Detroit Lions lost to Buffalo Bills in their third preseason match, 24-20. But what is more painful for their fans is the fact that they lost two starting players in the non-competitive contest.
Their starting middle linebacker Jarrad Davis had to leave the game because of a right foot injury, while center Frank Ragnow injured his right leg. It would be a massive setback for the Lions if they can’t recover until Week 1.
Head coach Matt Patricia didn’t want to get into the situation very much, but stated that he wants to wait for further medical evaluations before saying anything.
“We’ll see what it looks like tomorrow and go through the normal procedures the day after the game and try to see what that looks like and then we’ll go from there.”
The Lions are now 0-3 in the preseason, but that doesn’t worry Patricia too much. His starting quarterback Matthew Stafford looked good one the field, as he played for the first time since the start of the preparations period.
Stafford threw for 137 yards, 12 of 19, for one touchdown. He found rookie running back Ty Johnson for an 11-yard TD pass. The quarterback was very pleased with the way his young teammate created the position and how he easily executed.
“He got a step on his defender, and I was able to fit it in there,” Stafford said. “Wasn’t an easy catch.”
The shiny spot in Detroit’s performance was the NFL recorder, kicker Matt Prater who made a 61-yard field goal at the end of the first half. To remind you, Prater holds the record for the longest field goal in NFL history, with 64 yards.
On the other side, Josh Allen wasn’t very noticeable in the first half when most of the Lions’ starters played. He had only three completions from six attempts for 49 yards, but it appears that Bills focused on their running game, overloading LeSean McCoy and Frank Gore. Gore had 57 yards on 8 carries, while McCoy ended the contest with 37 yards on 6. Both of them had 20 or more-yard run.
Once the starters on both sides stepped off the field, Bills’ backup QB Matt Barkley took over the wheel. He quickly made several excellent passes and led his team to another TD. He found Duke Williams for 16 yards, with 31 seconds before the end of the third quarter.
Barkley threw for 142 yards not completing only 2 of his 14 tries. He did suffer one sack, but overall, his performance was ok. Bills are looking very good during the preseason. After three matches, they didn’t lose, and it seems that they might be better than during the previous campaign.
But that is only maybe because we often saw in the future that preseason matches have nothing in common with the regular ones.
The Bills are playing against the Minnesota Vikings at home next Thursday night. The Lions are traveling to Cleveland on the same day. As for the season openers, Bills face Jets in New York, while Lions visit Arizona Cardinals.
