Lions @ Cardinals · Week 14

WEEK 14 · FINAL

THE READ

Lions run away with it, 38-17

Detroit's 38-17 win over Arizona tells a story the final score understates: the Lions controlled what mattered most, while the Cardinals' game plan couldn't account for it. Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 230 yards and 4 touchdowns on 12 carries—a dominance that forced Arizona into desperation, passing on 68 percent of plays compared to their 64 percent season rate. Arizona gained 339 total yards to Detroit's 284, but that yardage came without answers; the Lions' defense generated 4 sacks while Arizona managed none, and Detroit's scoring margin adjusted for opponent strength sits at 13.0 versus Arizona's minus-1.6, meaning the gap between these teams is wider than one rout suggests. Sam Darnold threw for 234 yards and a touchdown, yet it was never enough to matter against a ground game that simply overwhelmed.

Luca Santana Analyst

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Lions	+12.0	+2.8	+9.1	+12
Cardinals	-1.0	+1.2	-2.2	-9

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Lions — NFC #6 · 9-5 Cardinals — in the hunt · 8-6 Playoff picture →

In the MVP race

#1 Jahmyr Gibbs HB · Lions · 4.7% of the field

The whole board →

IN THE BOOTH

Ethan Price The numbers guy

Arizona came in needing to run the ball—they had 12 carries to Detroit's 230 on the ground—and instead passed 68% of the time into a defense that sacked them 4 times and held them to 54 yards through the air. When you're down 21, the math was already broken.

Kayla James The showman · replying

Detroit walked away clean—Jared Goff managed just 93 passing yards and still got a W, because Jahmyr Gibbs did 230 on the ground and 4 touchdowns, the kind of day that erases what your QB couldn't do.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Jahmyr Gibbs

Lions

12 carries, 230 yards, 4 TD

Sam Darnold

Cardinals

14/25, 234 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Jeremiyah Love

Cardinals

12 carries, 105 yards, 1 TD

THE STORY SO FAR

⭐ Isaiah Sategna III has not had a better afternoon this season.

📉 Trey McBride is still searching for it: 53 receiving yards a game across his last three, against an average of 76.

📉 Jared Goff is still searching for it: 93 passing yards a game across his last three, against an average of 157.

WHAT DECIDED IT

Through the air Cardinals 234, Lions 54 Cardinals

On the ground Lions 230, Cardinals 105 Lions

Total yards Cardinals 339, Lions 284 Cardinals

Pressure Cardinals 0 sacks, Lions 4 Lions

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 14 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Balanced Pass 47% · Rush 53% · 38.1 scored, 29.0 allowed

7.2 yds/att 56.5% completions 11.3 yds/carry 405.5 yds/game 1.3 giveaways/game 6.2% sack rate last 5: 3-2

Primary weapon: Jameson Williams WR — 32% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 46 · Turnover-prone Balance 97 Ball security 64 Back usage 48% QB runs 2.1/game

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 87 WR 90 TE 91 RB 88 OL 86 DL 90 LB 82 DB 91

Best: Penei Sewell LT 99 Fastest: Jameson Williams WR 98 SPD 9 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

impaid.w

Cardinals · his last 8 games

Throws it

Pass / run65% / 35% Points for / against28.5 — 30.0 Margin-1.5 Giveaways a game1.6 Sacks taken6.1% of dropbacks Lead backJeremiyah Love · 12.5/g Top targetMarvin Harrison Jr · 29% QB carries2.5 a game

Suaveee💫

Lions · his last 8 games

Runs it One back

Pass / run41% / 59% Points for / against39.8 — 30.0 Margin+9.8 Giveaways a game0.9 Sacks taken4.9% of dropbacks Lead backJahmyr Gibbs · 18.9/g Top targetAmon-Ra St. Brown · 34% QB carries1.5 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES Suaveee💫 against impaid.w — the men, not the teams

Suaveee💫 leads it 1-0. Suaveee💫 won the last one.

