Matthew Stafford is the richest player in the history of the NFL, and he is on a team that is not properly constructed around him. His team is just not very good, and the lions are playing a Cardinals team that has a seasoned offense and mediocre defense. Arizona will give up some plays to the Lions, but the Lions will give up many plays to the Cardinals and Carson Palmer. What happens when the Lions give Stafford all their money? Just what you would expect.
Stafford has no Calvin Johnson
Stafford's contract would have made more sense if Calvin Johnson had not retired early from the NFL.
Johnson was the closest thing we have seen to Jerry Rice, but we cannot blame him for retiring. He left Stafford will a depleted offense, and they may need to spend a couple years building up their offensive pieces again. A team that has committed all of its money to one guy will not have enough cap space to make the proper moves, and they will struggle until they figure out how to get young, cheap talent on the roster.
The Cardinals are good
Bruce Arians can coach and the Cardinals have one of the best offenses in all of the NFL. This team has Larry Fitzgerald, David Johnson, and Carson Palmer. That is a very strong corps three that can be used to make the team into a scoring machine. They will need to outscore all their opponents because they may have defensive troubles.
Their defense may have issues this season due to a lack of depth that will cause all their games to be high scoring, but they are capable of scoring that many points every game if they have to.
This is a good game
We may get a good game if both teams can score a lot. It would be hard to have confidence in the Lions if they do not have good offensive playmakers, but they can compel us with a good showing against the Cardinals.
The Cardinals are a good team, but they can be beaten. At the very least, the Cardinals need to show that they can compete with the Seahawks for the division title. Lagging behind Seattle too much would practically end the season for Arizona before it begins.
The North is out of reach
The Lions have no chance in the NFC North considering the fact that the Packers and the Vikings will both be good teams.
They need to spend the season hoping for little miracles, planning to add young talent to the offense, and hoping to stop their opponents from scoring too much. There is no other way for the Lions to succeed this season after they spent all their money in one place.
