Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell noted that the Buffalo Bills have a strong offensive scheme and a few strong skill players who make the entire thing tough. However, he did not mince words when it comes to what their goal is. They have to start everything by focusing on quarterback Josh Allen.
“Ultimately, I don’t care what they throw at us; the quarterback is the key to all of this, and if we don’t make him go the long, hard way every time, it can get very difficult,” admitted Campbell.
He noted that between Dalton Kincaid, James Cook and the addition of D.J. Moore, the Bills have good skill players. However, it all starts with Josh Allen. He admitted that even when you have a good defense for Allen, he has a counter to everything.
“The guy that’s under center or in the shotgun for them poses a lot of issues to your defense,” said Campbell. “You have to check every box in your defense, from everything under center to the run game, the play-action pass, the three-step drop, to now you are in the gun: it’s read-run, it’s G-T pull with read-run, it’s RPO, it’s spread them out, it’s open, now it’s quarterback draw, it’s not there, now I’ll go here, I’m makaing this pass, now its a man check, im giving you this, we go, its not there, then I run out. He’s got it all.”
Dan Campbell Has Detroit Lions Focused on Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen
You could see wheels spinning in the head of Campbell as he thought through ways to slow down the 2024 MVP. When asked to describe what he remembered about the meeting with Buffalo a few years ago, his mind immediately shot to Allen.
“Quarterback runs, those showed up quite a bit, well be ready for those,” said Campbell.
Campbell has instilled in his team that there is only one way to slow down the Bills when Allen is playing well. That is to find the one time he slips up and capitalize on the mistake.
“And if a mistake is made, we have to capitalize; we have to, we have to make that play,” said Campbell adamantly.
Allen is 2-0 against the Lions. He beat Campbell in 2022, by the score of 28-25 in Detroit. In 2023, Allen and the Bills put up 48, winning the game 48-42.
Lions Secondary Will Be Tested By Josh Allen
The Lions secondary struggled against second-year quarterback Tyler Shough and the New Orleans Saints in Week 1. Now, they have to turn around on a short week and take on a Bills team that is much more high-powered.
Detroit is expected to get Christian Izien back in the lineup. The question is how they utilize him. They are currently rotating Chuck Clark and Thomas Harper at safety with Avonte Maddox. Then, in the slot, Keith Abney and Roger McCreary rotated.
Izien could get work at both safety and cornerback. The Lions started D.J. Reed and Rock Ya-Sin on the outside. Reed appeared on the injury report this week.
Dan Campbell Sends Blunt Message on Josh Allen