Jared Goff did just about everything a quarterback can do and still ended up staring at a 41-31 loss.
That was the bitter truth for the Lions on Thursday night against the Bills, a game where Goff lit up the stat sheet with 327 yards, four touchdowns and a 130.0 passer rating. He wasn’t just piling up easy numbers, either.
He handled pressure, delivered throws while under duress and kept fitting passes into tight windows. His touchdown throw to Amon-Ra St.
Brown was the kind of throw that stops you in your tracks. By the end of the night, Goff had finished +6.7% above expected in completion percentage and averaged 9.0 air yards per attempt.
The passing game had plenty of help around him, at least when the ball came out in time. Amon-Ra St.
Brown got rolling once Detroit made a real effort to feature him, Jameson Williams landed a pair of gains of 15-plus yards, and Isaac TeSlaa finally showed up on the stat sheet, including a fourth-and-18 conversion. Sam LaPorta also looked more like himself, catching six passes for 52 yards and a touchdown.
Jahmyr Gibbs had a rough go as a runner because the Bills were meeting him in the backfield far too often, but he still made an impact as a receiver. He caught six passes for 61 yards and a touchdown, and that part of his game keeps looking more and more useful. Sione Vaki didn’t do much with his limited work, but he turned two touches into 20 yards and was better in pass protection than he was last week.
The real collapse came up front and on defense.
Detroit’s offensive line got hammered. The Bills posted a 45% stuffed rate in the run game, and the Lions were stuck with four sacks, 11 quarterback hits and 22 pressures allowed, according to PFF.
Backup right tackle Larry Borom had the roughest night of the bunch, giving up seven pressures. Ben Bartch allowed four and Juice Scruggs gave up two, and the group never really settled in.
The defensive front at least gave the Lions a little something to hold onto. Aidan Hutchinson was the main source of heat, accounting for six of Detroit’s 24 pressures, one of the team’s two sacks and two of its eight quarterback hits. Even so, the rest of the line couldn’t keep the Bills from creating huge lanes for James Cook or from letting Josh Allen escape cleanly when the rush got close.
Behind that, things unraveled.
The linebackers had a brutal night trying to deal with Buffalo’s offense. There were run-defense miscommunications, shaky zone discipline and plenty of biting on play-action and misdirection. The box score told the same story: 203 rushing yards, 5.6 yards per carry, and nine catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns by the Bills’ tight ends.
The secondary was somehow even worse. Detroit entered the game leaning on veterans Chuck Clark and Avonte Maddox at safety with Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph sidelined, expecting steadiness and communication to keep the back end organized.
That didn’t happen. The unit looked out of sync, rarely made a play when it was in position to do so, and finished the night with just one pass defended.
The run fits were messy, too. D.J.
Reed, at least, is doing alright.
Special teams barely registered, which made sense in a game where neither side spent much time punting or settling for field goals. Detroit did, however, allow a big punt return to Greg Dortch.
The coaching grade followed the same pattern as the defense: too much chaos, not enough answers. There was still some encouragement on the offensive side, with good play design, solid route concepts and a red-zone operation that has been nearly perfect through two weeks, going 7-of-9. The second-and-long run calls were frustrating and cost Detroit a couple times Thursday night, but that side of the ball is holding together better than the other one.
The defense is the problem. The Lions can’t seem to get comfortable in zone, can’t really hold up in man, struggle to disguise anything and are getting exposed when they try to play straight up.
Kelvin Sheppard appears to be asking this group to do more than it can handle right now. The ideas may be bold, but the tape from two weeks says the same thing over and over: this defense needs a simpler plan, because what it’s trying to be and what it actually is are not the same thing.
In Other News...
Lions Fans Had Another Reason To Be Furious During Bills Loss
The Lions had enough to process after a 41-31 loss to the Bills on Thursday Night Football, but the broadcast gave frustrated Detroit fans one more thing to notice in real time. Buffalo moved to 2-0 with the win, and Josh Allen did plenty of damage with five total touchdowns, yet the scoreboard on the screen briefly told a different story.
During the telecast, a graphic error incorrectly listed the Bills at 3-0 and the Lions at 1-2, a mix-up that was especially annoying for a fan base already watching its team absorb a costly defeat. It was the kind of small mistake that usually gets brushed off, except in a game like this it only added to the irritation as Detroit tried to make sense of a night that got away from it. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Had Dan Campbell Fuming Before This Game Was Even Settled
The Lions had enough offensive production to keep themselves in the fight at Highmark Stadium, but the bigger issue was how quickly the game slipped away. Jared Goff threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns, yet Detroit spent most of Thursday night chasing Buffalo after the Bills built a sizable lead behind a string of Lions mistakes and a defense that never found steady footing.
Dan Campbell was left visibly frustrated by the way the night unfolded, with the Lions piling up 10 penalties and taking repeated blows up front as Goff was sacked four times. Even with the late push, Detroit could not turn the score into a true comeback, and the loss served as another reminder that the margin for error shrinks fast when the discipline and defensive execution are not there. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Fans Had One More Reason To Hate That Primetime Loss
The Thursday night loss in Buffalo was already a rough one for Detroit, and it came with an extra annoyance for Lions fans watching at home. The Bills beat the Lions 41-31 in a game that pushed Buffalo to 2-0, while Josh Allen piled up five total touchdowns and kept the home side in control through the prime-time showcase.
Still, the broadcast itself gave the night a strange aftertaste. A graphic error briefly flashed the Bills as 3-0 and the Lions as 1-2, and that was enough to set off a wave of social media chatter about a supposed Week 3 script leak. It was just a mistake, but for a fan base already dealing with a frustrating result, it only added another layer to a night they would rather forget. [Read more 🡒]