LIONS @ CARDINALS
Tim Fernando
The battle of the two top-ranked NFC teams heats up this week when the Detroit Lions (7-2) head to Arizona (8-1) on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals lost their starting QB Carson Palmer last week to a season ending knee injury; back up QB Drew Stanton who has shown he can run the Cardinals offense and win, takes his place. On the opposite side of the field, the Detroit Lions regained superstar wide receiver Calvin Johnson last week who looked fresh, healthy and back to his normal self. It should make for a fantastic match up against one of the best secondaries in the NFL and arguably the best cover corner, Patrick Peterson.
Arizona who were looking basically unstoppable to date suffered a big setback last week losing Carson Palmer for the rest of the season. Back up QB Drew Stanton now has the spotlight firmly placed on his play for the remainder of the season and he has the job of continuing the success this Cardinals offense has seen through the last 10 weeks. John Brown, the Cardinals rookie wide receiver out of Pittsburgh State, has been a massive boost and surprise for the Cardinals this year averaging 13.8 yards a catch with 399 yards & 5 touchdowns off only 29 receptions. Much of the Cardinals success has come from the other side of the ball with Anotonio Cromartie, Patrick Peterson and Jerraud Powers combining for 7 Interceptions in the Cardinals secondary so far this season. With the Lions presenting one of the more talented receiving units, the Cardinals will need their 3 big guns to play at that level if they are any chance of limiting the lions on offense.
Detroit may be one of the least-talked about 7-2 teams we have seen in quite a while.
Coming off a big win at home last week against an inform Dolphins team, the Lions moved to second in the NFC. With Calvin Johnson (pictured above) back for the second straight week and coming off 113 yards and a 49yd TD, QB Matthew Stafford will be looking to better his 61.4% passing percentage.
The Lions defense has been the driving force behind a strong start to the season and much of that can be placed on Outside Linebacker Deandre Levy who is averaging 9.5 tackles a game and has 86 total tackles with 64 of those solo through 9 games played.
This game, I think, comes down to how Matt Stafford copes with the Cardinals pass-rush and also the Cardinals Secondary. If Stafford can limit turnovers and get in rhythm with Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate early, the Lions could steal this one from the Cardinals. As for the Cardinals, much of their game comes down to Drew Stanton and can he cope with what has become a very good Lions defense as of late. 1 of many games of the week and hard to tip, but I can't go past the home field advantage.
ARIZONA by 10.