Arizona Cardinals president Michael Bidwill watches his team with a smile, looking on as the preseason finale in Denver comes to a close. On the team’s offseason docuseries “Cardinals Flight Plan,” the cameramen took the opportunity to interview Bidwill for their season finale. They ask about the home opener against the Detroit Lions
Bidwill looks away from the camera and pauses.
“I think it’s the most anticipated game one of the season,” he said, “Probably in my lifetime.”
A new dawn in the desert begins on Sunday.
The Cardinals will unfold a brand new football team that has the NFL world scratching their head with questions like “Are they even going to be good?” or “Can this actually work?”
We won’t know the answer to either of those questions for a while, but Sunday is a test for the desert birds. Can this new project featuring Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury turn this franchise back to its winning ways of the Bruce Arians era?
Their first test comes in the form of the Detroit Lions, another team coming off a season in the cellars of their division.
Don’t be fooled-the Lions have talent on both sides of the ball. The Cardinals enter this game as 2.5-point underdogs, despite playing at home.
Let’s take an in-depth look at the Detroit Lions:
Overview
The Lions are a few years removed from a 2016 playoff birth that ended in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks and they are looking to make another push this year. They finished 2018 with a mediocre 6-10 record. Still, that’s double the wins Arizona tallied. The team certainly had its moments of promise, including a few 26-10 upset against Bill Belichick’s Patriots on national television. They swept the Green Bay Packers, including a thrashing of the cheeseheads at Lambeau Field in week 17.
This year, the Lions are relying on a few splash moves in the offseason to propel them into playoff contention. Their gem of the free agency class was former Patriots DE Trey Flowers, who is a 2x Super Bowl champion.
Here’s a list of Detroits biggest acquisitions from the 2019 offseason:
Trey Flowers, DE
Justin Coleman, CB
Jesse James, TE
T.J. Hockenson, TE
Mike Daniels, DE
C.J. Anderson, RB
Jahlani Tavai, LB
The Lions have certainly done a great job improving their roster on paper. We’ll see how that translates on the field.
Offense
The Lions offense will be led by longtime starter Matthew Stafford, who had a down year in 2018 that was hampered by injury.
Stafford threw for 3,777 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. While these numbers certainly aren’t bad, Detroit is going to need more from him to compete this year. He hasn’t had a 30 touchdown season since 2015.
The most intriguing player on this offense is running back Kerryon Johnson, who is coming off a very promising rookie campaign. While he only had two games of at least 100 rushing yards, he had an insane average of 5.4 yards per attempt and totaled 641 yards in only seven starts. The new Vance Joseph defense will have to vastly improve on their 2018 run defense to contain this explosive back.
The Lions have an excellent trio of receivers, which could cause troubles for the Cardinals defense deprived of Patrick Peterson and Robert Alford. The passing attack is lead by third-year WR Kenny Golladay, who is primed for a breakout campaign. The numbers for the Lions’ starting receivers in 2018 are the following:
- Marvin Jones: 35 REC, 508 yards, 5 touchdowns
- Kenny Golladay: 70 REC, 1,063 yards, 5 touchdowns
- Danny Amendola: 59 REC, 575 yards, 1 touchdown
Amendola will line up in the slot and serves as a reliable option on third down for Matthew Stafford, while Golladay and Jones will work the perimeters for jump ball plays.
Defense
The Lions could be without LB Jarrad Davis, as he suffered an ankle injury a few weeks back and practiced Wednesday on a limited basis. That could be problematic for the Lions front seven come Sunday.
Detroit doesn’t get enough credit for the job they’ve done in improving their defensive line. Adding Trey Flowers and Mike Daniels to a unit that already featured Damon Harrison and Da’Shawn Hand could give opposing defenses fits trying to run the ball. That team could be the Cardinals and David Johnson.
The secondary is highlighted by Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay, who had a pick-six on former Cardinals QB Josh Rosen in the two teams’ last clash. It’s possible Slay shadows the great Larry Fitzgerald for a good portion of the game.
Their number two man, Raashan Melvin, practiced on a limited basis Wednesday. If he can’t go, the Lions will have to find a replacement from the back end of the roster.
One of the better slot corners in the league, Justin Coleman, will likely travel with a stacked core of Cardinals slot receivers. Kliff Kingsbury can rotate Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk in the slot at will, which is a matchup he will need to take advantage of.
Matchups
Kerryon Johnson vs Cardinals rushing defense
The Cardinals simply couldn’t stop anybody’s rushing attack in 2018, which is an oddity in the recent years of the team’s defenses.
Under Todd Bowles and James Bettcher’s 3-4 scheme, one of the team’s strengths was often stopping the run. When former head coach Steve Wilks made the transition to a 4-3 in 2018, that fell to pieces and the team had the worst run defense in the NFL.
The hope is Vance Joseph’s switch back to a 3-4 defense will vastly improve the team’s ability to stall opposing rushers. The results of the first few preseason games weren’t encouraging, so only time will tell if those results carry over into the regular season
In order to contain the Lions offense, they must prevent Kerryon Johnson from having a huge day on the ground.
Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones vs. Byron Murphy, Tramaine Brock
Going into the offseason, cornerback looked to be one of the team’s greatest strengths. Patrick Peterson’s suspension and Robert Alford’s leg injury have completely changed that, and the Lions boast an excellent duo at receiver in Golladay and Jones.
The Cardinals cornerbacks will need to contain Golladay and Jones long enough for the likes of Chandler Jones and Terrell Suggs to reach Matthew Stafford. If they don’t, rookie QB Kyler Murray will be asked to win a shootout in his first NFL game.
Kyler Murray vs the Lions secondary
Here’s the no-brainer. While the Cardinals offensive line is certainly an important matchup against Detroit’s front seven, this game is all about the No. 1 overall pick. Murray must show the Cardinals and the NFL community why he was taken with the first pick and why Josh Rosen was traded to Miami.
A big game from Kyler would go a long way in this one, as the team already appears to be rallied behind him. Murray must execute and keep the offense on the field to give the defense a chance to stop the Detroit offense.
Kyler Murray, welcome to the NFL.
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