The Buffalo Bills opened their new state-of-the-art stadium Thursday night against the Detroit Lions. In the first quarter, it seemed the avalanche the Lions experienced from the Bills was at least partially due to the atmosphere created from the stadium’s hype.
The Bills scored four touchdowns on each of their first four drives.
But after the 41-31 loss, Lions head coach Dan Campbell told reporters the crowd didn’t have any impact on the result.
“I didn’t feel like it was anything abnormal. It was a good environment. It was really good,” Campbell told reporters in his postgame press conference. “It was loud and it was one of those, you could really feel it. It was a good experience, a good vibe.
“But I didn’t feel like, you know, we’ve played in a lot of loud stadiums. I felt like this is certainly up there with them, but nothing that was something we couldn’t handle, if you will.”
Lions’ Dan Campbell Doesn’t Use Bills Crowd Noise at Highmark Stadium as Excuse
Campbell made clear after his initial response to the question about the Bills crowd noise to say the fans created a great atmosphere. But the head coach also couldn’t have been much clearer that he didn’t see it playing a role in the 27 first-half points the defense allowed.
Perhaps Campbell could have given the Bills fans more credit. But then again, it’s the job of any NFL head coach not to make excuses.
Even if Buffalo’s crowd did impact the game, the Lions shouldn’t have allowed that to happen. Super Bowl contenders win in tough environments every year. The Lions fell short of looking like a contender, particularly on defense, Thursday night.
Jared Goff Suggests Bills Crowd Played Role in Week 2
While Campbell wouldn’t give the Bills crowd any credit, Lions quarterback Jared Goff indirectly did.
Goff didn’t throw his offensive line under the bus. But he didn’t see it as a great performance for the unit in the hostile environment.
“We’ve got to handle it better,” Goff said of the crowd noise at Highmark Stadium. “Some of those penalties killed us man, it really did. We were in third-and-short and it backed us up. And I believe a fourth down one as well. We’ve got to be better there.”
The Lions had a third-and-less-than-a-yard situation become third-and-6 because of a false start in the first half. Then on third-and-6, the Bills sacked Goff to force a punt.
During the fourth quarter, fourth-and-3 became fourth-and-8 because of another false start. Fortunately, the Lions overcame that penalty and scored a touchdown later on the drive.
Offensive linemen who were expected to be backups when training camp began committed those penalties.
Regardless of who was responsible — the linemen making mistakes or the crowd impacting the early movement — Campbell and Goff both admitted the Lions have to be better to compete on the road this season.
Dan Campbell Refuses to Give Bills Crowd Credit for Tough Loss