The Detroit Lions offense should feast on the Arizona Cardinals

As you all know, the Detroit Lions head to the West coast for a date with the Arizona Cardinals. It should be a walk in the park, but that’s never a guarantee being week one.

The Arizona Cardinals finished dead last a year ago allowing themselves a chance to pick from the entire field of college athletes. After the team decided to hire head coach Kliff Kingsbury who had been recently fired by the Texas Tech Red Raiders, the team decided to select college standout, Kyler Murray. He could be a thorn in the side of the Detroit Lions today.

The NFL is an offense driven league, hence the Kingsbury signing after he was fired in the college circuit. Texas Tech often possessed a top-25 total offense throughout the FBS. The issue came on the opposite side of the ball, the Red Raiders defense under Kingsbury was regularly ranked near the bottom in all of college football.

The Cardinals have transitioned from a defensive head coach in Steve Wilks after just one season to the high flying air raid Kingsbury offense. Being week one of the NFL season, it leaves us a little bit nervous. I mean, we haven’t seen how crisp the Detroit Lions starters on both sides of the ball will be. I assume the Lions defense will be able to dominate the Cards but what if Murray is the real deal?

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One thing that concerns me about Murray is his mobility and ability to elude the rush. The Detroit Lions will have one of the best defenses in football this season if everyone plays as well as advertised. The defensive front should cause havoc on the Cardinals below average O-line leaving Murray on the run all afternoon.

If Murray can create time for his wide receivers scrambling around, I’m a bit concerned about the coverage downfield. Darius Slay will be able to lock down one side of the field, but with Rashaan Melvin questionable it leaves a significant hole Arizona will likely try and exploit. The good news for the Lions is Larry Fitzgerald will probably be locked up with Justin Coleman. Coleman is one of the best slot corners in the league, and while Larry is a legend, he’s not nearly as dynamic as he once was earlier in his career. I have tremendous respect for Fitz, but he’s merely a chain mover working the slot these days rather than a downfield threat.

The Lions are likely to be without their starting middle linebacker Jarrad Davis although he’s traveling with the team. David Johnson doesn’t appear to be the same dynamic all-purpose back he’s been in the past, but if he’s able to turn back the clock, it could cause problems for the Detroit Lions linebackers trying to cover him. Johnson is a miss-match when he’s right.

Matthew Stafford and the Lions offense should feast today on a Cardinals secondary that will be without suspended corner Patrick Peterson. Both Marvin Jones & Kenny Golladay should be in for significant success. The teams’ second-best corner Robert Alfred will also be sidelined due to injury. Although I’m not entirely confident in the Lions offensive line, they should be able to hold up well enough to allow Stafford to stand in and deliver. Frank Ragnow is questionable, but he was back to practice last week which should bode well for him to start, anchoring the interior of the line.

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I expect both teams to start off a bit slow as they shake off the rust. If this were in Detroit, I’d have the Lions winning by at least 10, but since they had to travel to the West coast, I could see this game finishing within a score of each other. Something like 28-24 Lions. If Murray isn’t the real deal, it will be a blowout. I must say I’m intrigued to see if his game translates from College to the pros.

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