3 Lions most to blame for Thanksgiving loss to Bills

The Detroit Lions lost another Thanksgiving Day contest against the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo entered the game as 9.5-point favorites.

A late 22-19 lead proved tough for the Lions to hold onto late, and the real Josh Allen showed up with just under 30 seconds remaining, setting up Bills kicker Tyler Bass for the game-winning field goal.

While CBS announcer Jim Nantz jinxed Lions kicker Michael Badgley, who missed a very makable field goal in the second half, his magic powers did not work on Bass with just seconds remaining.

Instead, it was a late deep ball from Allen to his favorite target, Stefon Diggs, which set up Bass for his field goal with just two seconds remaining.

Detroit was not without its faults, however. Poor time management, a safety and fumble contributed to the Lions eventual demise. With that in mind, there are some obvious Lions to blame for their seventh loss of the season.

Detroit Lions to blame: Run defense

Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn was not prepared to stop the Bills rushing attack, which includes James Cook, Devin Singletary and even QB Josh Allen. Allen and Singletary combined for 150 yards rushing on their own, with several Allen runs — as reckless as they were — moving Buffalo into late field goal range.

This came one game after Detroit stifled New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, with Brian Daboll even admitting that the Lions won the battle up front on the road in the Meadowlands.

“If the run game is not going, you’re kind of tied with one hand behind your back,” Barkley said at the time. “You’ve [then] got to pass the ball, so that’s why it’s important for myself to get this run game back on track and the best way to do that is moving on and getting ready for Thursday [at Dallas].”

That was far from the case on Thursday, as Buffalo’s run game was anything but hungry on Thanksgiving.