Lions vs Cardinals: Detroit wins a defensive struggle in Arizona
The Detroit Lions woke up this morning in the desert looking to end their win column drought with a victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
This week puts two teams with defensive minded first-year head coaches, Detroit’s Matt Patricia and Arizona’s Steve Wilks, who preside over teams who’s 2018 seasons are virtually all but over. Entering into this game, the Detroit Lions are an extremely disappointing 4-8 and the Arizona Cardinals are a game behind them at 3-9.
Despite the doldrums, both teams have a bit of a silver lining for their fans to look forward to. For the Lions, their defense has continuously shown glimpses of how formidable they could be as they continue to grow together and the Cards have their resident living legend at wide receiver, the incomparable Larry Fitzgerald.
At this point of the season for fans of losing teams, it’s all about these silver linings. Small victories are welcome wherever they can be found!
First Quarter
Detroit opened up this game on offense and on their first play of the game, LeGarrette Blount was held for no gain. On Blount’s next snap, he gained 12-yards on the ground. Theo Riddick checked into the game with an 8-yard carry of his own but quarterback Matthew Stafford missed on his first pass attempt as the Lions got to third down.
On 3rd & 2, Detroit receiver Bruce Ellington made a seven-yard grab in order to move the chains. Next, Blount rumbled his way for another 14-yard gain but after a rare pass target for LeGarrette, he was stripped of the ball after the catch by safety Budda Baker and the defensive playmaker recovered the fumble for Arizona.
The Cardinals’ rookie quarterback, Josh Rosen, came into the game to lead his team on offense but missed on his first pass. On 3rd & 9, Ezekiel Ansah nearly got home for the sack from the defensive end spot but his counterpart on the other side, Romeo Okwara was able to come up with the sack on Rosen.
Detroit took back over with the ball but they quickly had to punt the ball back to Arizona after going three-and-out.
On their next offensive series, Cardinal running back David Johnson gained 10-yards on his first attempt of the new set of downs. The Lion defense ultimately forced a third down though and Josh Rosen was taken down on that play by Lion linebacker Eli Harold to force another Arizona punt.
After being backed up to 2nd & 20 due to an offensive holding penalty, Detroit couldn’t dig themselves out of their hole after Stafford missed his wideout Kenny Golladay on a deep pass attempt on third down. Lion punter Sam Martin came in and booted the ball away with a 50-yard kick.
Lions rookie defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand got his leg rolled up on during Arizona’s third offensive series and he had to be taken out of the game to be evaluated by the medical staff. One play later on during the same series, Ezekiel Ansah looked to have suffered a severe shoulder injury. Detroit’s defense forced a punt yet again but the unit was hit hard by those two aforementioned injuries.
Theo Riddick moved the chains for the first down on a third-down play and on the next snap, Blount caught a designed screen pass and maneuvered his way downfield for a nice gain for the road team. LeGarrette’s play was the last play of the first quarter.