The Arizona Cardinals came into Sunday needing a win badly, and for a brief moment it looked like they had the right script. The opening drive traveled 14 plays, covered 73 yards, and ended with Jacoby Brissett hitting Teagan Quitoriano for a two-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Then Detroit took over.
The Lions answered Arizona’s early punch by ripping off 24 unanswered points in the second quarter and never gave the Cardinals much of a chance after that, rolling to a 45-21 win. What had the feel of a statement possession for Arizona quickly turned into another long afternoon, with the Cardinals falling apart on both sides of the ball.
Kendrick Bourne was one of the few bright spots for Arizona. He kept chains moving, stacked up several key catches, and finished with a team-high 70 receiving yards on five grabs.
Trey McBride also showed up, even if the stat line barely tells the story. He finished with nine catches for 66 yards and a late touchdown, but most of his damage came after the game was already out of reach.
He was targeted 10 times, yet had just two targets and one catch at halftime. That was hard to square.
Brissett’s line reflected the chaos around him. He went 29 of 47 for 292 yards with three touchdown passes and one interception, was sacked five times, and posted a 91.8 rating.
He did plenty to keep Arizona afloat, but he spent most of the day running for his life behind an offensive line that never settled in. Arizona managed only 56 rushing yards, and once Paris Johnson went down for the season, the protection picture looked even more unstable.
The Lions also found way too much room for their tight ends. Sam LaPorta caught all five of his targets for 88 yards and a touchdown, while Brock Wright added an 11-yard conversion. Arizona’s coverage on that part of the field never tightened, and Detroit kept leaning into it.
The tackling was just as rough. Arizona defenders kept bouncing off ballcarriers, missing at the waist, or arriving too high, and Detroit made them pay over and over.
Budda Baker was the exception, piling up 11 tackles and repeatedly cleaning up after teammates missed. Garrett Williams had three missed tackles, Mack Wilson had two, and the overall picture was ugly.
Jeremiyah Love never got loose, either. He finished with 12 carries for 22 yards, with a long of eight.
There were a couple of bright notes on defense. Roy Lopez turned in a strong day in the middle, finishing with six tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, and a quarterback hit. His sack of Jared Goff in Detroit’s second possession forced a punt, and later he tracked down Jahmyr Gibbs after a 23-yard gain on a short pass.
But those moments were swallowed up by the bigger story. Arizona’s defense started out stiff, with Detroit’s first three possessions ending in punts.
After that, though, the Lions found the gears that mattered. Their second-quarter surge turned the game into a flood: touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, punt.
Detroit also went a perfect 4-for-4 on fourth down, even while finishing just 4-for-13 on third downs.
For Arizona, the day started with promise and ended with a 45-21 wrecking. The Cardinals had one clean opening sequence, then spent the rest of the afternoon getting outplayed, outmuscled, and outscored.
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Amid the noise, there has also been growing curiosity about whether rookie quarterback Carson Beck could factor in more prominently as the losses mount. For now, though, the Cardinals are sticking with Gardner Minshew in front of him, even as the fan base pushes for bigger changes and the defense continues to draw heat for its uneven play. [Read more 🡒]