The Buffalo Bills kicked off Week 2 of the NFL season by winning their second game of the season, and winning their first in their new Highmark Stadium. They defeated the Detroit Lions, 41-31 in a game where it was similar to Week 1 against the Houston Texans. The offense wasn’t missing a lot of beats, but the defense still crumbled at certain times and almost allowed the Lions to get back into the game.
Buffalo now has extra rest to prepare for their Week 3 battle agains the Los Angeles Chargers in Orchard Park. There was plenty to love about this game, but there were some concerns as well that fans may have noticed. There are plenty of winners, but there are also some losers coming out of this game.
Winners and losers for Bills from Week 2 win against Lions
Winners:
OLB Greg Rousseau
If there is one defender that has benefited the most from the new defensive scheme, it’s Greg Rousseau. In Week 1 against the Texans, he had two strip sacks including the game-winning one late in the 4th quarter. Against the Lions, he recorded two more sacks to give him four on the season so far. He also had 4 QB hits total.
Rousseau may have found the perfect scheme for him to finally become the elite pass rusher that Bills fans have been waiting for since 2021.
OLB Bradley Chubb
On the other side is Bradley Chubb, who was chasing down Jared Goff as well. Chubb with 1.5 sacks and he was constantly near the ball. After being silenced against the Texans in Week 1, it was great to see Chubb get in on the action and make his impact for the defense.
TE Dalton Kincaid
Once again leading the Bills in receiving yards, Dalton Kincaid is on his way to having an All-Pro year if he can stay healthy. He was just 5 yards short of 100 yards but he managed to reel in 7 of his 8 targets for 95 yards as well as a score. With the injury to DJ Moore, depending on how long he could be out, Kincaid could see more targets coming his way.
LB Dorian Williams
I don't know about everyone else, but I saw Dorian Williams delivering some very hard hits against the run and doing a great job at not letting any Lions ball carrier gain yards once he was in their way. This is now the second week where he stood out on the defense and he's playing like the best linebacker on the Bills.
WR Keon Coleman
Who would have thought that Coleman would be on this list as a winner? After being held to just 1 catch for 1 yard against the Texans, Coleman stepped up for the Bills against the Lions as he finished with 6 catches for 63 yards (off of 6 targets). Coleman came into this season with some serious pressure and this outing gives him confidence going into Week 3.
HC Joe Brady
Brady officially becomes the first head coach in Bills history to win his first two games. Not only did he get the two wins, but he did against a ferocious Texans defense and high-powered Lions offense in a matter of four days. Brady is off to a great start in his head coaching career, and now he gets extra preparation time for Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers.
QB Josh Allen
The best player in the league once again showed why he is the best overall. Allen finished with 317 total yards and 5 total touchdowns. He became the first player in NFL history with 5+ passing TDs and 3+ rushing TDs through two games, per the Bills' PR team. Long story short, he is unstoppable at this moment and who knows what defense will contain him.
Losers:
OLB T.J. Parker
I was disappointed in T.J. Parker’s performance, as this is now the second game where we didn’t see him in the middle of an impactful play for the Bills’ defense. He had just one tackle in the game, and didn’t provide much pressure against the pass.
The second round pick for the Bills still has room to grow, but you would think he would show some kind of flash. Maybe it will come, but for now, it’s been a bit disappointing.
WR Khalil Shakir
Despite being targeted 6 times, Shakir had just 3 catches for 38 yards. Even with Moore not playing in the second half, he wasn’t able to help the offense like we have seen before. Instead, he was outshined by Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid. It’s just one game, but to only catch half of the targets he got is not a great sign.
OT Spencer Brown
Whenever Aidan Hutchinson was lined up over Spencer Brown, it was a mismatch at times. Yes, I know that Hutchinson is one of the best in the game, but it’s Brown's job to atleast contain. There were times when Hutchinson just simply bull-rushed Brown to collapse the pocket. Brown performed well against Houston, but he took a bit of a step back against Hutchinson.
DC Jim Leonhard
Another week of the defense giving up plays that they shouldn’t be. The good news is that the Bills’ defense got off to a much better start, but the ending wasn’t exactly pretty. The defense allowed the Lions to score 21 points in the second half, which included one in the 4th quarter where the Lions were slowly starting to make a comeback.
Now, Leonhard only had three days to prepare his unit against a high-powered offense. However, the adjustments are not being made and that’s something that he will need to focus on going into Week 3.
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