Lions knock off lowly Cardinals

The Detroit Lions won the game on the field, but the Arizona Cardinals might have been the biggest winners off of it.

Matthew Stafford completed 15 of 23 passes for 101 yards to lead the Lions to a 17-3 win at Arizona on Sunday in a matchup of two struggling teams.

The loss wasn't all bad for the Cardinals, however, at least when it comes to draft positioning.

Arizona (3-10) shares the worst record in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders with three games to play as teams look ahead to 2019 and what assets they can get in next spring's draft.

The game was the predictable struggle between two of the league's worst offensive teams.

Arizona entered last in the league in scoring offense behind a patchwork offensive line, while the Lions were 23rd.

After a scoreless first quarter, Detroit got on the board with 9:35 left in the second quarter, taking a 3-0 lead on a 47-yard field goal by Matt Prater.

The score capped off a 13-play drive that took 7:56 off of the clock despite only spanning 55 yards.

With 3:03 left in the third quarter, the Lions scored the first touchdown of the game, but it wasn't provided by the offense.

Detroit cornerback Darius Slay picked off a pass from Arizona quarterback Josh Rosen and scampered 67 yards down the sideline for a touchdown that made it 10-0. It was the first interception return for a touchdown in Slay's career.

Arizona finally got on the scoreboard with 8:14 left on a 22-yard field goal by Zane Gonzalez, which was the last play in a nine-play, 62-yard drive that took 5:17 off of the clock.

But the Lions put the game away on their ensuing possession when they drove 75 yards in seven plays and took a 17-3 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Zach Zenner with 4:05 remaining.

Zenner rushed for 42 yards on seven carries during the drive.

Rosen went 26 of 41 for 240 yards in defeat.

--Field Level Media

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)