All-Pro weapon: After notching 10 receptions for 67 yards and two touchdowns Week 1, Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown’s encore performance Week 2 included nine catches for 142 yards and two more scores.
He joins Andre Rison (1994) as the only players in NFL history to produce at least nine receptions and two-or-more receiving touchdowns in each of the first two games of any season. His 19 receptions are the second-most a Lions player has logged through the first two games of any season, trailing only Herman Moore (20) in 1996. St. Brown has established himself as one of the top receivers in the game today.
Rough start: After allowing 30 points in an overtime win vs. New Orleans Week 1 and 41 points in Thursday's loss to Buffalo, Detroit's defense has allowed at least 30 points in the first two games of the regular season since 2021 – the first two contests of the Dan Campbell era in Detroit. The Lions have allowed 63 first downs in two games.
All-Pro middle linebacker Jack Campbell was bothered by Detroit's defensive effort after Thursday's loss in Buffalo.
"I'm gonna be honest with you. Hats off to them; played terrible. It starts with me, and I feel like it's on me. I gotta be better," said Campbell, whose 29.6 defensive grade from Pro Football Focus against the Bills was the second-lowest of his career (28.7 vs. Baltimore in 2023 as a rookie). "And I ain't got no other thing to do but look in the mirror and be better so that's really where it starts. It starts with us, but yeah, they did a good job."
Campbell had seven tackles and one tackle for loss against the Bills.
Sack streak: The top graded player from PFF among Lions defenders Thursday was fifth-year edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson (89.4). After recording two sacks against the Saints to begin the season, it took just three plays Thursday night for Hutchinson to record sack No. 3 as he beat right tackle Spencer Brown to get to quarterback Josh Allen. He also forced a fumble on the play that was recovered by Buffalo.
Hutchinson now has 15 total pressures in two games to start the year and has established a new franchise record by producing at least one sack in six-straight games dating back to last season. Hutchinson is off to a terrific start.
Tight end weapons: I asked head coach Dan Campbell this week about the Bills' heavy tight end usage in their Week 1 win over Houston and the challenge they present.
"They have three tight ends. They have three real guys that have three different roles that they're all three pretty good at," he said.
Bills tight ends accounted for nine receptions for 100 yards with two touchdowns vs. the Lions.
Ground and air attack: We saw in training camp running back Jahmyr Gibbs become more of a weapon in the passing game and that's translated to the regular season. Gibbs recorded 156 rushing yards Week 1 vs. New Orleans and also caught five passes for 30 yards.
On Thursday night, Gibbs added 52 yards to his season rushing total and caught six passes, including an 11-yard touchdown. Now with 11 receptions over his first two contests, Gibbs is well on pace to beating the career-high 77 receptions he recorded in 2025.
40,000 yards: Lions quarterback Jared Goff reached 40,000-career passing yards in only his 153rd career game. It's the sixth-fewest games a quarterback has needed to top 40,000 passing yards in NFL history. Goff finished 26-of-38 passing for 327 yards with four touchdowns against the Bills.
Reserve O-linemen: Detroit was without 60 percent of their expected starting offensive line to begin the season Thursday in Buffalo with center Cade Mays on injured reserve, starting right tackle Blake Miller (knee) not playing and starting left guard Christian Mahogany (hip) also out. Their replacements – Larry Borom (37.0), Ben Bartch (37.8) and Juice Scruggs (40.8) – ended up as the three lowest graded players by PFF on Detroit's offense in the contest. That trio allowed 13 of Buffalo's 19 pressures and two sacks (both by Borom).
