Coming off an overtime victory over the New Orleans Saints, the Detroit Lions had to move on quickly. The Lions had to not only shift focus to the next game, but also travel to Highmark Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills, one of the top teams in the AFC. Buffalo also came off a thrilling win over the Houston Texans and needed to defend its new home turf on “Thursday Night Football”.
The game felt over just as it began, as the Bills drove down the field with ease to go up 7-0. The Bills’ defense was
stout and continued to dominate the Lions’ offense, and after just five minutes in the second quarter, it was 21-0. Detroit tried to make it a game and scored to close the gap, but every time they got close, Buffalo pulled away. Detroit’s efforts came too little too late, and it was an embarrassing loss on national television.
Here are my five takeaways from the Lions’ 41-31 loss against the Bills in Week 2.
Defense looked unprepared
The Bills finished the game with 446 yards, rushing for 203 and throwing for 243. Quarterback Josh Allen made the Lions’ defense pay on the opening drive, rushing four times for 40 yards and a touchdown, making it look easy. The Bills offense only got stopped twice, moving the ball however they wanted for all four quarters.
Penalties (more on that later), missed assignments, and too many easy plays by the Buffalo offense hurt Detroit. Detroit looked unprepared and still seemed to be recovering from the previous week’s game. Buffalo also had a short week, but their defense made far fewer mistakes than Detroit’s. Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard had a rough game, and it seemed like he didn’t have his guys prepared. It was an awful game from that entire side of the ball, players, and coaching. Burn the tape and use the time between now and Week 3 to improve and make sure this isn’t a recurring theme.
Offensive line held together by gum
It’s Week 2, and the Lions already have three backups playing on their offensive line. We knew center Cade Mays would miss the first four games, but other injuries hit Detroit. Left guard Christian Mahogany left Week 1 early with a hip injury and didn’t return. Rookie right tackle Blake Miller played the full game but didn’t practice all week with a knee injury and was ruled out.
That meant left guard Ben Bartch and right tackle Larry Borom would get their first start in Detroit, joining center Juice Scruggs, who got his first start last week. Three players with little practice with the other lineman next to them, and this is the result you’re going to get. The good news is that Miller’s injury shouldn’t be long-term, and Mays could debut in the next month. It sucks seeing the line struggle again, but this isn’t a long-term issue, just a week where Detroit had to put something together quickly. When you have little time to build that chemistry, this is the result you’re going to get.
This is the worst game Detroit will play this season
I don’t want to discredit any optimistic fans who believed the Lions could win this game. Playing on a short week, after having to play in overtime, with a banged-up offensive line, both starting safeties on IR, and having to travel on the road in your opponent’s first game in their new stadium, that’s a very tall ask for your team. I’m not making excuses for how the team played; they played awful. I’m just saying the Bills are the toughest team the Lions will play this year, and it was in the worst situation possible.
Detroit’s next three games: home against the New York Jets, away against the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals. All three of those games are easier than the Bills, and that’s without safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, along with Mays. Those three could return starting Week 5, but I believe with a Week 6 bye week, they’ll return Week 7 against the Green Bay Packers. When those three players return, the team will change on both sides of the ball.
The secondary will get much-needed help, and that should give the defensive line more chances to get to the quarterback. The offensive line will be a big upgrade with Mays, and by then I think Miller and Mahogany will be back, so the whole gang can finally play together as a unit. This team has an easy schedule and few injuries; there’s no way they play this way against another team this year. The only other difficult game (and by difficult I mean against a top-end team) is against the New England Patriots in Germany. If Detroit loses that game and splits all three divisional games, 12-5 is a solid season and easily gets them in the playoffs.
Gibbs continues to be the workhorse for the offense
Last week, Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs had a career-high 29 carries as he was the lifeblood of the offense. Not much changed this week as Gibbs remained their heartbeat, finishing with 16 carries for 52 yards and six catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. Even when Detroit was down 21-0 early, they still relied on Gibbs to move the chains. Gibbs is an important piece for this team, but when you’re down by 21 points, someone in the receiving game needs to step up who isn’t your running back.
The Lions needed him to score on their opening drive, but as the game went on, others stepped up like wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and tight end Sam LaPorta. This game proved one thing: no matter what, Gibbs is the focal point of the offense and the team will rely on him to carry the workload if needed. If this game was closer, I believe Gibbs would’ve gotten more touches on the ground, but as the game dragged on and time was running out, the Lions offense had to let it rip.
Penalties added insult to injury
Buffalo was dominating Detroit, and any time it felt like the Lions would catch a break, they hurt themselves with penalties. Whether it’s a holding in the secondary that costs an interception or a false start that wipes out a first down, Detroit kept making the game tougher on themselves. The Lions finished with 10 penalties for 58 yards, and as Lions head coach Dan Campbell said at halftime of the broadcast, “The little shit is killing us.”
When you aren’t playing your best, the worst thing you can do is hurt yourself and make life harder. The Lions couldn’t afford to make mental mistakes against the Bills, but they kept doing so. If they clean up their act, this game could’ve been a one-score game, and Detroit may have pulled off the upset. They had eight penalties last week against the Saints, now averaging nine flags a game. You can’t win many games if you are almost averaging double-digit penalties.
