The Detroit Lions will open the Buffalo Bills’ new Highmark Stadium in what one of the team’s most impressive rookies just learned will be his prime-time debut.
Defensive tackle Skyler Gill-Howard said he didn’t realize the Lions-Bills game on Thursday, Sept. 17, was scheduled for an 8:15 p.m. kick until he was talking to teammates Aidan Hutchinson and Levi Onwuzurike before the team’s defensive unit meeting Monday evening.
“I really didn’t know,” Gill-Howard said. “I said something like, ‘What time we playing at, I don’t even know?’ And they’re like, ‘Bro, what time you think we’re going to play at? It’s Thursday. You’re not just going to play at 1 o’clock when everybody got to work.’”
Gill-Howard,
who played 47 snaps in the Lions’ season-opening win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday afternoon, said he’s extra fired up to face Bills quarterback Josh Allen in prime time.
The rookie defensive tackle didn’t follow the NFL closely in college, which is why he didn’t realize most Thursday games are played at night. But he grew up a Patrick Mahomes fan and paid close attention to the Kansas City Chiefs QB’s battles with Allen and the Bills.
“I used to watch Mahomes a lot when they used to battle in the AFC championship and I’m like, ‘Man, now I’m playing Josh Allen,’” Gill-Howard said. “It’s still crazy to me. Obviously, this is our job, but I don’t really see it as work. I’m just doing what I love at a high level. So I definitely, even during our team meeting, unit meeting, I’m like, ‘Bro, we’re playing Josh Allen this week.’ I’m probably the only one kind of hyped up like that 'cause these guys been doing it for a while but it’s crazy to be here.”
A sixth-round pick in April out of Mahomes’ alma mater, Texas Tech, Gill-Howard was one of the Lions’ defensive standouts against the Saints.
He made three tackles, had two quarterback pressures – one of which led to a Hutchinson sack – and said he was most pleased with his play against the run.
“'Cause obviously that was a big question when I got here,” Gill-Howard said. “[Lions defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers said] we have to get the questions answered and the main question for me was can he play the run as well? And I did a pretty good job in training camp, but being able to do it, especially against that type of O-lineman [Cesar Ruiz], I know he’s a great lineman in this league, so to be playing pretty good in the run defense against him will only keep me on the field.”
An undersized defensive tackle at 6 feet and 280 pounds, Gill-Howard was ticketed to play primarily as a sub-package rusher early in the season but finished with the fourth most snaps among Lions defensive linemen against the Saints, behind Hutchinson, Alim McNeill and DJ Wonnum.
He said he’s playing with better pad level and using his hands more now against the run than he did in college.
In the pass rush, Gill-Howard said he should have had two sacks against the Saints and needs to finish better under the bright lights of prime-time football Thursday against Allen.
“He’s big so you got to take him down,” Gill-Howard said. “He’s not afraid to run at all, but he’s going to sit in that pocket and make his reads. He was an MVP for a reason and he’s going to go out there and he’s going to do what he has to do, but as long we limit him with that pressure up the middle, he doesn’t really like that so as long as we limit that, we’ll be all right. But I’m excited to play him.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
Next up: Bills
Matchup: Lions (1-0) at Buffalo (1-0).
Kickoff: 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17; Highmark Stadium, Buffalo, New York.
TV/radio: Prime Video, WJBK-TV (Ch. 2, only in Detroit); WXYT-FM (97.1).
Line: Bills by 4½.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions rookie DT Gill-Howard impresses in NFL debut: 'Crazy to be here'
