Detroit Lions Week 15 Report Card: A stunning win over the Cardinals

Coaching Staff-5/5 Stars

An absolutely incredible performance from this coaching staff. The Lions faced off against one of the top teams in the league without a vast majority of their best players, and they dominated the way that they did. That is some impressive work.

Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn in particular has been about as good as anyone could have hoped for. His game plans for the most part have been superb, and today was his best work yet. He dialed up pressure all game long to disrupt the Cardinals rhythm in the passing game. This defense continues to play extremely gutsy football week after week.

That isn’t to say the offensive play calling wasn’t just as good, because it was. Detroit controlled the clock and ran the ball well. However, they also played smart in the passing game and allowed Goff to fire off quick completions.

On top of how good the play calling was, and how fired up the players were today, Dan Campbell continues to be aggressive. He attempted an onside kick after the opening drive, and he went for it on fourth down once and converted. There likely would have been a second fourth-down conversion, but it didn’t count due to a Brock Wright penalty.

Campbell has shown he will do anything in his power to win. And he did it once again in this game.

Final Thoughts

Coming into this game, with the Cardinals favored by nearly two touchdowns (with extra points) , absolutely no one picked the Lions to win.

Yet it was Detroit that looked like the 10-win team destined for the postseason. It was a completely shocking and lopsided affair.

While the Lions no longer hold the No. 1 pick in April’s draft, having the second overall pick would not be a disaster  of it came to that. It’s obvious the Lions don’t care about draft position. They are going to compete and try to win every single week, and they did just that for the second time on Sunday.

Final grade: 5/5 stars