For Bills, feels just like home
DETROIT — The Bills crashed the Lions’ Thanksgiving party, making themselves at home for their second victory in five days at Ford Field.
Tyler Bass made a tiebreaking 45-yard field goal with 2 seconds left after missing an extra point late in the fourth quarter, lifting the Bills to a 28-25 win over the Lions on Thursday.
“It was very deja vu-ish,” said Josh Allen, who set up the game-winning kick by starting the drive with a 36-yard pass to Stefon Diggs and running twice for 12 yards. Allen led the Bills with 78 rushing yards.
The Bills were back in the Motor City after the NFL moved their previous home game against the Browns because a winter storm dumped several feet of snow in New York.
The Bills became the third NFL team to play two games in five or fewer days on the road in the same stadium, and the first to win both.
And the Bills equaled the number of wins the Lions have this season at their indoor stadium.
The Bills (8-3) have won two straight — after losing two in a row — to move a half-game ahead of the Dolphins in the AFC East.
After Bass made the game-winning kick, Allen and Diggs embraced on the sideline.
“Let’s get back to having fun again,” Diggs recalled telling Allen after making eight catches for 77 yards and a score. “We got away from that a little bit.”
Allen threw a go-ahead, 5-yard touchdown pass to Diggs with 2:40 left, but Bass missed the extra point to make it 25-22 after the kicker matched his and the franchise record with six field goals in an eightpoint win over the Browns on Sunday.
Allen had a passing and rushing touchdown in the first half, finishing 24 of 42 for 253 yards to more than make up for throwing his 11th interception of the season. He has accounted for 162 touchdowns, trailing only Hall of Famer Dan Marino’s total of 171 for the most by an NFL player in his first five seasons.
The Lions converted fourth-and-1 from midfield with Amon-ra St. Brown’s 7-yard end-around to set up Michael Badgley’s game-tying, 51-yard field goal with 23 seconds to go. Badgley missed a 29-yard field goal late in the third and Jared Goff took a sack for a safety in the same quarter and those mistakes proved to be costly.
The Lions (4-7) missed an opportunity to win four straight games for the first time since 2016 and lost a franchise-record sixth straight game on Thanksgiving.
“I told them this one should sting,” coach Dan Campbell said.
Bills edge rusher Von Miller injured his right knee during the second quarter and didn’t return to the game.
Coach Sean Mcdermott said after the game that he didn’t have any updates on the nature of the injury.
Miller, 33, had his right leg stepped on inadvertently by Lions center Frank Ragnow while he was blocking another player. He was evaluated on the sideline and was taken on a cart from the sideline to the locker room.
The Cowboys played the Giants and the Patriots faced the Vikings later Thursday but those games ended too late for this edition.