Michigan Sports

Lions rev up offense in 45-21 win at Arizona

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Dan Campbell felt his team was teetering on the edge of a lost season after four shaky performances to start the year so the Detroit head coach dialed up the intensity for Week 5, putting in an ultra-aggressive game plan that featured the fearlessness he wanted to see.

The Lions rewarded him with their best game of the year.

Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes, Jahmyr Gibbs added 151 yards rushing and two more scores and Detroit shook off a slow start by scoring on seven consecutive drives to roll past the Arizona Cardinals 45-21 on Sunday.

“The important thing is you go all in, no matter what you’re going to do,” Campbell said. “And either it crumbles or they rise up, but you’re going all in. You’ve got to push your chips all the way in and you’ve got to believe in it.

“So we did. We applied a little pressure and the players really responded.”

Detroit (3-2) scored three touchdowns on fourth down and the defense had a bounce-back performance, led by cornerback Roger McCreary, who had six passes defended while playing mostly man-to-man coverage. D.J. Wonnum had two sacks.

Gibbs barreled into the end zone on a 1-yard run in the second quarter and added a 3-yard TD run in the fourth, bouncing off the offensive line before reversing field and finding room to run. The three-time Pro Bowl selection has scored an NFL-record 58 touchdowns before his 25th birthday, passing Lions great Barry Sanders, who had 57.

“He’s unbelievable, he really is,” Goff said. “We did a good job in the run game and still probably didn’t do as well as we could. He made a lot of guys miss in the backfield and got a lot after the first touch. Gosh, he’s electric.”

Jameson Williams had his first multi-TD receiving game, catching touchdowns for 8 and 39 yards.

Harrison’s trade

Arizona (1-4) has lost nine straight home games, a streak that’s lasted more than a year.

It was a disappointing, weird afternoon for the Cardinals, who finalized a trade to send receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. to the Houston Texans in the middle of the first quarter. Harrison was one of the team’s five inactives against the Lions and wasn’t seen at the stadium.

The No. 4 overall pick in 2024 out of Ohio State has been a major disappointment in the desert and he had just five catches for 85 yards and a touchdown through four games this season.

But the non-Harrison version of the Cardinals wasn’t any better Sunday.

Arizona took an early 7-0 lead after a 2-yard touchdown pass from Jacoby Brissett to tight end Teagan Quitoriano, but right about the time news of the Harrison deal started spreading, the momentum shifted.

Lions pour it on

Detroit scored three straight touchdowns and a field goal in the second quarter to take a 24-7 lead into halftime. Tight end Sam LaPorta caught the second of the three TDs, finding himself wide open for a 38-yard catch and run.

Williams added a 39-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter on a perfectly-thrown ball by Goff, who completed 19 of 30 passes for 279 yards. The quarterback also ran for a 1-yard touchdown.

“Goff is just Goff,” Campbell said. “He’s as good as they come.”

Up next

Lions: Host Green Bay on Oct. 25.

Cardinals: At the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.