Lions vs. Cardinals preview: 3 key matchups

The Detroit Lions will have an opportunity to be great when they hit the road to take on the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5. Why do I phrase it like that? An opportunity to be great.

Because that is what we all expect now from this organization. It’s no longer a hope. It’s the floor.

“Man, if you want be great. They should want to score 35 points a game at a minimum,” said Dan Campbell when discussing his offense. “That’s what greatness is. That’s what they’re charged with. We’ve got plenty of weapons on offense, and if we’re going to accept mediocrity, then no. Then yeah, we can make all of the excuses in the world. But if we want to spit and sputter and be average, that’s one thing. We’re not going to be average. We’re going to raise the floor on these guys. Man, we’re going to push them.”

That is what this game at Arizona is about. While the focus has been on what Kelvin Sheppard said at his press conference and who deserves the blame for the defensive miscues, the truth is that the ceiling for this team rests with the offense.

I don’t need to lay the foundation to prove it. If you’re reading this, you’re acutely aware of the Lions’ offensive success in the Dan Campbell era. The 2026 version of that offense has been very good through four weeks, boasting the fourth-highest scoring offense at 29.8 points per game. Yet, the it still feels like the offense has not come close to putting together a game that exemplifies its potential.

The matchup keys I have picked out are the critical elements that are necessary to go from being average to being great.

Above all else, if the offense is going to live up to the standard of greatness, it needs to eliminate the elementary self-inflicted mistakes. A clear indicator of this so far has been the uncharacteristically high rate of presnap penalties through the first four weeks.

In 2026, the Lions are outside the top 20 in both pre-snap penalties per game (3.25) and pre-snap penalties per play (1.929). This is entirely an unacceptable rate and dramatically different that what a Dan Campbell-led program is known for.

In 2025, the pre-snap penalty rate was top 12 at 2.42 per game, 1.454 per play, and top-five in both 2024 at 1.56 per game, 1.003 per play and in 2023 at 1.6 per game, 1.026 per play.

Correcting these simple mental errors will go a long way in taking this offense to the next level fulfilling the potential that they clearly have evidenced by all of the talent on that side of the ball.

This is a great opportunity to return to greatness.

Our own Erik Schlitt tagged Jameson Williams as being the catalyst for the offense’s success in his weekly Honolulu Blueprint. Erik discusses all of the key attributes and growth of the Lions star receiver as reasons for this success. (Seriously, go check it out).

I’m going to take it another layer deeper. The Cardinals are likely going to be without their starting free safety Andrew Wingard (more on him later), and will be starting undrafted free agent Wydett Williams Jr.

The young safety played 64 snaps against the New York Giants in Week 4 after Wingard hurt his knee on first series. For quick a quick background, Williams Jr. was a small school riser starting at Delta State, then to Louisiana-Monroe, and finally to Ole Miss to cap his collegiate career. As an undrafted free agent, Williams Jr. overcame the odds as safety 33 on Dane Brugler’s big board, leaving him without a profile in The Beast.

Per FTN Fantasy, with Williams Jr. in the game, the Cardinals ran zone at a 70.6% rate in Week 4, and utilizing him as a single-high safety on 67.6% of dropbacks, which is up from the season rate of 42.7%.

Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams is a major deep ball threat due to his speed and has a massive opportunity to blow the game open.

It’s a great opportunity to be great.

Following Dan Campbell admitting the team had significant interest in trading for cornerback Joey Porter Jr. as a rental option to bolster the secondary, the focus turns to Brad Holmes and what he may be looking at next.

With the Arizona Cardinals starting teh season with a 1-3 record and a new regime looking to rebuild the organization, they are a likely candidate to be sellers at the trade deadline.

In our trade candidate outlook article last week, Morgan Cannon and I highlighted two Arizona defensive backs that could be good fits for the Lions and are on expiring contracts.

The first option is free safety, Andrew Wingard, who recently suffered a bone bruise in his knee and will be most likely be ruled out against the Lions.

Dan Campbell has said he wants his defense to focus on turnovers. Wingard had a good showing in his first game as a Cardinal in Week 1.

Second is cornerback Garrett Williams, who recently returned in Week 3 from a 2025 season-ending Achilles injury. Slowly, Williams has had an increase in his snap counts from 19 in Week 3 to 33 in Week 4.

Williams has experience playing in both the nickel role as well as outside. Versatility is one of his calling cards as a former third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Brad Holmes will have an opportunity to sit down with the Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort to lay down any foundational discussions for either Williams or Wingard before the November trade deadline.

If mediocrity is not acceptable, then this is a great opportunity for Holmes to make this roster great.

Brian Branch vs. (Director of Player Health) Brett Fisher, (Head Trainer) Mike Sundeen, and the medical staff is the final key matchup of the game and whether Branch will get the green light to play in any capacity to knock off some of the rust.

We know if it was up to Branch and Sheppard, the defense would be getting its star safety back on the field as soon as possible.

“If we were playing tonight, it would be realistic. Like, this dude—it’s like he hadn’t been out. I’m serious. It literally looks like he hasn’t been out. It’s unbelievable. So, it’s just a matter of I’m going to lean on (Director of Player Health) Brett Fisher, (Head Trainer) Mike Sundeen, and our medical staff here. They’ve always done a tremendous job, and whatever they tell me. If that’s 20 plays, if that’s 30, if it’s 50—I want it to be 60—but whatever they tell me, I’m going to lock that, and we’re going to roll.”

I have been vocal at just how big of an issue I believe the safety room has been for the Lions given the attrition experienced over the first month. Getting Branch back is extraordinarily important for taking stress off of the other position groups, which I expect to have a positive ripple effect in this unit’s performance moving forward.

These are the matchups. These are the opportunities to be great.