Arizona Cardinals Offense Can Light Up the Scoreboard in Week 3

The Arizona Cardinals host the Detroit Lions in Week 3 and their offense has played well against two of the NFL’s better defenses.

You can’t deny the Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins-led offense proved against the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Football team that they can move the ball against anyone. And you can’t argue with the numbers. 6th in total offense, 13th in passing offense, and 5th in rushing offense.

Sure, the Cardinals offense has its quirks. Running backs Kenyan Drake and Chase Edmonds saw slow starts over the first two weeks of the season. 20 penalties for 199 yards have stalled promising drives. Kyler Murray’s been so-so in the passing game, averaging just 6.6 yards per pass attempt.

Per Pro Football Outsiders, the offense thus far ranks an unspectacular 23rd in offensive efficiency. The Cardinals also rank 19th in yards per play. However, the Cardinals have a golden opportunity to light up the scoreboard against a Lions defense that has yet to click.

Through two weeks, the Lions rank 28th in total defense, allowing an average of 425.5 yards per game and thus far, 34.5 points per game. Detroit’s defense is notorious for collapsing as the game wears on.

In Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers, the Lions defense gave up 488 total yards. And after taking a 14-3 lead in the first quarter, the Packers outscored them 39-7 the rest of the way. It was the second straight game in which the Lions built a double-digit lead only for their defense to squander down the stretch.

Judging from the way the Packers ran all over the Lions for 259 yards on 35 attempts, good for 7.4 yards per carry, expect the Cardinals to get their running backs going early. You should see Kenyan Drake play as he did over the last eight games of the 2019 season against a weaker defense like Detroit.

And Kyler Murray will look to improve upon his NFL-best 7.5 yards per carry against a weak Lions rush defense. Murray did a fantastic job in Week 2 evading a stellar Washington pass rush that ravaged Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz for eight sacks in the season opener.

However, he still has room for improvement. His early interception into traffic could have been a gamechanger had Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins not given the ball right back to the Cardinals. There were times Murray forced the ball downfield on second and third and manageable rather than toss one underneath for the sure first down.

In all, the Cardinals have done enough offensively over the first two weeks to warrant a strong showing against some of the league’s better defenses. In Week Three against Detroit, we will see how they respond against a defense they’re supposed to light up the scoreboard against.