The Detroit Lions went to Arizona looking to flush an embarrassing loss to Carolina, and after a rocky opening stretch, they did exactly that. Detroit shook off the slow start and rolled to a 45-21 win, scoring on seven straight drives and turning the final three quarters into a 45-14 surge.
For a while, though, it didn’t look clean. The first quarter was ugly for Detroit, with a sack on third-and-five after the Lions won the first coin toss of the year, then an Arizona score to open the game.
The defensive backs gave up too much ground early, getting caught flipping their hips the wrong way at times. Detroit’s next two possessions ended in punts, including one after Tom Kennedy delivered a 22-yard return that set the offense up at midfield.
By the end of the opening frame, the Lions were staring at -14 passing yards and -5 total yards.
After that, the offense took over.
Sam LaPorta got things moving and finished as Detroit’s leading receiver with 88 yards. Jahmyr Gibbs was electric, piling up over 200 total yards and 151 rushing yards while scoring two touchdowns.
Jared Goff accounted for four total touchdowns, throwing for three and adding a sneak. Jameson Williams caught his first two touchdowns of the season, and Amon-Ra St.
Brown came on late despite two fumbles that were both recovered.
Detroit’s stars simply kept stacking good drives on top of good drives. The Lions never let Arizona settle back in once they found their rhythm.
The pass rush also did real damage. Detroit finished with five sacks, with D.J.
Wonnum leading the way with two, including a relentless second-effort takedown. Derrick Barnes added a solo sack, while Alim McNeill, Aidan Hutchinson, Skylar Gill-Howard, and Malcolm Rodriguez split the other two.
The Lions kept Jacoby Brissett under pressure all afternoon and were just as firm against the run, holding Arizona’s top two backs, Jeremiah Love and Tyler Allgeier, to 15 carries for 29 yards combined.
The secondary was a different story. Brissett still got close to 300 passing yards, and Detroit gave up too many clean wins through the air.
Roger McCreary was tested first, then D.J. Reed, Chuck Clark, and Ennis Rakestraw all had their moments of getting beat.
McCreary, though, turned his day around in a big way, finishing with six pass breakups in what was clearly his best game in Honolulu Blue. Keith Abney II also picked off his first career pass.
Detroit’s defense had enough good moments to control the game, but it wasn’t spotless. The Lions had some uncharacteristic sloppiness, beginning with blown assignments that led to sacks on the first two dropbacks.
Penalties also crept in, including unnecessary roughness and false starts. Chuck Clark was visibly frustrated after two blown assignments in the second half, throwing his hands in the air.
Still, when a team scores on seven straight drives and puts up a 45-21 win, the messier details don’t carry the same weight. The Lions left Arizona with the kind of response they were looking for.
In Other News...
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A lot of the frustration has come from the same place each week: early negative plays that stall drives before they really start. Sacks and penalties have repeatedly put the Lions behind the sticks, forcing them to play catch-up long before the second half even arrives. Fixing that first stretch after the break could make the rest of the offense look a lot more like the version Detroit has expected all along. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Defense Has One Clear Strength And One Lingering Concern
Through five games of the 2026 season, the Lions have enough to feel good about on defense and enough to keep digging. A 3-2 start has been built in part on a pass rush that has come through consistently, with D.J. Wonnum and Aidan Hutchinson giving Detroit a front that can change a game without much help. The linebacker room has also supplied some production even as injuries have shuffled the group, which has left the defense leaning on depth earlier than planned.
The bigger question sits behind that rush. The secondary has been the more uneven part of the unit, with cornerback changes and coverage issues drawing the sharpest criticism so far. For a team trying to settle into the season, that kind of split identity can be hard to ignore, especially when the front seven is doing enough to keep games manageable but the back end still looks like the area most likely to decide how far this defense can go. [Read more 🡒]
Jameson Williams Just Got A Win Lions Fans Will Love
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The ruling also lands at a time when the NFL and NFLPA have been trying to draw cleaner lines around celebration rules, with a recent joint statement spelling out which gestures cross the line and which ones fit within the leagues sportsmanship standards. Appeals officer Derrick Brooks overturned the penalties but still urged Williams to keep his celebrations professional, a reminder that even when a player wins the fight, the league is still watching the details closely. [Read more 🡒]