Defensive coordinators might want to look away, because the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills could score on every drive on Thursday. Both teams won a high-scoring game in week one, and they combined for 90 points when they met in 2024. It will also be the first game in Buffalo's new stadium, and Bills Mafia is guaranteed to have the place rocking.
Another guarantee is Bills quarterback Josh Allen trying to create explosive plays. In the Bills' win over the Texans, Allen threw for 334 yards and two touchdowns. He also scored twice on the ground, becoming the first QB in NFL history to record 80 career rushing touchdowns.
Allen averaged 12.6 air yards per attempt on Sunday - his highest in a game since 2022 - and he completed 11 of 16 passes of at least ten yards (NextGen Stats). Saints QB Tyler Shough completed six passes of at least 20 yards against the Lions, and he is nowhere close to the player Allen is.
Shough diced up the defense with more than 400 passing yards, and Allen could look to exploit the Lions' secondary even further.
Josh Allen could slice up the Lions' decimated secondary
Against the Texans, Allen set a new career high with five completions of at least 30 yards. Allen told buffalobills.com he enjoys making the big plays.
"We love chunk plays. That's how you score 36 points," Allen said. "You give yourself the opportunity to score on four or five plays in a drive instead of the long methodical, you know, 13, 14, 15 (yard) plays … and that's also a way to win football games. So, we don't want to just try to live off the chunk plays. We want to be smart, and we want to take our opportunities when they're there."
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Against four or fewer pass rushers, Allen has a league-high 20.3% explosive play rate (NGS). Luckily for the Lions, they seem to be leaning towards a blitz-heavy approach on defense, and it could pay off. Lions' CB Roger McCreary rushed the QB seven times against the Saints, generating four pressures, which was the most of any DB in week one (NGS).
In 2025, Allen averaged the third-fewest yards per attempt (5.1) in the NFL when the defense rushed a defensive back (NGS). Therefore, sending a DB on a blitz could be the best recipe for success.
Detroit blitzed defensive backs 20 times on Sunday alone, and they only did so 48 times last season. The issue with Allen is, even if you force him out of the pocket, he can do damage on the ground as well. They might have to use a designated 'spy' to keep an eye on Allen, but the Lions need to contain him and keep him uncomfortable to have any chance of slowing him down.
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