Lions vs. Cardinals: What Just Happened?

Today I got to do something for the first time since 2005. No, it wasn’t listen to my Ying Yang Twins CD. That thing is covered in way too much dust. I got to celebrate a Lions win over the Arizona Cardinals. The last time I could do that was the day before my 19th birthday. I’m 31 now.

There’s so much to talk about with this 35-23 win. You guys know I always have thoughts. These are those thoughts.

Of course this happened

Do you know why this happened? Because it had to. Because it’s the Lions. Because you’re a Lions fan. That’s exactly why. Because the football gods hate you and they want you to argue with the world all week

But then the football gods were like “Ahh we’re just messing with you”

Because then Matthew played like a man that will destroy Virgil for the Million Dollar Championship at the Survivor Series Showdown in November of 1991.

Stafford went off for 292 yards and four touchdowns after that interception. This guy deserves the money. Sorry, Yahoo. This article looks kind of dumb now.

Did this team really force four turnovers?

Who are these guys and what did they do with the Lions 2016 defense? Detroit could barely muster a turnover last season; they finished the year with just 17 turnovers. They had four on Sunday.

This type of thing definitely isn’t sustainable. Don’t look for the Lions to force four turnovers on any other team in 2017. However, the simple fact that they’re able to force any should put a smile on your face.

Kenny Golladay is something special

Earlier in the day, Jeremy Reisman and I talked about Kenny Golladay on the Pride Of Detroit Facebook page. We both agreed that we wouldn’t see much of Golladay against the Cardinals. In fact, we both agreed we wouldn’t see much of him for a while.

Then Kenny went out and grabbed four receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns. Now I wonder what we were thinking. Golladay looks like he’s going to be a very exciting player during his career. Looks like that will include his rookie year too.

Pass rush can’t get home

The Lions definitely surprised many when their defensive line was able to create pressure on Carson Palmer all day. They were able to get hurries and make Carson jump out of the pocket multiple times.

The problem is that Carson moves like a barge and the Lions defensive linemen were still not able to take him down. The Lions were held to just one sack all day. Every time they did get back on those hurries, they were unable to finish.

If they have this much trouble with 38-year-old Carson Palmer, imagine all the trouble they’re going to have against a quarterback like Cam Newton, for example.

The Lions have to stop starting so slow

There’s only one way to describe this game. This video does it perfectly.

The Lions need to get going earlier in the game. It was nice to see them win big against an opponent they haven’t beaten in a while. Still, they don’t always have to make the game interesting.

For once it would be nice to see the Lions cut out the miscues and just stomp a team to the point where I’m bored to tears in the fourth quarter.

Dwayne, Dwayne go away, you can come back another day

It’s easy to forget now that the Lions have won, but Dwayne Washington had a really bad day early on. And it was bad enough to ignore the small successes he had later on. This kind of thing just can’t be ignored.

I get that he wanted to make a play and help dig the Lions out of the hole. But what would have really helped was having the Lions take the ball on the 20. Washington also got called for a 15-yard penalty earlier in the game.

I don’t know much, but I know that Zach Zenner will and should be active vs the Giants next week.

Jared Davis took someone to suplex city

Don’t do that again, Jarrad.

In all seriousness, Jarrad had himself a nice little day. He finished with nine tackles, a fumble recovery and a pass deflection that he apparently was not credited for. That’s exactly the kind of day you want from your first round draft choice. Let’s just hope he doesn't throw another German Suplex on somebody.

Temper those expectations

The Lions looked good on Sunday. They got themselves a big win over a team that’s given them hell for years. But don’t forget they also looked really bad for a half of football. The Lions cannot make this type of thing a habit. They need to attack and go for the jugular from the get go.

And for those people out there that don’t like Stafford or his contract and think the Lions should move on, we got a man.