It would not come as a big surprise if Buffalo and Detroit wound up facing each other in February.
When the two Super Bowl contenders match up at the Lions’ home field on Sunday afternoon, the primary concern for the Bills will be getting their defense straightened out.
Buffalo had its seven-game winning streak snapped by the Rams last week, with Los Angeles prevailing 44-42. Bills quarterback Josh Allen became the first player in NFL history to have three rushing and three passing touchdowns in a single game, but that historic performance was wasted by Buffalo’s inability to disrupt the Rams’ offense.
The Rams racked up 457 total yards of offense and scored on all but one of their six red-zone possessions. Buffalo’s defense failed to generate a sack or a turnover.
“We’ve got to get back to good fundamental football,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “That’s really where it starts.”
Things could get very ugly for the Bills (10-3) again if they don’t make more impactful plays on defense. The Lions (12-1) are riding a franchise-record 11-game winning streak while leading the league in scoring (32.1 points per game).
Getting top running back James Cook the ball more often also will be a point of emphasis for Buffalo. He had a season-low six carries for 20 yards against Los Angeles.
“We’ve got to get better,” McDermott said. “We’ve got to perform better, and that starts in practice (Wednesday). It is a mentality. It is an attitude. And if you want to play good defense, that’s where it starts. … There’s not a whole lot of shortcuts or ways around it. It’s got to be a mentality for us, first and foremost, that we carry through the rest of the season.”
With the Bills averaging 30.5 points per game — second only to the Lions — this could turn into the highest-scoring game of the week. Detroit coach Dan Campbell is naturally focused on containing Allen.
“He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s pretty explosive and he’s competitive,” Campbell said of the Buffalo signal-caller. “He’s got all of these attributes, physical attributes, but then, it’s what he’s got inside of him, man, he’s the ultimate competitor. That’s what separates him from a lot of guys. He’s fearless and it’s why those guys — they play the way they do for him because he just won’t give it up.”
Detroit’s injury-riddled defense got a few extra days to heal up after a 34-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 5.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff, who, like Allen, is a candidate for the league’s MVP award, has bounced back from an uncharacteristic five-interception outing against the Houston Texans last month to throw nine touchdown passes and only one interception over the past four games.
“I guarantee you, that’s not Goff’s focus,” Campbell said of personal honors. “Winning the MVP, that’s icing on the cake, but I know for us, man, if you just focus on the win and what it’s going to take to win this game and whatever comes out of that, the individual accolades will follow.”
The Lions’ defensive line is getting healthy.
Josh Paschal, Levi Onwuzurike and D.J. Reader, all of whom missed the win over the Packers, could play on Sunday, according to Campbell. Fellow defensive lineman Alim McNeill, who was in concussion protocol, practiced in full on Wednesday, as did offensive tackle Taylor Decker (knee), who missed the past two games.
Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid (knee), who hasn’t played since Nov. 10, practiced in full on Wednesday.
–Field Level Media
