On Sunday, the Detroit Lions traveled into Arizona on a mission. The Lions were determined to rebound from an unexpected and embarrassing loss to Carolina. They faced a shorthanded Arizona team, missing multiple linemen and corners.
The Lions started slow, but left no doubt in the end, scoring on seven straight drives to win 45-21. There was good, bad, and ugly in the contest.
The Good
The Stars of the Offense
The stars of the Detroit offense came out to play. Sam LaPorta, Jahmyr Gibbs, Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Jameson Williams all had spectacular games. LaPorta was the initial sparkplug for the offense, getting the initial first down and finished as the leading receiver with 88 yards.
Williams caught his first two touchdowns of the season, showcasing his speed. Goff had four total touchdowns, with three passing and a sneak. St. Brown came alive late, and his two fumbles did not impact the game with both being recovered.
Gibbs’s play was at an elite level, with over 200 total yards on the day, including 151 rushing yards, and added two touchdowns. The Lions put up seven straight scoring drives, with their stars carrying the load to put up 45 points.
Defensive Line
The pass rush finished with five sacks on the day. D.J. Wonnum recorded a two-sack game, including a high motor second effort sack. Derrick Barnes recorded a solo sack, and Alim McNeill, Aidan Hutchinson, Skylar Gill-Howard, and Malcolm Rodriguez split the remaining two sacks.
The Lions put Jacoby Brissett under pressure constantly and were also strong in stuffing the run. The top two backs for Arizona, Jeremiah Love and Tyler Allgeier, combined for 15 carries for 29 yards.
It was a stifling effort until late in the contest, when the game was out of hand.
The Bad
Defensive Back Play
It was a rough week in the secondary for Detroit, as they allowed Brissett to put up nearly 300 yards through the air. The secondary was routinely burnt, with Roger McCreary being the first guy targeted, before D.J. Reed, Chuck Clark, and Ennis Rakestraw each had times being beat.
McCreary recovered from a slower start to the game to record a mind-boggling six pass breakups. It was easily the best game in the Honolulu Blue for McCreary, although the last two scoring drives saw his man get free a few times.
Keith Abney II also added his first career interception on the day. With Brissett needing nearly 50 attempts and a phenomenal effort from McCreary, this category is merely ‘bad’ this week.
Sloppy Play
There were uncharacteristic lulls of sloppiness from the Lions on Sunday. This ranged from blown assignments leading to sacks on each of the first two drop backs to untimely discipline penalties, such as unnecessary roughness and false starts.
It was not the most polished effort in Arizona, and Chuck Clark throwing his hands in the air on two blown assignments in the second half was a rough look. Add in the usual surehanded Amon-Ra St. Brown recording 2 fumbles, one on a punt return, and it was not a clean effort.
That said, when a team scores on seven straight drives and finishes the final three quarters on a 45-14 run, it was obviously not the sloppiest effort.
The Ugly
Slow Start
The only ugly from Sunday’s match was a slow start in the first quarter. The Lions came out dysfunctional, getting sacked on third-and-five after winning their first coin toss of the year.
The Lions then allowed an Arizona score to begin the game, with the defensive back being their own worst enemies, flipping their hips incorrectly at points and allowing too much yardage.
The next two drives also led to punts, and one of those came after a 22-yard return by Tom Kennedy to set up the dangerous offense at midfield. At the end of the first quarter, it was rough for the Lions. They had -14 yards through the air and -5 yards in total in the opening frame.
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