Lions at Bills: Special Teams miscues costly in road loss
Second Quarter
On the first play of the new quarter, Stafford completed a bomb to Kenny Golladay and defensive penalty yardage made that 33-yard catch even longer for the Lions. Next, Theo Riddick moved the chains on second down with a 7-yard scamper. After a BIlls penalty made it 1st & 5, Blount gained 4-yards and edged the Lions closer towards the red zone and Riddick managed to get himself loose again for 19-yards to get down to the Buffalo 3-yard line.
On 3rd & Goal, Detroit wideout Andy Jones caught his first career touchdown pass and on the extra point attempt, the snap was bad and the ball had to be thrown away, 6-0 Detroit.
Marcus Murphy took his next carry and ran into a formidable Detroit defense as he only gained a single yard. Shortly after that play, Allen hit his wideout Robert Foster for a gain of 28-yards and dueling penalties from corners Mike Ford and Darius Slay propelled the Bills into a 1st & Goal situation.
On 2nd & Goal, Jarrad Davis just barely missed taking Allen down for the sack and as a result, the speedy QB ran it in himself for the touchdown, 7-6 Buffalo.
First, Stafford missed on a pass that was just behind Golladay and then he missed on another pass to Riddick and on an interesting 3rd down exchange, offsetting penalties from each team forced a replay of the down. On the play, Golladay absolutely muscled the ball away from Buffalo’s defense in order to come down with a very impressive play for Detroit.
On another third down pass attempt, Kenny Golladay came down with a huge 40-yard play that was maybe even more impressive than his previous catch. Zenner then picked up another 6-yards to get to Buffalo’s 4-yard line and on the next play, Zenner was initially ruled to have broken the plane of the end zone for Detroit’s second touchdown of the game but the call was overturned upon further review.
Undaunted, Zenner again ran the ball, this time up the gut, to get the touchdown for his team, 13-7 Detroit.
Josh Allen hit McKenzie deep for 16-yards to start off his next possession but they didn’t gain much on the next play as Marcus Murphy was tackled by Kennard and Damon Harrison. Murphy was also injured on the play and was evaluated on the sideline.
Detroit’s defense forced another punt and the Lions took back over with 2:21 left until halftime. Riddick took the handoff and gained a quick 11-yards just before the two-minute warning.
Stafford found his tight end Levine Toilolo for consecutive catches but on 3rd & 2, Riddick was swallowed up by Buffalo’s defense to force a Lion punt but Detroit’s rookie safety Tracy Walker III came up with a very impressive special teams tackle to pin the Bills on their own 13-yard line.
Josh Allen took back over with the ball and though he tried to test Darius Slay deep, the savvy cornerback expertly defended the pass attempt or force an incompletion. The first half came to an end after a small gain on the ground by the Bills.
Detroit would be first to get the ball back coming out of halftime.