The Lions went from looking like preseason Super Bowl contenders to becoming winless through at least the first four games, which has happened to the franchise four of the last nine years. The struggles of the Lions are mostly pointed towards the surprisingly lackluster offense this year even though it is stacked with proven talent in players like Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate. The Cardinals however suffered only their first loss of the season last week to St. Louis. They look to restart their win stacking ways this week as they head to the Motor City.
Tale of Two Offenses
Sixty-six points. That is how many points the entire Lions offense has been able to muster through entire the season, 38 over the last three weeks. Again, they have Pro Bowl talents at nearly every level of their team as well as a potential Rookie of the Year candidate in former Nebraska star Ameer Abdullah. Yet it just hasn’t been able to click for them and generate a strong and consistent game controlling the ball. Through the year the Lions have yet to produce the top rusher, top passer and top receiver in a game. The closest they came was against Minnesota where Stafford threw for 286 yards and Calvin Johnson caught for 83, both game highs. It’s unclear what exactly is causing this kind of a slump, but if the Cardinals are lucky they may just get to see the same kind of issues for the Lions. If they can beat up on the league’s worst run game and get Stafford to add to his five interception total thus far this year then the defense could help lead a runaway.
Fixing Protection Issues
Last week against the Rams we saw really for the first time this year the offensive line of the Cardinals get beaten in presnap adjustments. There was a lot of free blitzers that didn’t get picked up and in the end it was what did the team in as it forced Carson Palmer into hurried throws and really not finding a place to get comfortable. While the run blocking remains stellar as Chris Johnson has seemingly found new life in a Cardinals jersey, which forces me to eat some crow after claiming that Johnson’s “CJ2K moniker should be retired, it is allowing Palmer to take advantage of those play-action throws and hit the sidelines deep down the field and change field position for Arizona that is crucial to this team’s success. If Palmer takes another four sacks in this game against a depleted Lions front four then it may be time to seriously question the status of the unit moving forward.
Health Of Defense Hurting Lions
The defense for the Lions has had a large amount of bites from the injury bug this year. They are struggling with maintaining their defensive tackle situation with Haloti Ngata missing this week with a calf injury as well as Tyrunn Walker breaking his fibula and being put onto injured reserve. However, the rest of the defense may get a boost with returning Pro Bowl outside linebacker Deandre Levy. This will be the player’s debut to the 2015 season after a hip injury he suffered kept him out for the entire season up to this point. How much of a boost that provides remains to be seen as the unit has not produced much as they are surrendering 383 yards per game as well as 271 of that through the air. Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah’s appearance on the injury report is little more than window dressing as he has been a staple on that list all season and his four sacks this year do not add to the narrative that he is playing at a poor level because of it. How well he attacks Jared Veldheer and Bobby Massie, as Ansah has shown to line up on both sides of the ball, will be something to watch as Massie and Veldheer are proving to be two of the tougher beats among pass rushers.
The likelihood of the Lions finding themselves after struggling for so long is perhaps a bit of a long shot to those who root for the Motor City, and the Cardinals have thus far done quite a good job on their previous road trip earlier this year. Yet this week’s Lions team may be playing with a fire they haven’t had at all this year because of the debacle of a finish that took place in Seattle last Monday on the illegal bat that was not called. That one blown call may turn into perhaps a rallying cry this team needs, and the Cardinals may just prove to be the wrong team at the wrong time to face an angry group in Detroit. The game starts at 1:05 PM on FOX this Sunday.
Final Score: Cardinals – 20 Lions – 28