Cardinals X-Factors: Who Needs to Step Up vs Lions?

The Arizona Cardinals need these players to step up against the Detroit Lions.

Dec 31, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Arizona Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson (34) against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Arizona Cardinals' confidence should be as high as the clouds after demolishing their NFC West rival Los Angeles Rams, who also happen to be one of the better teams in the entire NFC.

It was a statement win for a team that's out to prove that they've gotten much better after a rough first season under Jonathan Gannon.

Up next for the Cards is the NFC runner-up Detroit Lions, who are admittedly off to a slow start to the season. There have been some injuries that Detroit has had to work through, but they also haven't played nearly up to their standard and the Cardinals could capitalize.

If Arizona is going to get another upset win, they'll need a few players to step up as X-factors for the team.

These are the players/position group that needs to play excellent football for the Cards to get this W:

Kyler Murray

Stop me if you've heard this one before -- (QUARTERBACK) needs to step up for the (TEAM) to have a chance to beat the (TEAM).

A tale as old as time.

For the Cardinals, they will only go as far as Murray takes them, and against a team as talented as the Lions, Arizona will need Murray at his absolute best. The good news is Murray is fresh off a historic performance where he posted a perfect passer rating against a good Rams defense. There will be opportunities here for Murray to find more success.

To be honest, the outcome of this game will largely depend on Murray's performance. If he continues to play as well as he has then the Cards have a shot for a second-straight win and upset. He'll need help, however, especially from the trenches as they prepare for a titan pass rusher...

The entire offensive line

The Lions' pass rush is generated by one man -- Aidan Hutchinson. Through two games, Detroit has seven sacks as a team; Hutchinson has 5.5 of them including last week's 4.5 sack performance against the Buccaneers. Simply put, there have been no answers for the third-year man out of Michigan who has his eyes set on a Defensive Player of the Year award.

It will be up to the entire Cardinals' offensive line to slow down Hutchinson in this game. The Lions will likely throw the kitchen sink at the Cards with their pass rush and get Hutchinson lined up all over the place to expose matchups. This means there's not one lone Cardinal offensive lineman who will be tasked with going mono-y-mono with Hutchinson.

It will take a collective group effort to contain Hutchinson, who won't likely be stopped. But unless the offensive line plays well, there's a chance Hutchinson repeats last week's performance.

Jalen Thompson

Thompson will have one extremely important task in this game: Don't let anybody get behind you, especially Jameson Williams.

The third-year receiver is finally breaking out for Detroit with 10 catches for 200 yards and a score through two games. Williams also has multiple 50+ yard receptions and is growing into the superstar receiver the Lions hoped he'd become when they traded up to take him with the 12th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Williams thrives off his game-breaking speed and his ability to stretch the field is second to none. Naturally, the Cardinals secondary must be on high alert and identify where #9 is before every snap. It will be up to Thompson, who I anticipate will play most of the deep center field opportunities to make sure Williams doesn't get loose.

As the last line of defense, if Williams gets past Thompson then the Cardinals chances of winning get slimmer.

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