The Detroit Lions Prepare For The Arizona Cardinals As Playoff Dreams Are Still Alive.
The Detroit Lions offense has not scored more than 22 points in seven weeks. That equates to about 16.2 points per game since their win against the Dolphins in Miami. If you’re wondering why the Lions are not winning, look no further. Injuries to rookie running back Kerryon Johnson and wide receiver Marvin Jones, along with the Golden Tate trade have not helped, but someone has to be held accountable for Lions losses stacking up.
By most measures, the Lions defense has been much improved since midseason, but the amount of time that they’ve had to be on the field is clearly not helping. With that being said, this week’s game holds more weight then you might think.
This Weeks Opponent: The Arizona Cardinals
Lions fans should be optimistic about going into a game against the 32nd rated offense in the league. The Arizona Cardinals come in averaging a league-worst 14.6 ppg and 153.3 pass yards. They’re also 31st in the league in rush yardage. The defense isn’t much better, coming in at 23rd. This is the first of a couple games in the final quarter of the season that Detroit probably should win.
Arizona is coming off of a win at Lambeau field last week that resulted in the firing of Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. That also pushed the Cards up to a 3-9 record or one game behind the Lions. They also had to put starting left guard Mike Iupati and wide receiver Christian Kirk on injured reserve.
The Lions Need To Win… Right?
The Lions were at home to start last season and things were really looking good after they were able to handle the Arizona Cardinals by 12 points and have then-rookie wide receiver Kenny Golladay put the league on notice. Flash forward to 2018 and Golladay is the lone option in the Detroit receiving corps. Arizona is in a transition year where they’re experimenting with rookie Josh Rosen at quarterback, but they are still a team that has a lot of talent on both sides of the ball.
Old Larry Fitzgerald has had the worst statistical season of his career and that can’t really come as a surprise with the current quarterback situation. Cornerback Patrick Peterson still leads a solid secondary and there are plenty of other playmakers on the defensive side for Arizona. The Lions need to avoid turning the ball over and that alone should be enough for them to win the game.
With a tiebreaker and draft positioning on the line in this game, it’s probably not wise for either team to try and win, but you can be these teams will both show up battling for pride on Sunday.
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow @charleskelbel on Twitter and leave your thoughts on the Detroit Lions subreddit.
