Allen Park — If it felt like the Detroit Lions were matching up with the Arizona Cardinals annually for a while there, you weren’t crazy.
From 2012-21, the sides squared off nine times in 10 seasons. That’s unusual, but reflective of the two teams often having corresponding finishes in their division, including three years where they were both ended up in the cellar.
Detroit had broken that trend under coach Dan Campbell, at least until 2025, so here we are again, two last-place finishers from the previous season meeting the following year.
But not all last-place finishers are created equal. The Lions opened the year with 15-to-1 Super Bowl odds. The Cardinals? The longest odds in the league at 250-to-1.
Not much time has gone by since the Lions last battled the Cardinals. They caught them in 2024, part of a schedule rotation where Detroit played every team in the NFC West. It wasn’t the prettiest game, but the Lions got the job done on the road that afternoon, running out the clock in the 20-13 victory.
Despite a little more than 24 months separating the matchups, the Cardinals will look plenty different, including at the most critical spots for any NFL franchise; coach and quarterback.
In January, Arizona fired Jonathan Gannon after three seasons, paving the path for Detroit to hire Drew Petzing, the team’s offensive coordinator during the duration of that tenure.
To replace Gannon, the Cardinals hired Mike LaFleur, a Michigan native and the brother of Packers coach Matt LaFleur. Mike, a branch off the Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay coaching trees, had spent the past three seasons serving as the Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator.
LaFleur calls the offensive plays for the Cardinals, and he retained Nick Rallis as the team’s defensive coordinator, despite the unit finishing 29th in scoring a year ago.
As significant as the coaching change was the Cardinals’ decision to break from quarterback Kyler Murray, the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft. They cut the dual-threat in March, despite more than $50 million in dead money remaining on the contract.
The short-term solution has been handing the reins to longtime NFL backup Jacoby Brissett, who went 1-11 filling in for Murray last season, but with a respectable 94.1 passer rating.
The Cardinals’ retained — and in the case of receiver Michael Wilson, extended — Brissett’s receiving arsenal, which is headlined by All-Pro tight end Trey McBride. The team also added Kendrick Bourne to a mix that includes former first-round pick Marvin Harrison Jr., signing the former to a two-year, $10 million deal in free agency.
The more notable upgrades to the offensive attack have come in the backfield. After signing Tyler Allgeier — Bijan Robinson’s backup in Atlanta — in free agency, the team used the No. 3 pick in April’s draft to select Notre Dame standout Jeremiyah Love.
That’s the earliest a team has drafted a running back since the New York Giants took Saquon Barkley No. 2 in 2018.
Love had his workload limited by the team the first couple weeks of the season while working his way through a high-ankle sprain, but he drew 26 touches in Week 3, netting 109 yards and a touchdown from scrimmage. However, that regressed to 15 touches this past weekend after he acknowledged he was still feeling lingering issues with the injury.
Both Love and Allgeier were running behind an upgraded offensive line. That group got a boost in free agency with the signing of long-time Steelers guard Isaac Seumalo to a three-year deal. The Cardainls also replaced right tackle Kelvin Beachum, 37, with journeyman Elijah Wilkinson, who started all 17 games for Atlanta last year.
However, the blocking took a hit this week when Paris Johnson was lost to a season-ending biceps injury. That likely pushes rookie seventh-round pick Jayden Williams into the starting lineup this Sunday.
Defensively, the offseason changes were more modest. Eating Murray’s massive cap hit understandably limited the team’s spending power to make more significant upgrades.
In free agency, Arizona brought back defensive tackle Roy Lopez after a one-year stint with the Lions. The Cardinals also added linebacker Jack Gibbons from New England and safety Andrew Wingard from Jacksonville. The latter pairs with longtime standout Budda Baker in the back end of the defense.
The team didn’t use a draft pick on a defender until the fourth round, when they snagged defensive lineman Kaleb Proctor. Unfortunately, he was lost to a season-ending knee injury during OTAs.
The Lions will also miss seeing cornerback Will Johnson, a second-round pick in 2025, after a neck injury landed the former Michigan Wolverine on injured reserve last month.
Clearly, the Cardinals are in rebuild mode, especially with Murray’s $46.8 million dead-money hit remaining on the books this season. Presumably, they’ll be on the hunt for a long-term replacement at QB next year, while patching other roster holes with the freed funds.
In the meantime, the offense still has the potential to be potent when Brissett takes care of the ball. Love, McBride, Harrison and Wilson can stress defenses, especially as they get more acclimated to the scheme brought in by LaFleur. That said, the unit is averaging a pedestrian 21.6 points through four games.
Defensively, things are what they are. You will always have to account for Baker, one of the league’s more aggressive safeties. And they’re generating a healthy number of turnovers through four games. Beyond that, they’ve allowed a league-worst 9.1 yards per completion, been average against the run, they don’t blitz often or pressure the quarterback particularly well, and have been subpar on third down and in the red zone.
Totally off subject, where was Abney and might we see more of him vs Arizona after last week’s debacle?