Lions at Bills: Special Teams miscues costly in road loss
Fourth Quarter
A Detroit screen pass was totally snuffed out by the Bills on second down and on third down Stafford overshot a wide open receiver, TJ Jones.
Allen put a scare into Detroit’s defense has he very nearly hit receiver Deonte Thompson deep as he had Slay beaten by a step but the pass fell incomplete. Josh Allen threw in Slay’s direction again on third down but the corner swatted the pass away from the young QB’s intended target.
From the very beginning, Detroit’s next drive was well played by the Bills. As such, Buffalo forced another Lion punt and they put themselves into a good position to try and make something happen for their team in the final quarter.
Slay got whistled with a defensive pass interference penalty that aided Buffalo’s drive and shortly thereafter, Josh Allen finally connected on a huge play and hit Robert Foster for a 42-yard touchdown, 14-13 Buffalo.
Zenner opened up the new series with a 5-yard gain and he followed that up with an 11-yard run. Theo Riddick gained another 4-yards and on the next play, Stafford found Kenny Golladay wide open for a gain of 20-yards. On the subsequent 3rd & 8 play, the Lions fell short with a screen pass to receiver Brandon Powell.
Matt Prater lined up for a 48-yard field goal but he missed the kick and the score remained in Buffalo’s favor by one point.
Buffalo quickly found themselves in a 3rd & 8 scenario and on that play, the Lions forced a Buffalo punt after a three-and-out.
Stafford opened up his next series with a completion to Golladay who had a career day. Theo Riddick was tackled in the backfield for a loss of 2-yards and on the next third down play, Toilolo caught the pass but was held short of the first down.
Buffalo got the ball back and did their best to try and milk time off of the clock. After the two-minute warning, a penalty on Detroit helped move Buffalo forward on their third-down attempt. From 3rd & 2, Buffalo tried to edge out Detroit and after a booth review, the Bills were ruled short of the first down.
On 4th & Inches, Buffalo went for it and gained the first down. From there a few victory formations ended the game, 14-13 Buffalo Final.
Final Thoughts
Playing for pride and gutting out the last bit of this season in order to finish on a high note is what Detroit is going for. This game was a defensive struggle where both teams’ offenses lagged just as the case was last week as Detroit played Arizona.
There are those folks out there who are of the mindset that Detroit should just pack it in and tank the rest of the way in order to get a high draft pick but don’t count me in that bunch. Even if the Lions gained a top-5 draft pick or better, there’s no guarantee that that draft pick would live up to the hype.
Next. Detroit Lions 2019 full 7-round mock draft. dark
Stars can be found at all levels of the draft and beyond so I’m more in favor of the team playing strong to finish their season and then scouting well for the positions that they draft from. GM Bob Quinn has shown himself to be shrewd with his recent draft day selections as he’s selected players in early and late rounds who have gone on to be key contributors for the Lions.
Next week, (the penultimate week of this NFL season), the division rival Minnesota Vikings head to the great state of Michigan to take on the Lions for their second matchup of the season.