FIRST DOWN: RECALIBRATION
The last time the Lions lost a game 91 days ago in Week 2 vs. Tampa Bay (20-16), they found a way to respond. They didn't lose again for three months.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff is hoping Sunday's 48-42 loss to Buffalo can be another good reset for this team the final three weeks of the season and into the playoffs.
"Maybe it's a good wakeup call for us," Goff said. "Nice little recalibration for us. Now we get to go on the road. We had some nice home games we just finished up but now we get to go on the road and it's us against everyone else again and come together and get a bit tighter and move on."
Goff, who threw for 494 yards and five touchdowns in the loss, said they didn't match Buffalo's intensity and execution early on and once they got into a double-digit hole on the scoreboard, it was too much to dig out of.
He's hoping a loss like Sunday's can be beneficial for the team if they handle it the right way.
"I think we will," he said. "If you handle it the right way and recognize where your shortcomings were and get better and move on, yeah, sure, it can be great thing for the team.
"We know we have Minnesota on our heels in the division and we're battling Philly for the No. 1 seed and if there's not urgency now, then there won't be. I believe there will be a ton of urgency from our guys, not that there wasn't today, but there will be now for sure."
The Lions face Chicago and San Francisco on the road the next two weeks before ending the regular season at home vs. Minnesota. The Lions are tied with Philadelphia at 12-2. Minnesota (11-2) plays Chicago Monday night.
SECOND DOWN: NO ANSWER FOR ALLEN
Lions head coach Dan Campbell talked all week about the challenge his defense had facing Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen and a Bills' offense that had scored at least 30 points in seven straight games.
The Bills put up 48 points, 559 yards of offense and 28 first downs in a 48-42 shootout Sunday.
"It's frustrating," Campbell said. "I thought we'd be better. Some of these things where they make a play, I can live with that stuff. It's across the board when you know that you had self-inflicted wounds. There's things that we did on our own and gave those guys something to where they had better opportunities. That's the frustrating part. You want to know you didn't help them and I feel like we helped them."
The Lions let Allen out of the pocket too many times as he created big off-schedule plays all afternoon. Campbell said they knew coming in if they didn't contain Allen in the pocket, it would be a long day. Allen ended up throwing for 362 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 68 yards and two scores.
"It's a tough pill to swallow," Campbell said. "At least we know now where we stack up against one of the AFC's best teams and it's not good enough. Not today it's not."
Allen is just the second player ever with at least 350 passing yards, 50 rushing yards, two touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns in a game, joining Russell Wilson.
THIRD DOWN: GOFF'S PERFORMANCE
Campbell blamed himself after the loss Sunday for not having the team ready to play at Buffalo's level of intensity, but he couldn't say enough good things about the job Goff did keeping the Lions in the ball game.
"We wouldn't have had this much production had our quarterback not played as good as he did," Campbell said. "He played top notch now. That's asking a lot of any quarterback - 59 attempts. That was big time."
Goff threw for 494 yards and five touchdowns with a passer rating of 118.9. He became the first player in NFL history to throw for 400-plus yards with five-plus touchdown passes and no interceptions in a loss, per CBS Sports. He threw touchdown passes to five different receivers and was the biggest reason Detroit didn't lose by more Sunday.
In the loss, Goff passed Bobby Layne (15,710) for the second most passing yards in franchise history.
FOURTH DOWN: TACKLE ELIGIBLE
Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson likes rewarding offensive linemen when the opportunity presents itself and it did again Sunday against the Bills.
We've already seen tackles Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell with the ball in their hands the last couple years. Sunday it was swing tackle Dan Skipper's turn, and he paid it off with only the third touchdown scored by an offensive lineman in team history.
Late in the second quarter the Lions faced a 2nd & 4 at the Buffalo 9-yard line. Skipper entered the game as an eligible third tackle and after blocking for a moment on a play-action pass play, he leaked out into the flat where Goff found him and Skipper did the rest rumbling into the end zone.
"It was cool," Goff said of Skipper's touchdown. "He almost came up short trying to run that guy over (at the goal line). I'm glad he got that touchdown but it would be a lot more fun to celebrate that in a win, absolutely."
