Josh Allen did not need to mention the Detroit Lions by name to make the message relevant.
After Buffalo’s 36-31 victory over Houston in Week 1, the Bills quarterback made it clear what he wants from his offense.
Big plays.
“We love chunk plays. That’s how you score 36 points,” Allen said after Buffalo’s season-opening win.
Allen backed that up against one of the NFL’s better defenses. He completed 20 of 29 passes for 334 yards and two touchdowns, added two more scores on the ground and produced five completions of at least 30 yards, the most in a regular-season game in his career. His average depth of target was 13.2 yards, his highest since 2023.
That becomes particularly relevant Thursday night.
Detroit just allowed New Orleans quarterback Tyler Shough to throw for 410 yards.
And the Saints repeatedly found the explosive plays Allen says Buffalo wants.
Lions Secondary Faces Immediate Test
According to the Lions’ own Week 2 opponent breakdown, Detroit surrendered six completions of at least 20 yards against New Orleans.
Only Minnesota allowed more in Week 1.
That was one of the most concerning parts of Detroit’s 31-30 overtime victory. Shough threw three touchdown passes, while Chris Olave caught 10 passes for 182 yards.
The coverage issues also showed up in the grades. Our Week 1 PFF breakdown had Rock Ya-Sin at the bottom of Detroit’s defensive grades, while Avonte Maddox also finished among the lowest-rated defenders.
Now Detroit gets Allen.
Buffalo generated 10 offensive plays of more than 15 yards against Houston, meaning roughly 20 percent of its offensive plays qualified as explosive. The Bills punted only twice.
There is no mystery about what Buffalo wants to do.
Buffalo Wants Allen Looking Downfield
Bills head coach Joe Brady said Allen did an excellent job taking what Houston’s defense gave him, particularly when downfield opportunities appeared.
“If you can keep Josh clean, it affords him opportunities across the field,” Brady said while discussing the Detroit matchup.
That puts pressure on two areas of Detroit’s defense.
The Lions need Aidan Hutchinson and the defensive front to prevent Allen from comfortably waiting on deeper routes. They also need a secondary that struggled with explosive passes Sunday to hold up longer than it did against New Orleans.
Detroit could be dealing with another complication.
Starting cornerback D.J. Reed was added to the Week 2 injury report Tuesday because of a foot issue and was listed as a limited participant.
Christian Izien has been trending toward his season debut, but Detroit is already operating without safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph.
Not exactly ideal timing.
Detroit Cannot Let Buffalo Turn This Into a Track Meet
The encouraging part for Detroit is that Week 1 was not entirely disastrous defensively.
The Lions intercepted Shough twice, sacked him five times and made the final defensive play required to escape with the win. Their pass rush, particularly Hutchinson, consistently created problems.
But Detroit’s narrow victory over New Orleans also exposed an obvious weakness.
The Saints produced explosive plays.
Buffalo appears considerably better equipped to punish them.
Allen now has DJ Moore, Dalton Kincaid, Khalil Shakir and Joshua Palmer working within an offense that showed in Week 1 it is willing to attack vertically. Kincaid and Moore combined for 230 receiving yards against Houston, with several of those gains coming in large chunks.
Allen was not issuing a threat specifically to Detroit when he talked about loving chunk plays.
He did not have to.
The film from Sunday already showed where the Lions can be attacked.
Thursday night, one of the NFL’s most dangerous quarterbacks gets his turn.
