brutal in terms of travel. And finishing on the road at Seattle and L.A. isn't ideal, although the Cardinals have shown over the last few years they play with confidence in Seattle.

-- Feels weird that the matchup between Kingsbury and Sean McVay won't happen until December, and then the Cards play the Rams twice in one month.

-- That Browns' game, with all the connections such as Freddie Kitchens, Steve Wilks, Kingsbury and Baker Mayfield, Mayfield and Josh Rosen (or potentially Kyler Murray), Patrick Peterson battling LSU mates Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry ... that's a game to look forward to late in the year.

-- A home game on Halloween night. Interesting. Definitely looking forward to seeing the crowd at State Farm Stadium.