A week ago, the Arizona Cardinals were embarrassed and flustered, on the bad, bad, bad side of a 58-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. But a shamed defense responded on Sunday with one of its best performances of the year, intercepting Matthew Stafford three times, including two for touchdowns, as they toppled the Detroit Lions 38-10.
Offense: D
It would be disingenuous to imply that the Arizona offense actually played well against Detroit. It would be foolhardy to ignore all the troubling signs that once again crept up, particularly at the -- surprise! -- quarterback position. But for the first time since Week 4, the Cardinals played just well enough to let their would-be, could-be dominant defense take over. Set up twice by the opportunistic defense, Arizona had to do just enough to score, as a Stafford interception and a fumble on a punt return led to gimme Beanie Wells touchdowns. His last score, though, a 31-yard touchdown run late in the game, was impressive. More impressive than, say, quarterback Ryan Lindley, who threw another interception and still has no touchdown passes for the year. Previous game's grade: F
Defense: A+
Hey, Arizona defense! It's been a while! The Cardinals responded from the 58-0 drubbing to the Seahawks by playing especially inspired on the defensive end, leading to some post-game tears of relief. They were not crocodile tears.
No, this was a defense that chomped down on Matt Stafford, setting up the team's first score and then adding 14 points to the board on interception touchdown returns by Greg Toler and Rashad Johnson. While the Lions out-gained Arizona 312 to 196, that was more a testament of Detroit needing to pull out all the stops to catch up. Previous game's grade: F
Special teams: A-
Punter Dave Zastudil might go down as team MVP, as his toe has been crucial to a team that needed to play the field-position game for much of the year. On Sunday, he was strong once more, and the Cardinals responded in kind, hunting down the Lions on coverage. Michael Adams' recovery of a Stefan Logan fumbled punt set up a touchdown, and it's those kind of plays that propelled Arizona. Previous game's grade: F
Coaching: A
If the truest test of a coaching staff is how it gets the players to respond to adversity, Ken Whisenhunt and Co. passed with flying colors. The 2012 season has been trying for the organization as injuries ransacked the lineup. Whisenhunt has tried to stay above the muck, and while it may be too little, too late, he deserves credit here. Previous game's grade: F
For more news and analysis from Cardinals blogger Jon Gold, follow @CBSCardinals on Twitter.
