Quarterback 
Stanton - who led the team on two fourth-quarter, game-tying drives - finished the game 10-of-19 for 72 yards, scoring one touchdown on a one-yard run and throwing one interception in the team’s 31-24 loss.
“It was exciting, obviously, to get in there and play,” said Stanton after the game. “That’s why you put all the preparation and hard work in for Sundays. There’s a saying that you don’t get paid to play on Sundays – it’s for the week. That couldn’t be more true.”
Stanton entered the game for veteran
“Let me say this: Daunte didn’t drop punts, Daunte didn’t miss field goals, Daunte didn’t jump offsides,” said Head Coach Jim Schwartz. “But we also hadn’t scored in about a month and we needed to (make a change).
“Regardless of anything else: fair, unfair, anything else, the quarterback is judged with points and where they moved the team. We weren’t getting that done.”
Stanton entered the game after the Detroit defense had kept the Cardinals from scoring on the opening drive of the second half.
The offense was stopped promptly by the Cardinals after 17 yards and was forced to punt it away. The Lions’ defense, which had a solid game, got Stanton the ball back after limiting Arizona to three-and-out.
On the very first play of that drive, Stanton threw an interception.
“It was just a bad throw,” he said. “I knew what the coverage was and I thought he was going to do one thing and ended up just putting it out there. Should have just tried to take a check-down and I’m probably going to watch it tomorrow on film and be pretty upset. It’s one that you’d like to have back.”
Though the interception took a little air out of the sails, giving Arizona the ball at the Lions’ 20-yard line, rookie safety
Delmas snagged a Kurt Warner pass intended for wide receiver Steve Breaston and returned it 100 yards for the Lions’ first score of the day. The play not only brought Detroit within 10, down 17-7, it boosted the Lions’ confidence after a tough two-and-a-half quarters.
“It got us back in the game,” said Schwartz. "There’s no other way to put it. Particularly after throwing the interception, putting our defense in that position, they took a shot at the endzone to try to make a big play – to sort of put the dagger in the heart – and it backfired.”
The Lions are growing accustomed to Delmas’ ability to make big plays. Delmas now has two interceptions on the year, a fumble recovery for a touchdown and a safety.
“There’s a reason that we drafted him where we drafted him,” said Schwartz. “I know there was a lot of criticism and a lot of questioning about that pick but those are the reasons that we drafted Delmas. He’s going to make more (big plays). Big plays equal scoring in this league.”
After that touchdown, the defense once again held the Cardinals three-and-out and the Lions came up with yet another big play.
On the first play of the next drive, running back
“I want to make a point on Maurice’s long touchdown,” said Schwartz after the game. “Maurice made a good play and had a couple of good blocks in front of him. (Jerome) Felton and (Daniel) Loper made their blocks and Maurice made a good run but that play was because of
Johnson finished the game with three catches for 35 yards, including a 24-yarder. The Cardinals did everything they could to take Detroit’s top receiver out of the game, going as far as putting three defenders in his vicinity in certain situations.
“Because of that, when Maurice broke the line of scrimmage he was gone,” said Schwartz. “Calvin made a good block down the field, but it’s things like that and I’ve talked about that since the beginning. If you want to make plays to stop Calvin, we better be able to run the football; if we want to run the ball then Calvin has to make big plays.
“They go hand-in-hand. That was one of the first time we saw that this year.”
The back-to-back touchdowns put Detroit within three of Arizona, down 17-14 with 5:10 remaining in the third quarter.
After the Lions’ defense forced its third-consecutive three-and-out, the offense put together a field goal drive that tied the game at 17.
Arizona came back and scored on touchdown on the very next drive and things were in a stalemate until the Lions scored their final touchdown of the afternoon on an eight-play, 58-yard drive.
The drive was highlighted by the 24-yard pass to Johnson, a 12-yard completion to tight end
“The touchdown obviously felt great to cap the drive off like that,” said Stanton.
Ultimately, the Lions would not come out the victors, surrendering a Cardinals’ touchdown on the following drive that would solidify the game. Stanton returned to the field with 1:46 remaining, but lost the ball on downs.
After the game, Schwartz put things into perspective.
“Was it better than last week? Yeah, but that bar was set very low last week,” said Schwartz. “That’s our job as football players: to go out and compete and play. What we need to do is play smart and I said that a long time ago. The effort and the toughness and all that, that’s got to be a given. Last week it wasn’t.
“This week that was all there but you’re not going to win games not playing smart football and we can’t overcome stuff like that. We were lucky to be in some of the positions we were in during the second half and almost were able to overcome (the deficit) but we didn’t get it done.”
