- What: NFL Regular Season Game
- When: December 15, 2024
- Who: Buffalo Bills vs. Detroit Lions
- Time: 1:25 p.m. PST
- Where: Ford Field (Detroit, MI)
The Detroit Lions will play the Buffalo Bills at home in Week 15. They are favored to win in a matchup that could hint at a Super Bowl showdown.
Heading into this week, Detroit is riding an impressive 11-game winning streak—the best in the NFL.
Buffalo Bills
The last time the Bills faced consecutive road games, they ended up with a 1-2 record over three weeks from Weeks 4 to 6.
This also marks the last time they played against a team at home. For the second week in a row, they lost to the Texans 23-20. Meanwhile, the Lions are set to play their third consecutive game at home.
Last week against the Rams, the Buffalo defense had a rough outing. They allowed a season-high 44 points—the most since Week 1 of 2018—and 445 total yards.
From the start, the Bills struggled to stop the run, giving up 5.2 yards per carry in the first quarter, totaling 67 rushing yards.
The Motor City Showdown. ????@BarefootWine | #BUFvsDET pic.twitter.com/nd8n1ghj6k
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 15, 2024
When they focused on shutting down the run, they ended up conceding 11.4 yards per pass attempt in the second half, resulting in 194 passing yards.
Expect Detroit to utilize a lot of pre-snap motion to create advantageous matchups. Buffalo has allowed 7.3 yards per pass attempt with pre-snap motion, putting them in the middle of the league at 16th.
In Buffalo’s 10 victories this season, they have allowed an average of 37 QBR and just 6.1 yards per attempt when defending plays with motion.
However, in their three losses—each to teams with records of 7-6 or better—they rank among the bottom five, allowing an average of 88 QBR and 9.9 yards per attempt under similar circumstances.
The Bills’ defense faced significant confusion against the Rams last week, forcing them into unfamiliar territory.
Throughout Weeks 1-13, Buffalo employed a single-high safety on 47% of plays. This jumped to 69% in Week 14 and skyrocketed to 76% in the second half.
Detroit Lions
The Lions are entering this matchup fresh off their third straight home game, having not played a road game since Week 12.
They’ve also had the advantage of playing on Thursdays for the past two weeks, including the early Thanksgiving game at 12:30 p.m. ET, giving them additional rest heading into this contest.
In contrast, the Bills have had a challenging stretch in their last three games, facing the now 12-1 Chiefs, battling the 49ers in snowy conditions, and just returning from a West Coast trip to Los Angeles.
Buffalo currently boasts the 19th-ranked rush defense, which means there could be ample opportunities for both David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs to find running lanes.
This would help alleviate some of the pressure on Jared Goff in the pocket.
Let's have a day! pic.twitter.com/JSHKFizQqg
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) December 15, 2024
With this loss marking their first regular-season defeat in December or January since 2021, I believe Detroit is poised to deliver Buffalo their second straight loss.
Bills-Lions Best Bet
Dice City Sports — where we provide premium, exclusive, up-to-date news and analysis surrounding the Las Vegas sports scene. Follow along on social media, and check back for new articles daily!
Tony Reyes is a sports betting analyst and reporter for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X @TonyParlay.
