The Buffalo Bills will open up the 2024 regular season at home in Orchard Park on Sunday, taking on the Arizona Cardinals at Highmark Stadium.

The two teams will meet for the first time since the Cardinals upset the Bills in the final moments of a 2020 contest with a play know dubbed the "Hail Murray." Both clubs, however, are fielding very different teams now than when they last met.

The Bills are both a favorite to win their division as well as to make the playoffs, while the Cardinals enter Week 1 with Kyler Murray looking to bounce back from a poor season and injuries.

The Bills are playing with a renewed sense of purpose, having revamped their roster, and are looking to get their season started with a win.

With that, here are three reasons for optimism as the Bills host the Cardinals in Week 1...

Strengthened Offensive Group

Bills quarterback Josh Allen will kick off his first full season in a Joe Brady offense. The team's offensive weaponry has been restocked and replenished to perhaps be it's. deepest during GM Brandon Beane and HC Sean McDermott's tenures.

Will the results show early or will it take time? The good money is on the Bills picking up where they left off last season, tailoring schemes to opponents, finding the open targets in the passing game, and openings for ground gains.

In the air, players like receiving tight end Dalton Kincaid and slot receiver Khalil Shakir can provide reliable targets, opening up opportunities for veteran TE Dawson Knox and free agent addition WR Curtis Samuel, as well as rookie wideout Keon Coleman.

On the ground, Buffalo boasts its most robust rushing group in the Beane/McDermott era as well, as Brady's rushing attack has mobilized Allen and RB1 James Cook, who are now joined by Samuel's backfield gadgetry (which was previously maximized under Brady in Carolina,) and by rookie receiving running back Ray Davis. Add the bolstering to the teams' O-line the past two offseasons, and the offense may be better in 2024.

While the team's newer additions may take a little time to adjust to the Bills' offense or, for rookies, the pro level, their talent and skills will come into play early, and returning players should keep things rolling with Allen leading the charge.

Defensive Turnovers

Under McDermott, the Bills have consistently fielded a competitive defense that, at times, has been among the top in the NFL in different categories.

This offseason has seen much turnover in personnel on both sides of the ball, and yet another injury to impact linebacker Matt Milano that will keep him sidelined until at least December if not the entire 2024 regular season.

Even still, Buffalo has some bright spots from the potential emergence of DE Greg Rousseau as a dominant pass-rushing threat to a return-to-form from OLB Von Miller, the assertion of LB Terrel Bernard to defensive captain to the depth in the secondary group.

The potential to impact games in all three phases has grown exponentially in terms of talent on the defensive roster, and we may see those results early and often this season. And that may come from scoring defensive points, forcing turnovers and changes in possession, and dominating the possession time which can be game changers.

Those groups will be tasked with containing Murray, as well as limiting the impact of TE Trey McBride and the Cardinals running backs group. Not to mention their new WR1 Marvin Harrison Jr.

In facing Murray, it also doesn't hurt that the Bills have had past success defending mobile quarterbacks such as Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson, Tua Tagovailoa, and Patrick Mahomes.

Coaching Impact

McDermott will tentatively be unburdened with shouldering both head coach and playcalling duties as newly promoted DC Bobby Babich will get his first regular-season look running the defense.

The Bills head coach and his staff have worked to improve this offseason in areas that include challenges, and while they have new coordinators on both sides of the ball, their OC has seen success in the role at both the collegiate and pro levels and their staffs on both sides of the ball have seen some replenishment as well.

McDermott's experience and success during his Bills tenure and emphasis on winning in all three phases give him and his team a competitive advantage following an offseason committed to improvement from the top down. Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, meanwhile, has only one unceremonious season under his belt that featured a mixture of growing pains of a roster in transition peppered with some bright spots.

This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: Bills vs. Cardinals: 3 reasons for optimism in Week 1