The Lions head into Thursday night with a short week, a tough road trip and Josh Allen waiting on the other side. That alone makes this one a real test.
But if Detroit is going to keep pace in Buffalo, it won’t come down to one hero. It’ll take a handful of players stepping into the spotlight and swinging key moments.
Aidan Hutchinson is the obvious place to start. He missed the 2024 matchup between these teams, a wild 90-point game, while recovering from a broken leg.
Now he gets his first crack at Buffalo since the Lions turned into legitimate contenders. That means going up against a Bills offensive line built around Dion Dawkins, Alec Anderson, Connor McGovern, O'Cyrus Torrence and Spencer Brown, with Dawkins especially presenting a major problem.
Still, Week 1 showed Detroit has enough pass-rush pieces to make life difficult even when offenses try to focus on Hutchinson. If he can force Allen off his spot or flush him out of the pocket, the Lions have a better chance to bait one of those trademark Allen chaos throws into a turnover.
D.J. Reed is another player who could shape the game, and Detroit needs a much cleaner night from him.
The 29-year-old has started to show signs of slowing in coverage, and the Saints attacked that in Week 1 when they started hunting his matchup against Chris Olave downfield. Reed is coming off missed time in 2025 because of injury, and he showed up on the Lions’ injury report after Tuesday’s walkthrough with a foot injury, though he has not been ruled out.
That matters because Detroit’s secondary is already thin beyond belief.
Jack Campbell may not have flashed as the headline defender in the opener, but he still logged seven total tackles and a stuff. Derrick Barnes grabbed some of the spotlight in Week 1, yet Campbell can be especially important here because of what Buffalo can do through the air, particularly at tight end. Dalton Kincaid torched the Houston Texans for 130 receiving yards on five catches in Week 1, and Campbell is one of the few Lions defenders strong enough in space to slow that kind of damage.
On offense, Jared Goff has to be part of the answer. Detroit didn’t create many explosive plays against the Saints, with drops from Jameson Williams and some missed connections from Goff helping to keep the attack from really popping.
The Bills’ secondary, though, does not look nearly as intimidating as New Orleans’ group, and that should give Detroit more room to work through the air. Jahmyr Gibbs will be central to the game plan against Buffalo’s smaller defensive front, but the Lions also need the rest of the offense involved.
Goff’s role becomes even bigger in a game that could come down to which quarterback can manufacture the most impossible throws, and Allen is usually the one setting that standard.
In Other News...
Jake Bates Just Changed The Lions Conversation In A Big Way
Week 1 brought plenty of strange endings around the league, but none mattered more in Detroit than the way Jake Bates handled his first real test. In a season opener that ended 31-30 in overtime against the Saints, the Lions leaned on their kicker in a game that had to be decided one point at a time, and Bates answered by making all five of his kick attempts while accounting for seven points, including the extra point that finished it.
For a player who came into the season with preseason questions hanging over him, that kind of night changes the tone around the position immediately. The Lions are 1-0, and while the opener did not settle every concern in the building, it gave Detroit a clean look at a kicker who suddenly has a much different place in the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Brad Holmes May Have Found A Lions Rookie They Can't Ignore
Skyler Gill-Howard arrived in Detroit with the kind of profile that usually points to a practice-squad path, not a quick climb into the game plan. But the rookie defensive tackle worked his way onto the 53-man roster and then made his presence felt right away against the New Orleans Saints, turning in the highest PFF defensive grade among rookie defensive tackles in Week 1 with a 71.6 mark.
For a Lions front that leans on depth and disruption, that kind of debut is exactly the sort of thing that gets attention in the building. Gill-Howard has already sounded comfortable with his role, and with Buffalo next on the schedule, the question now is whether his first real impression turns into something the Lions can keep counting on as the matchups get tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Stephen A. Smith Just Turned One Lions Concern Into A Real Debate
The Lions got the season started with an overtime win over the Saints, but the way they arrived there left plenty of room for national second-guessing. On ESPNs First Take, Stephen A. Smith zeroed in on Detroits defense after the team squandered a 21-point lead, pointing to a performance that still looked too shaky for a club trying to build on last seasons momentum.
Smith had no issue with the offense, which again looked like the kind of unit that can carry a team for long stretches. His concern was whether the defense can clean up enough to keep Detroit in the division hunt and make the playoffs, and it is the sort of question that tends to linger until the Lions prove otherwise. [Read more 🡒]