1 meeting avg 38.0 — 17.0 biggest: 21 pts to Suaveee💫

S2 · week 14 Suaveee💫 38 — 17 impaid.w SUAVEEE💫

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Lions receivers vs Cardinals secondary 90 v 87 LIONS

Cardinals receivers vs Lions secondary 84 v 91 LIONS

Lions line vs Cardinals front 86 v 85 EVEN

Cardinals line vs Lions front 84 v 90 LIONS

Lions backs vs Cardinals run defence 88 v 82 LIONS

Cardinals backs vs Lions run defence 90 v 86 CARDINALS

Lions passer vs Cardinals secondary 87 v 87 EVEN

Cardinals passer vs Lions secondary 90 v 91 EVEN

TOP PERFORMERS

Sam Darnold QB Cardinals 234 pass yds

Jahmyr Gibbs HB Lions 230 rush yds

Jeremiyah Love HB Cardinals 105 rush yds

Trey McBride TE Cardinals 79 rec yds

Marvin Harrison Jr WR Cardinals 66 rec yds

Isaiah Sategna III WR Lions 54 rec yds

Jack Campbell MIKE Lions 1 INTs

Maxwell Hairston CB Cardinals 1 INTs

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

LIONS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Jared Goff QB	1/4	54	0	1	0	54	39.5

CARDINALS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Sam Darnold QB	14/25	234	1	1	4	36	84.4

LIONS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Jahmyr Gibbs HB	12	230	19.2	4	1	52	76	0
Isaac TeSlaa WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1

CARDINALS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Jeremiyah Love HB	12	105	8.8	1	0	4	76	0
Devin Duvernay WR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Marvin Harrison Jr WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0

LIONS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	DRP	LNG
Isaiah Sategna III WR	1	54	54	0	3	0	54

CARDINALS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	DRP	LNG
Trey McBride TE	3	79	26.3	0	11	0	33
Marvin Harrison Jr WR	3	66	22	0	2	0	36
Michael Wilson WR	4	41	10.2	1	12	0	22
Jeremiyah Love HB	3	40	13.3	0	14	0	17
Marquise Brown WR	1	8	8	0	3	0	8
Isaiah Horton WR	0	0	0	0	0	1	0

LIONS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD	FF
Brian Branch SS	5	0	0	1	0
Jack Campbell MIKE	4	1	1	0	0
Ennis Rakestraw Jr CB	2	0	0	0	0
Kelley Jones CB	2	0	0	0	0
Aidan Hutchinson LEDG	1	1	0	0	0
Jimmy Rolder MIKE	1	1	0	0	0
KP Price SS	1	0	0	0	0
Derrick Moore LEDG	1	0	0	0	0
Carl Jones MIKE	1	0	0	0	1
Zion Childress SS	1	0	0	0	0
Alim McNeill DT	1	1	0	0	0
Myles Graham SAM	1	0	0	1	0
D.J. Reed CB	1	0	0	3	0
Roger McCreary CB	0	0	0	1	0
Kerby Joseph FS	0	0	0	1	0

CARDINALS

PLAYER	TKL	INT	FF
Walter Nolen III DT	2	0	0
Budda Baker SS	1	0	0
Josh Sweat REDG	1	0	0
Jordan Burch LEDG	1	0	1
Mack Wilson Sr MIKE	1	0	0
Dadrion Taylor-Demerson FS	1	0	0
Andrew Wingard FS	1	0	0
Maxwell Hairston CB	0	1	0

LIONS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Jake Bates K	1/1	3/3	52

CARDINALS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Chad Ryland K	1/1	2/2	29

RECENT FORM

Lions

L 17–45 vs Packers WK 13

W 69–14 vs Bears WK 12

W 87–63 vs Ravens WK 11

Cardinals

W 26–22 vs Browns WK 13

W 30–23 vs Vikings WK 12

W 33–27 vs Bengals WK 11

TEAM STATS

Lions		Cardinals
284	TOTAL YARDS	339
54	PASSING YARDS	234
230	RUSHING YARDS	105
0	SACKS ALLOWED	4
4	SACKS MADE	0
2	GIVEAWAYS	2
2	TAKEAWAYS	2

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

1 LIONS — 0 CARDINALS

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