Thursday Night Football in Week 2 brings a heavyweight matchup to Buffalo, where the Bills and Lions meet with both teams carrying Super Bowl expectations into the 2026 season.
The early edge goes to Josh Allen and a Buffalo offense that looked the part in Week 1. Allen powered the Bills past the Houston Texans in a comeback win, finishing with 334 passing yards and two passing touchdowns while adding 23 rushing yards and two more scores. He also delivered the throw that swung the game, dropping a deep post to Josh Palmer late in the fourth quarter to put Buffalo ahead 36-31, a lead the Bills protected to the finish.
Allen wasn’t just piling up numbers. He distributed the ball cleanly, with Dalton Kincaid catching five passes for 130 yards and DJ Moore adding five grabs for 100 yards. It was the kind of all-around performance that makes Buffalo dangerous on any given night, especially at home.
Detroit escaped Week 1 with a win over the New Orleans Saints, but it was a shaky one. The Lions nearly let a big lead slip away, forced overtime, and then needed a touchdown in the extra period after the Saints had a shot to win with a two-point conversion. Jared Goff and the offense had their moments, but they also stalled at key points, including late in the game when Detroit settled for a field goal and opened the door for New Orleans to get back into it.
That kind of margin for error is a problem against Buffalo. The Lions’ defense also enters this matchup with concerns, especially in the secondary. With safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch out, Detroit had trouble slowing Tyler Shough and the Saints, allowing over 400 passing yards and nearly 200 receiving yards to Chris Olave.
Buffalo, meanwhile, showed it could handle a tough test in Week 1. The Bills covered against Houston and came up with a decisive stop in the closing seconds, stripping C.J.
Stroud on a third-and-goal play. That was against a Texans defense that was the best in the NFL in 2025, which only adds to the case for Buffalo heading into a short-week home spot.
The matchup also pits Allen against a Detroit defense that was already a concern entering the season. Even with Branch and Joseph in the lineup for much of 2025, the Lions finished in the bottom half of the league in EPA/Pass. Against this Bills attack, and with James Cook in the mix, that could be a rough formula.
Buffalo should also have a strong home crowd behind it in primetime, and that matters in a game that could turn into an offense-first battle. The oddsmakers have the Bills favored at home, and that lines up with how these teams looked in Week 1.
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Lions Escape Saints But A Bigger Concern Just Took Center Stage
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Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira said the key was the forward intent in Goffs motion, which made the ball a pass rather than a loose fumble. Even with the explanation in hand, the ruling quickly turned into a talking point for fans and commentators, who were left debating how the play should have been judged in real time. [Read more 🡒]
Jared Goff Saints Ruling Had Lions Fans Wondering What Actually Happened
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NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth later walked through the reasoning and pointed to the league rulebook, which is often what turns a confusing live moment into a postgame debate. For Lions fans, the ruling mattered less as a one-play curiosity than as another reminder of how thin the line can be between a broken-up pass and a turnover, especially when the quarterback is hit right as the play is unfolding. [Read more 🡒]