The Lions claw Buffalo to the tune of 31-0 in the final tuneup before the regular season.
Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
Preseason records: Buffalo (1-3), Detroit (2-2)
In a nutshell:
With mostly backups on the field from the start, the Bills fell behind early and has trouble answering on the scoreboard. Detroit scored on the third play from scrimmage on a 58-yard touchdown run by Dwayne Washington and was up 17-0 at the half en route to a 31-0 victory over Buffalo in the preseason finale.
Buffalo’s offense struggled to string positive plays together as their backup offensive line struggled to block and protect consistently. The Bills had just 45 total net yards at halftime.
Things didn’t improve much in the second half. The Bills had a couple of long pass plays, but reached the red zone just once in the game.
How it went down:
-Detroit jumped on the Bills right away when Dwayne Washington got the corner and turned a run upfield 58 yards to the end zone for a touchdown on the third play from scrimmage for an early 7-0 lead.
-After the Bills failed to convert on a fourth-and-two play on their own half of the field, Detroit took over and moved into field goal range. Matt Prater was good on a 45-yard attempt to make it 10-0 Lions midway through the opening quarter.
-With under a minute to play in the half, the Lions went 57 yards on nine plays with Jake Rudock finding Jay Lee in the back left corner of the end zone for a touchdown to make it 17-0 Detroit at the half.
-The Lions made it 24-0 when Jake Rudock scrambled and found Jace Billingsley in the right side of the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown near the end of the third quarter.
-Detroit capped the scoring with a nine-play 40-yard drive when Rudock found TE Adam Fuehne for a five-yard touchdown pass (31-0).
Subplots:
-Newly signed LB Ramon Humber lined up at the weak inside linebacker spot right at the start of the game. He’s likely seen as a possible David Hawthorne replacement in that role. Hawthorne was part of first cuts this past Tuesday.
-The Bills set up in a wishbone formation on a 4th-and-2 in the first quarter. Though the play didn’t work, Baltimore has some extra studying to do this week.
-Manny Lawson and Robert Blanton teamed up to make a fourth down stop near midfield late in the first quarter. Lawson has the quarterback pressure and Blanton forced the incompletion.
-James Wilder Jr. was shaken up on a punt coverage play and left the game in the first half. He was placed in the concussion protocol before game’s end.
-Greg Salas saw work on punt return. He had three fair catches.
-OL Marquis Lucas suffered an ankle injury on the first play of the third quarter.
-Glenn Gronkowski turned in a strong performance. His best play might have been a seal block on the right edge to allow Boom Herron to rip off a 17-yard run up the middle.
-TE Blake Annen suffered a neck injury in the fourth quarter.
-TE Nick O’Leary put together a productive game leading the team with six catches for 63 yards.
Inactives:
WR Robert Woods, WR Sammy Watkins, S Corey Graham, CB Nickell Robey-Coleman, RB Reggie Bush, S Aaron Williams, CB Stephon Gilmore, RB LeSean McCoy, CB Ronald Darby, RB Mike Gillislee, RB Jonathan Williams, FB Jerome Felton, LB Brandon Spikes, LB Preston Brown, LB Zach Brown, LB Jerry Hughes, LB Lorenzo Alexander, G Richie Incognito, C Eric Wood, G John Miller, OT Cordy Glenn, OT Jordan Mills, TE Charles Clay, WR Marquise Goodwin, DT Kyle Williams, DT Corbin Bryant, DT Marcell Dareus.
Up next:
The Bills travel to Baltimore to open the 2016 season with the Ravens on Sunday, Sept. 11 for a 1 pm kickoff.