The Detroit Lions face a Week One matchup on the road against an opponent in the Arizona Cardinals that is packed with plenty of unknowns.
At this point, I’m tired of just talking about the Detroit Lions‘ regular-season and ready to start seeing some meaningful action. And what better way than to do so than to be on the road against the team that made the top selection in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Maybe you were expected me to say it’s better to start the season at home. If so, have you forgotten what happened against the New York Jets in last years’ regular-season opener? No thank you. I’ll take the road against a team that posted a league-worst 3-13 record last season over starting the year (and the Matt Patricia era) with a 48-17 blowout to the upstart New York Jets that absolutely sank all hope that 2018 was going to be anything but a dumpster fire.
Now, don’t get me wrong. The Arizona Cardinals are a tough opponent to get in Week One. With a new head coach and rookie quarterback under center, you might think this matchup would be a nice tune-up game for any NFL team. But you’d be wrong.
Unlike the other games on the Cardinals schedule, Week One is unique for Arizona because they are a complete unknown. First-year head coach Kliff Kingsbury is an offensive innovator and is expected to run a version of the Air Raid offense, which he has kept notoriously secret. Whether his version will be effective in the NFL is a giant mystery … and the Lions will, unfortunately, be the guinea pigs. How do you plan for something no one’s really ever seen?
But the Cardinals are at a somewhat disadvantage themselves as Detroit hired Darrell Bevell as their new offensive coordinator this offseason. The Lions figure to be a more run-centric team under Bevell, but Detroit did go about the business of adding playmakers for veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford like wide receiver Danny Amendola and first-round rookie tight end T.J. Hockenson.
Then there’s the maturation of the Matt Patricia-led defense going into its second year. All the Detroit brass did this offseason was add playmakers to that side of the ball that fit Patricia’s scheme like defensive end Trey Flowers, cornerback Justin Coleman, and second-round linebacker Jahlani Tavai. This is a unit that showed much improvement during the second half of last season and figures to only build on that momentum in Year Two.
The Detroit defense should have their ears pinned back with a rookie under center in Kyler Murray, the first overall selection in this year’s draft. Although, the Lions faced a rookie quarterback in last year’s opener in the Jets’ Sam Donald too. But the undersized yet ultra-athletic Murray figures to present his own problems.
The 5-foot-10, 207-pound Murray was the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner. He recorded 4,361 passing yards at Oklahoma last year while completing an impressive 69.0 percent of his passes. Murray also threw for 42 touchdowns and only seven interceptions in 14 games. In the preseason, the rookie passer completed 23 of his 36 pass attempts (63.9) for 193 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions and was sacked three times in three games.
Cardinals running back David Johnson posted nearly 1,500 total offensive yards and 10 touchdowns last season. And Arizona has amassed a talented receiver corps with names like Larry Fitzgerald, Christian Kirk, Michael Crabtree plus rookies Andy Isabella and KeeSean Johnson.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Cardinals have a strong linebacker corps that consists of Terrell Suggs, Chandler Jones, Haason Reddick, and Jordan Hicks. But Arizona’s secondary is without its two top corners Patrick Peterson (suspension) and Robert Alford (leg injury), which could open up things in the passing game for Stafford and company.
The Detroit Lions season opener against the Arizona Cardinals is packed with unknowns on both teams. This will be a contest of many firsts on both sides of the ball with scheme and player debuts making the matchup a bit of a wildcard. Yet, both franchises need a victory in order to prove either is one the right path as a defeat is likely a bad omen for the rest of their season.