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

The Detroit Lions stunned the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, winning 30-12.

The win is Detroit’s second of the season. It also moves them out of the first overall pick with a 2-11-2 record, as the Jacksonville Jaguars dropped to 2-12 with a loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday.

Despite all the injuries and illnesses, the Lions continue to battle. Dan Campbell’s team dominated a sure-fire playoff team, and it was easily the best the team has looked all year.

The Lions controlled the clock, and played excellent football on both offense and defense. It was a complete effort.

Detroit Lions Week 15 Report Card: A shocking win

Offense-4/5 Stars

For a majority of the game, Detroit did whatever they wanted to offensively. And it started right from the first drive.

The Lions opened the game with a 15-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a field goal. The drive took nearly nine minutes off the clock.

After that, Detroit started to pile on the points. Jared Goff threw first half touchdowns to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Josh Reynolds to give the Lions a 17-0 lead at halftime.

In the second half the offense slowed. But the Lions still scored 30 points for the second time all season, and the first time since Week 1’s rally got them there.

The run game was prominent again on Sunday. Craig Reynolds led the way with another strong performance, as he had 112 yards on 26 carries.

However, it would be unfair to not mention how good Goff was in this game. He only threw for 216 yards, but he threw three touchdowns and completed over 80 percent of his passes (21-for-26).

Consistency has been a bit of an anathema to Goff for most of the season, but like the rest of the team this was easily his most complete effort. Considering how good he has been against the Cardinals in his career, maybe Goff’s showing shouldn’t have been as surprising.

The offense played a really solid game from start to finish, and there’s nothing really to complain about (aside from one player which we will get into in a moment).

Best offensive player: WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

The Lions’ rookie receiver has turned into the team’s most reliable pass catcher. He now has double-digit targets in three straight games, with a touchdown in two of them.

St. Brown caught his second-career touchdown pass to open up the second quarter.

It’s clear that the coaching staff has emphasized getting St. Brown the ball. He is repaying the faith they have in him by providing a sure-handed option for Goff to turn to.

Worst offensive player: RB Godwin Igwebuike 

For some reason in the last two weeks, ball security has become a major issue for Igwebuike.

He only got two carries in this game, and still managed to turn the ball over. At the time of Sunday’s fumble, it appeared as if that could be the start of a comeback attempt by the Cardinals.

Luckily for Igwebuike, Detroit immediately forced a turnover of their own to recapture the momentum. But that does not excuse Igwebuike’s mistake.

He could be the odd-man out if D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams get healthy soon. No matter what Reynolds has leap-frogged Igwebuike on the depth chart.

Defense-4/5 Stars

What an absolutely amazing job by this defense. A first half shutout, and holding one of the better offenses in the league to just 12 points. The Lions allowed just 6 points until the final few moments, when the Cardinals got a garbage time score.

The Lions were incredibly aggressive, making sure Kyler Murray wasn’t comfortable in the pocket. The plan worked, as Murray missed throws all game long due to the constant pressure he was faced with and he just generally was off.

For some reason, the Detroit Lions seem to have Kyler Murray’s number.

Shutting down this offense that convincingly was not something anyone expected. Then again, that can be said for this game as a whole.

The Cardinals had their opportunities, but Detroit held up in the red zone, forcing Arizona to settle for two 29-yard field goals with a turnover on downs in Lions’ territory. This defense did not bend often, but when they did they never broke.

This was quite simply a defensive clinic from the Lions.

Best defensive player: OLB Charles Harris

Harris was flat-out unbelievable in this game, continuing his career year.

Harris was flying around all game, making plays in both the run and pass rush game.

His 1.5 sacks in this game pushed his season total to 7.5. Which is more than he had in his previous four seasons combined. 

He has proved to be an incredible find by Brad Holmes and the Lions front office. Harris has been one of the more consistent players on the entire team this year.

Honorable mention: CB Amani Oruwariye 

Oruwariye continues to be an elite ball-hawk. He made an absolutely unbelievable play to pick off Murray and set up the Lions in prime field position.

That marks Oruwariye’s sixth pick of the season, as he remains in the top three league-wide in interceptions.

Worst defensive player: CB A.J. Parker

It was difficult to identify any defensive performance that was subpar for the Lions on Sunday.

Parker had a few great pass breakups in this game, but he did get beat a few times, including the lone Cardinals touchdown, and a deep shot that was mere inches away from being another score.

For an undrafted free agent rookie, Parker has been really good. However, this game highlighted the risk you take when you trust a rookie that much. You have to take the good with the bad, and this week the negative plays outweighed what positives Parker brought.

Special Teams-3/5 Stars

Riley Patterson remained perfect, hitting all three of his field goals and all three of his extra point attempts. He has provided the Lions with some stability at the kicking position, which has been a pleasant surprise.

Jack Fox had a mediocre day by his standards. He averaged under 45 yards per punt, though he did have one kick settle inside the 20.

Kalif Raymond had some decent returns, one for 14 yards and one for 10 yards. Godwin Igwebuike’s lone kick return only went for 17 yards.

The kick and punt coverage had a few breakdowns. The Cardinals had two 31-yard kick returns, and  Rondale Moore had a couple of decent punt returns.

So it was an up-and-down effort from the special teams, but overall it was good enough.

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