The Detroit Lions are heading into Week 5 with the same split-screen reality they’ve carried all season: one side of the ball can light it up, and the other keeps giving the whole thing a shaky foundation.
At 2-2, the Lions are trying to put the Carolina Panthers loss behind them as they travel to Arizona for a road matchup with the Cardinals, who come in at 1-3. It’s the final game before the bye week, and the hope is that a trip out west can help reset the narrative. So far, though, this looks a lot like what Detroit has been dealing with for weeks - a team leaning hard on its offense because the defense has not held up its end.
That defensive concern is not small. Through four games, the Lions have allowed the most total yards in the league at 1,695, a massive 126 yards worse than the second-worst Indianapolis Colts.
They’ve also surrendered the second-most points at 127, just behind the New Orleans Saints. In other words, the offense has been carrying plenty of weight just to keep this team afloat.
Arizona hasn’t exactly been a fortress on that side of the ball either. The Cardinals have allowed 351.3 yards per game, ninth-most in the league, and they’ve given up 117 points, fourth-most. Their numbers are shaky against both the pass and the run, sitting in the bottom half of the league in each category.
There is still talent on that defense. Budda Baker remains the headline name, even if his start hasn’t matched the standard he’s built.
He leads the Cardinals with 1.5 sacks, which probably says as much about Arizona’s pass rush as it does about Baker himself. The Cardinals have only eight sacks total, and those have come from eight different players.
There’s also a familiar face for Detroit in former Lions defensive tackle Roy Lopez, now back in Arizona. Lopez has opened the season solidly, posting a 73.1 grade on Pro Football Focus.
His best work has come against the run, where he’s graded as the ninth-best interior lineman in the league at 75.2. Arizona has allowed 470 rushing yards so far, just nine fewer than Detroit’s 479, which at least gives the Cardinals a chance to make life annoying for the Lions’ one-man ground game.
Still, the bigger question is whether Detroit can keep scoring the way it has to. Right now, the Lions appear to need 30-plus points to win, and Arizona has been giving up 31 or more in each of its last three games. The Cardinals’ best defensive showing came in Week 1, when they held the Los Angeles Chargers to 14 points against a Mike McDaniel offense that has averaged 16.75 points per game.
If Detroit can’t find points in this matchup, the alarm bells get very loud, very fast.
On the other side, Arizona’s offense has been slow to get moving. The Cardinals are averaging 21.8 points per game and 294.8 yards per game, which ranks 11th-worst in the league. Of that production, 194.3 yards per game have come through the air.
That might sound like a chance for Detroit’s defense to finally clean something up, but the matchup is more complicated than that. Those Cardinals numbers aren’t far off from the New York Jets, who average 286.0 total yards and 202.0 passing yards per game. And the Jets’ total gets a boost from what they did against the Lions, when Geno Smith threw for 321 yards.
That’s the cautionary tale here: a modest-looking offense can still expose Detroit in the wrong spots.
The biggest problem area remains the Lions’ issues with tight ends. The Jets already showed how that can snowball, with rookie Kenyon Sadiq catching seven passes for 105 yards and an epic touchdown, Jeremy Ruckert adding five catches for 39 yards and a score, and Jelani Woods chipping in a 20-yard grab.
Through four weeks, the Lions have allowed tight ends to average 9.25 receptions and 101.5 yards per game. They’ve also given up two touchdown catches to tight ends in each of the first three games, for six total on the season.
That brings the focus squarely to Trey McBride, the best tight end in football right now and the key piece in Arizona’s passing game. The reigning First-Team All-Pro is averaging 60.5 receiving yards per game, down from 72.9 last season under now Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing. But he still accounts for two of Jacoby Brissett’s six touchdown passes and nearly 30% of Brissett’s passing yards, which tells you everything you need to know about how central he is to the Cardinals’ offense.
That’s the test for Sunday. Detroit’s offense can score.
It has shown that much. The question is whether the defense can finally step up and do its part, starting with McBride.
If not, this season’s storyline keeps tilting in the wrong direction.
In Other News...
Darius Slay Just Said What Lions Fans Fear About This Secondary
Darius Slay has never been shy about giving his old team an honest evaluation, and his latest comments land at a time when the Lions are still trying to steady a defense that has drawn plenty of scrutiny. The former Detroit cornerback pointed to Carlton Davis as the player he thought fit best in the scheme and said letting him leave in free agency was the clubs biggest recent misstep, a remark that will sound familiar to anyone who has watched the secondary struggle to find consistency.
Slay also took aim at the broader direction of the defense under Kelvin Sheppard, suggesting the issues in the back end go beyond one departure and reflect a need for a different philosophy. He did leave open a sliver of intrigue about his own future, saying he might entertain a return for the right offer, though he made clear he is comfortable with life after football for now. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Pass Defense Problem Could Force A Trade Fans Didn't Expect
Through the first month of the season, the Lions pass defense has been one of the clearest pressure points on the roster, and it has already pushed the front office into the trade market. Detroit has talked with other teams about cornerback Joey Porter Jr., but the search for help could widen if the right deal materializes. One name floating into the conversation is Philadelphia cornerback Riq Woolen, a player with the kind of tools that can change the feel of a secondary in a hurry.
Woolens contract situation and past performance make him an intriguing fit for a team trying to shore up the back end without overcommitting long term. Philadelphias recent roster changes, including the retirement of Lane Johnson and the trade of Cam Jurgens, have also fueled the idea that the Eagles could be willing to keep moving pieces to stockpile future draft capital. For the Lions, the question is whether a move like that is realistic, and whether solving the pass-defense issue will require a swing more aggressive than the one fans expected. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Secondary Problem Is Fueling A Trade Fans Will Want
The Lions search for help in the back end keeps circling back to the trade market, and Kristian Fulton has become one of the more interesting names attached to it. Detroit has already come up short on other cornerback targets, including Joey Porter Jr., which has only sharpened the focus on a defense that could use more stability on the outside. Fultons situation in Kansas City makes him a logical candidate to watch, especially with the kind of midseason deal that can sometimes benefit both teams.
Jeremy Fowler reported that Fulton is not currently a full-time starter for the Chiefs, and that matters for a Detroit team looking for a player who can step in without forcing a massive overhaul. A trade could come together if the teams are willing to split his salary, which gives the Lions a possible path forward if they decide to keep pressing for help. For a secondary still trying to find the right fit, this is the sort of move that can gain momentum quickly if the price is right. [Read more 🡒]