The Lions’ Week 2 loss to Buffalo lit up the usual panic buttons. The offense started slowly, the defense piled up mistakes, and a 41-31 final looked far closer than the game actually felt. In the days after, the questions came fast: what exactly is wrong with Detroit, and can it be fixed before the season starts to slide?
The national rankings that dropped Tuesday didn’t go all-in on the doom. If anything, they showed a league still willing to give Detroit the benefit of the doubt. Two outlets slotted the Lions inside the top 10, including one that moved them up into that tier, and seven of the eight rankings had them in the top 15.
The Athletic kept Detroit at No. 8.
Chad Graff and Josh Kendall pointed to rookie tackle Blake Miller as a key name, noting that the first-rounder started in Week 1 but missed Week 2 with an ankle injury, and the offensive line felt the absence. They also noted fifth-round cornerback Keith Abney, who had a tackle for loss in Week 1 but was inactive in Week 2.
The bigger-picture note was that the Lions could climb soon, with the Jets, Panthers, Cardinals and Packers coming next.
USA Today pushed Detroit up to No. 10 from No. 12.
Nate Davis highlighted the latest blow on defense, with safety Avonte Maddox out for the season because of a foot injury. He also said Brad Holmes needs to think about adding help, calling the Lions’ pass defense the NFC’s worst through two weeks.
Yahoo Sports dropped the Lions to No. 13 from No. 9, but the concern there was focused squarely on the secondary. Frank Schwab noted that Detroit has allowed 658 passing yards, second-most in the NFL behind the Colts, and said the injury situation has gotten bad enough that the team was working out defensive backs like Jordan Fuller and Jalen Mills on Monday, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
Maddox’s season-ending foot injury only added to the problem. Since halftime of the season opener, the Lions have given up 71 points and 804 yards.
Schwab also pointed out that Josh Allen and the Bills obviously made things worse, but the numbers are still hard to ignore.
Dan Campbell didn’t sugarcoat it after the loss. “Defensively, we knew it was a tall task, but we gave up too much,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said.
“There were some things in there that we have to get cleaned up. You have to play your best ball to have a chance to reduce points against that team and that quarterback, and we did not do that.
We had a hand in helping them out there a little bit, and it wasn’t good enough. It’s not good enough.”
Yahoo’s Nick Shook saw a team with two very different sides. Detroit’s offense, he wrote, can hang with almost anyone.
The defense is the problem, at least until the back end gets healthier. Still, he viewed the Lions as an above-average team with obvious flaws, and said their effort - plus Jared Goff’s second-half play against Buffalo - showed they’re not fading away.
Goff’s standing keeps growing even in the middle of the mess. In an ESPN excerpt from Eric Woodyard, the quarterback was praised for continuing to build his case as the greatest QB in franchise history.
Despite constant pressure behind an injured offensive line, Goff has stayed efficient in his 11th season. He has thrown a touchdown pass in 25 straight games, the longest active streak in the NFL and the longest in Lions history, per ESPN Research.
He also hit 40,000 career passing yards in Buffalo, tying Kirk Cousins and Dan Marino as the fourth-fastest player to reach that mark at 153 games. Now in his sixth season in Detroit, the 31-year-old keeps stacking milestones.
Sporting News had the Lions at No. 14, down one spot from No. 13. Vinnie Iyer wrote that Detroit knew it might have bigger issues on defense beyond Aidan Hutchinson’s front, and wondered whether the team is headed toward a weekly grind of high-scoring games.
CBS Sports held Detroit at No. 15.
In a separate take from Connor Orr, the Lions’ problems were framed as a mix of scheme and talent on the back end, with Kelvin Sheppard facing what was described as an early do-or-die scenario while Detroit sits at 1-1. Orr also noted Dan Campbell’s history of moving quickly on underperforming assistant coaches and asked whether Sheppard would avoid that pattern.
For all the concern, the overall national read on Detroit wasn’t nearly as harsh as the immediate reaction after Buffalo. The defense has real issues, the injuries are piling up, and the pass coverage has become the main talking point. But the rankings still show a league that sees a team capable of steadying itself fast if it can handle the next stretch of winnable games.
In Other News...
Lions Badly Need Cade Mays Back For This Brutal Stretch
The Lions have spent the early part of the season trying to keep Jared Goff upright behind an offensive line that has not looked nearly as steady as Detroit needs it to be. With pressure coming too often, the center spot has become a particularly important point of focus, and Cade Mays absence with a wrist injury has only made the groups job harder as the schedule begins to tighten.
Mays could be back by mid-October after the bye week, which would give Detroit some much-needed stability before a stretch that includes games against the Packers and Vikings. Both opponents can bring serious defensive pressure, so getting the starting center back in the middle of the line would be a timely boost for a unit that badly needs one. [Read more 🡒]
Dan Campbell Sent The Lions A Clear Warning After Buffalo
After opening the season 1-1, Dan Campbell did not sound interested in softening the edges of the conversation around his Lions. The coach went point by point through the areas he believes need to tighten up, from third- and fourth-down execution to the run game on both sides of the ball, while also flagging the way Detroit has trailed in explosive plays, red zone efficiency, penalties and punt coverage.
Campbell backed up the critique with specific numbers and made it clear this is less about one bad Sunday than the standard the Lions have to meet going forward. For a team with real expectations, the warning was straightforward: the talent is there, but the discipline and fundamentals have to catch up if Detroit wants the early inconsistency to stay early. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Fans Have One Real Concern About This Jets Matchup
Aaron Glenns first season running the Jets has quickly become a familiar point of interest for Detroit fans, even before the matchup itself comes into view. The former Lions defensive coordinator left for New York in 2025 after helping shape one of the leagues most aggressive defenses, and the Jets have spent the offseason around him making notable changes on the sidelines and in the huddle, including trading Justin Fields and bringing in Geno Smith.
From Detroits side, the intrigue is less about sentiment than about timing. The Lions have leaned on their offense to carry them through stretches when the defense has wobbled, while the Jets have already shown under their new setup that they can hang in close games, opening with a win over the Titans before dropping a tight one to the Packers in overtime last season. For Lions fans, the real concern is how Glenns new group might test a defense that has not always been the teams most reliable edge. [Read more 🡒]