Lions' banged-up defense no match for high-scoring Allen-led Bills in 48-42 loss

 

[December 16, 2024]  By DAVE HOGG

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Lions had no answers for Josh Allen.

Now, they're hoping a banged-up defense can stop anyone else.

Detroit’s patchwork defense got even more threadbare in a 48-42 loss to Allen and the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, losing three contributors to possible season-ending injuries.

Defensive tackle Alim McNeill injured a knee, cornerback Carlton Davis III left with a jaw injury and reserve cornerback and key special teams player Khalil Dorsey broke his right leg, which coach Dan Campbell said was similar to Aidan Hutchinson's season-ending injury.

"We’ll know more about Alim and (Davis) tomorrow, but I don’t feel good about either one of those guys," Campbell said. "If I’m saying I don’t feel good about an injury, that means not good for the rest of the season.”

The Lions have more players on injured reserve than anyone else in the NFL, and a high percentage of those players play defense. They have managed to overcome the loss of Hutchinson – the league’s best pass rusher – but Allen showed how far things have gotten.

Not only did they fail to register a sack, they rarely got any pressure on him. They had just three quarterback hits on a day during which he threw for a season-high 362 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 68 yards and two more scores.

“He poses a huge issue for any team, and we knew that was going to happen,” Campbell said. “We wanted to handle him better and we just didn’t. When he makes a play, I can live with it, but what is frustrating is all the self-inflicted wounds.

“You can’t give that team anything, and I feel like we helped them a little bit.”

Buffalo’s 48 points and 559 yards don’t even tell the whole tale because Tyler Bass missed a 24-yard field goal that could have put the Bills over 50 points. The performance came after Buffalo lost 44-42 to the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, foreground, celebrates after scoring against the Detroit Lions during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)

“We knew they were going to be ready to go after that tough loss out there on the West Coast," Campbell said. "They had that urgency and we just didn’t match it. That’s on me. I didn’t have those guys ready to go for a game like that. We have a lot of guys who can play better than that, and that’s my job.”

The final box score doesn’t look too bad for the Lions on offense after they had 521 yards, including 494 yards from Jared Goff, and lost by just six points.

Goff threw for 333 yards in the second half, but Detroit only added seven on the ground. Detroit trailed 38-21 early in the fourth quarter and were still down two scores until scoring their last touchdown with 16 seconds left.

“If we had been able to play like that at the start of the game, maybe we would have stayed closer for the first three quarters,” Goff said. “It probably wouldn’t have felt quite so much like garbage time there at the end.

“They punched us in the mouth early and it took us too long to respond.”

Goff, though, thinks the game could have value in the long run.

“We would have loved to win out, including the Super Bowl, but that didn’t happen,” he said. “I hope we can look back on this as a good lesson and use what we learn to win the next three games.”

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