Two bad teams with nothing but draft position to play for met in Arizona today, and the Lions were the less-bad team.
Detroit’s defense isn’t very good, but it was made to look good against an awful Cardinals offense that simply couldn’t do anything. Josh Rosen was throwing mostly short and safe passes, and when he threw a pick-six to Lions cornerback Darius Slay, that basically sealed the game. The final score was 17-3, Lions.
Other than Slay’s big play, there wasn’t much to like in this game. Lions running back Zach Zenner ran the ball reasonably well and should probably start ahead of LeGarrette Blount in Detroit until Kerryon Johnson returns. But Zenner was the lone high point for the Lions’ offense; Matthew Stafford completed 15 of 23 passes for a brutally low 101 yards.
The Cardinals did little worth mentioning, other than Larry Fitzgerald getting his 1,282nd career catch to surpass Jerry Rice for the most receptions with one team in NFL history.
The Cardinals’ loss drops them to 3-10 and keeps them in contention for the first overall pick in the draft. The Lions’ win improves their record to 5-8.