Arizona Cardinals Defense Best Detroits Top Ranked Unit

14-6, maybe not a scoreline that on paper would grab your attention. But for the Arizona Cardinals, 14-6 were the magic numbers that ensured that they would move on to 9-1 for the season. Then the Kansas City Chiefs put the icing on our cake by taking care of the Seattle Seahawks, leaving us with a three game lead with 7 games to go. The Lions may be regarded as the king of the jungle but the Lions were certainly not at home in the desert of Arizona.

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As predicted in my previous column this game turned into a defensive struggle, and the Lions who came in with the number one ranked defense were tipped by many experts and former players / coaches to win this one. I give respect where it is due, the Lions defense are a very solid unit and played very well I this game. However to all those experts who tipped Detroit I would like to ask: which team really does have the best defense in the league? I strongly suggest that despite the obvious ability of the Lions unit, as well as the likes of Seattle, Miami and Buffalo, that just quite possibly the league’s best defense belongs to the Arizona Cardinals.

Only giving up 6 points, against a team that contained a former no 1 overall draft pick at QB with Matthew Stafford and of course the mighty Megatron is one strong statement made by the Arizona Cardinals. The No Fly Zone group of Patrick Peterson, Antonio Cromartie and of course the Honey Badger combined to keep Megatron to just 5 catches for 59 yards, whereas the pressure being put on Stafford by the DL basically shut down the Lions when they needed to make a comeback.

That comeback was required because Drew Stanton came out firing in relief of Carson Palmer, throwing two early touchdowns to Michael Floyd. Stanton ended the day with 306 yards on 21 from 32 passes. The Lions did manage to find two interceptions but overall Stanton impressed and picked up his 3rd win of the season. With two of those wins coming against Detroit and San Francisco, you could make the case that Stanton has not picked up these wins the easy way.

It is possible that the Lions were not expecting Stanton to come out firing, but when Bruce Arians said earlier in the week that he felt the Cardinals could win a Super Bowl with Stanton, he actually meant it. This has obviously given Stanton huge self confidence, but probably also speaks to the confidence that Arians has in his offense. Arians has shown that he will not change the game plan in the slightest, with Stanton under centre, and at 9-1 why should he. Having lost 3 starters from last years Defense and now his starting QB, Arians has continued his march towards the Coach of the Year Award.

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Special mention to Larry Fitzgerald, who reached the milestone of 12,000 receiving yards in this game and despite suffering an ankle sprain was the man to make the game sealing catch that ensured the Lions could not stop the clock. Larry is already indicating that ankle sprain or not he will be available to play next week. But this may mean more work for Michael Floyd and John Brown and of course Andre Ellington out of the backfield. I would love to see Richard Sherman try and keep up with John Brown next week, and you know that Bruce will not shy away from calling plays to challenge Sherman.

The Arizona Cardinals as I suggest above are to borrow a phrase from Bill Bellichek are now On To Seattle. With that three game lead in the division, this is not the must win game it could have been. However lets remember that we did go to Seattle and win last season and if we could repeat that feat this time round it might just be enough to knock Seattle out of the Playoff race this time round.

As for Detroit they are now locked in a race for their own division with the Green Bay Packers. The Detroit Lions will have their hands full and the Packers game that will prove a real test for that defense. However this week they face a similar task taking on another number 12 QB who likes to target the receiver wearing number 87, in Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski and the rest of the New England Patriots. The Lions season could go into freefall if they are not careful just like last year.

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