Lions at Bills: New Stadium Given First Big Test
Highmark Stadium opens its doors for the first regular-season game in its history on Thursday night, and the Buffalo Bills picked a heavyweight to christen it. Josh Allen and company will host Jared Goff and a Detroit Lions team trying to climb back to the top of the NFC North.
Both teams enter unbeaten at 1-0, both survived close calls in Week 1, and both know a statement here carries weight beyond the standings this early in September.
The Most Important Thing to Know
Detroit walks into Buffalo banged up in the one spot that matters most. The Lions will be without three of their five projected starting offensive linemen.
- Rookie right tackle Blake Miller, the team’s first-round pick, played all 77 snaps in Week 1 before knee discomfort surfaced afterward, and he is now ruled out.
- Left guard Christian Mahogany exited the opener early with a hip injury and won’t play either.
- Center Cade Mays, brought in as a free-agent addition this offseason, has been out since a wrist fracture in training camp.
- That leaves Detroit leaning on Juice Scruggs at center and a patchwork right side, which will likely change how Dan Campbell wants to script this game.
Expect more quick passing and play-action to protect Goff, and less willingness to ask a reshuffled line to win in obvious passing situations.
A Coaching Matchup Worth Watching
This is the first meeting between Dan Campbell, entering his sixth season and the franchise’s longest-tenured coach since Wayne Fontes, and Joe Brady, who inherited the Bills job in January after Buffalo moved on from Sean McDermott following nine seasons and eight playoff appearances without a Super Bowl trip.
Brady spent the past two years as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator and knows this roster intimately, but Thursday is only his second regular-season game managing an entire team rather than calling plays. Campbell, by contrast, has been through this exact kind of early-season measuring-stick game before, and his staff overhauled its own offensive coordinator room this offseason with Drew Petzing now calling plays for Goff. If you’re building out fantasy rankings for Week 2, both new offensive voices are worth watching for tendencies before locking in lineups.
New Bills receiver DJ Moore adds another layer to this storyline. Moore was traded to Buffalo from Chicago this offseason after eight seasons split between the Bears and Panthers, and he wasted no time making an impression, hauling in a 43-yard touchdown from Allen in his Bills debut. Pairing Moore with James Cook, who led the NFL in rushing yards a year ago, gives Brady’s offense two proven weapons to build around as he settles into the job. Anyone updating their free NFL picks for this slate should have both players near the top of the game script discussion.
The Last Meeting
The two teams haven’t played since December 15, 2024, and it was one of the most entertaining regular-season games of that year. Buffalo won 48-42 at Ford Field in a shootout that saw Goff throw for 494 yards and five touchdowns, only for Allen to answer with 362 passing yards and four total touchdowns of his own. It stood as one of only two regular-season losses in an otherwise historic 15-2 campaign for Detroit that season. Given how that game went, and given both quarterbacks’ track records for putting up points, there’s a real reason to think Thursday could get loud on the scoreboard again, even with Detroit’s offensive line questions in the mix.
Early NFL odds favor Buffalo by 4.5, with the total at 54.5, among the higher numbers on the Week 2 board.
Keys to Victory: Detroit Lions
Detroit’s path starts up front, ironically, given who’s missing there. Drew Petzing needs to lean on quick-hitting concepts that get the ball out of Goff’s hands before Buffalo’s pass rush can win with a patchwork line in front of him. Jahmyr Gibbs and the run game become more important than usual, both to control the clock against a Bills offense that wants to play fast and to keep Detroit out of obvious passing downs where the line is most exposed. Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams need to win early and win often, since Detroit may not be able to sustain long, developing plays downfield. Defensively, the Lions led the NFL in sacks through Week 1, and getting home against Allen matters more than usual this week, since it could be the difference between Detroit controlling tempo and getting dragged into exactly the kind of track meet that decided this series last time.
Keys to Victory: Buffalo Bills
Buffalo’s blueprint is straightforward on paper and difficult in practice: attack the weakness. Josh Brady’s staff knows exactly which linemen are out for Detroit, and expects play designs built specifically to isolate Buffalo’s edge rushers against Detroit’s backup tackles and interior linemen. Allen doesn’t need a complicated game plan so much as consistent pressure looks that force quick, uncomfortable decisions from a Lions line still finding its rhythm. On offense, spreading touches between Cook, Moore, and Khalil Shakir keeps Detroit’s defense honest and prevents Kelvin Sheppard’s unit from selling out against any single matchup. A fast start matters too. Detroit trailed for stretches of last year’s meeting before it turned into a track meet, and if Buffalo can build an early lead behind its new stadium’s energy, it puts Detroit in a tougher spot against a line that isn’t at full strength.
DFS DraftKings Picks
Showdown Salary: $6,800
Kincaid seems underpriced in this matchup. The fifth-year starter was very productive last week, catching five passes for 130 yards on six targets. Interesting fact: Kincaid has 9 career touchdowns, a surprisingly low number; however, 8 of those scores came at home.
Showdown Salary: $3,600
Given how banged up the offensive line is and the fact that the Lions are on the road on a short week, it would make sense to make the Bills Defence a part of your DraftKings Showdown lineup. The Bills got three sacks last week in their win over the Texans. However, they still gave up 31 points.
NFL Pick
Bills 28-20
