Lions Game Ball, Unsung Hero of Week 3: Defense takes a stand

Handing out the game ball and unsung hero from the Lions resilient road win.

Coach Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions don’t lose back-to-back games. The team learned from some of their mistakes in the Buccaneers game in Week 2 and were an improved team, beating the Arizona Cardinals 20-13. This game epitomized how gritty this team is. After winning, despite not scoring in the second half, there were some deserving players for this week’s game ball and unsung hero awards.

Game Ball: Safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch

The Cardinals went from being the second-highest offense in the NFL, averaging 34.5 points per game, to being held to only 13 points by the Lions. In contests where Kyler Murray started and finished games, 13 points is the lowest amount they have scored since Week 6 of 2022.

The Lions defense managed to do this despite only generating four quarterback hits—after averaging 8.5 per game in the first two weeks. Most of their defensive success, without the usual pass rush, had to do with the Lions coverage, particularly from co-game ball recipients Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch.

The defensive backfield’s buzzards. Joseph was lights out the entire day, big game hunting end zone interceptions and pass breakups on fourth down. Not to be outdone, Branch led the team in tackles with nine, while also adding two pass deflections and a tackle for loss.

The two players play to their strengths well, with Branch playing the strong safety role in the box more often, and Joseph as the roaming free safety. But they’re both well-rounded enough to mix and match, provide plus plays, and operate as split zone safeties, making life complicated for opposing offenses. They were everywhere, both manned up on players step for step starting near the line of scrimmage, as well as in their respective zones wreaking havoc.

With Branch and Joseph playing with their hair on fire, the Cardinals were limited to season lows in points (13), first downs (17), rushing yards (77), time of possession (23:11), and combined third and fourth down conversions (one – 1/11). Prior to Sunday, the Cardinals were 14/25 (56%) on third and fourth down in 2024. Branch, Joseph, and the Lions defense continued to clamp down on third down and get the Lions offense the ball back.

In addition to shutting down the Cardinals on money downs, the Lions completely put a tarp over their deep passing attack. In my preview article, I highlighted shutting down deep passes (20+ air passing yards) being a key to victory and the Lions performed better than imagined. Kyler Murray’s deep passing strategy started to look a lot like my pull tab strategy. Instead of me spending $20-30 on pull tabs to hopefully scratch off $5 in winnings, Murray was frantically hucking deep balls just hoping one of them would luckily wind up with a defensive pass interference. On the strength of their two field erasing safeties, the Lions limited Murray to a lousy 1/8 passing (12.5%), for 28 yards (3.5 YPA), one interception, and a 2.1 Passer Rating on deep passes. The only deep pass completion Murray even had was after Branch was taken out in the fourth quarter following a head injury.

When the New Orleans Saints won four consecutive NFC South Division Championships, from 2017-2020, under then-defensive backs coach Aaron Glenn, they had one of the most formidable and intelligent safety duos in the NFL with Marcus Williams and Vonn Bell. Glenn finally has his safety duo in Detroit and it might just be the most talented one he’s coached.

Unsung Hero: Linebacker Jack Campbell

Campbell started the game without his stand-up linebacker sidekick Alex Anzalone. Soon after defensive front players started dropping like flies in front of him including Levi Onwuzurike (returned), Derrick Barnes, Alim McNeill, and Marcus Davenport (returned).

None of it mattered for Jack Campbell as he had an incredibly solid, four-tackle performance, manning the green dot, with a revolving door next to him at linebacker and in front of him. This was only Campbell’s 17^th start of his career and he helped to shut down James Conner and patrol the middle of the field along with safeties Joseph and Branch. Conner was relegated to only nine rushes for 17 rushing yards (1.89 yards/attempt). Conner’s low rushing yards and yards per attempt were both the lowest totals for him in four seasons and 44 games with the Cardinals.

Campbell helped to make the Cardinals one-dimensional and shrink the middle of the field for Murray. While his performance may have seemed unsung and flown under the radar today, I have a feeling he’s going to continue to stack good games and slowly start to make more impact plays. Runner-up unsung hero goes to punter Jack Fox who averaged nearly 50 yards/punt and had four of his five punts downed inside the 20-yard line (three inside the 10-yard line).