Lions vs. Bills Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 2

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 2 matchup between the Lions and Bills on Thursday Night Football.

Find a breakdown of every Week 2 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Lions vs. Bills Fantasy Quarterback Preview

Josh Allen (TRUST)

Allen was sensational in the season opener against what many consider one of the NFL's best defenses.

Allen scored 35.7 fantasy points on the road against Houston.

He completed 20 of 29 passes (69%) for 334 yards (11.5 Y/A) with 2 touchdowns, adding 23 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground.

It was the most fantasy points scored against the Texans in a game since Andrew Luck in 2018.

The Bills have talked about being a more aggressive passing team this summer, and we saw evidence of that in action in Week 1.

Allen averaged a league-high 11.5 air yards per attempt in Week 1.

38.5% of his passes went 15 or more yards downfield, and 26.9% went 20 or more yards downfield.

All of those would have been season highs last year.

Buffalo had a 48.1% dropback rate on first downs, which was 16th in the league.

While middle of the pack for the league, that rate was 39.2% last season, the league's lowest rate.

On first-down passes, Allen was 8 of 12 for a league-high 186 passing yards.

He also scrambled once for a 21-yard touchdown on a first-down dropback.

After facing the Houston defense on the road, Allen will face a Detroit defense at the opening of their brand-new stadium, with the Lions coming off a long overtime game on a short week.

The last time these teams met in 2024, the Bills won 48-42.

Allen scored 41.3 fantasy points.

That was arguably a better defense than the one he will see here.

The Detroit defense just allowed 410 passing yards and 3 touchdowns to Tyler Shough.

The Lions faced a ton of plays to boost the counting stats, but they were 18th in passing points allowed per attempt in Week 1 (0.436).

They broke down as the game wore on, allowing 9.6 yards per pass attempt and an 8.8% touchdown rate after halftime.

Detroit blitzed 32.3% of the time (9th-highest rate in Week 1).

Early on, those blitzes gave Shough trouble, but he and the offense adjusted as the game progressed.

Shough was 7 of 10 with 3 touchdowns against the blitz after halftime.

The secondary is still missing multiple starters, including safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph, and cornerback Christian Izien is questionable.

Jared Goff

Goff had a modest but underwhelming fantasy day in Week 1, finishing as QB17 (16.4 points).

Goff completed 26 of 39 passes (66.7%) with 2 touchdowns but managed only 5.3 yards per pass attempt in Drew Petzing‘s offense.

That was his fewest yards per pass attempt in a game since Week 14 of 2023.

25.6% of Goff's passes resulted in a first down or touchdown, his lowest rate in a game since Week 1 of 2024.

Goff started slowly with a new play caller last year, so I don't want to run wild with any sweeping statements about this offense.

Goff threw for 5.8 Y/A in Week 1 last season, then came back with 11.9 Y/A and 5 touchdowns in Week 2 when everyone questioned the coordinator change.

This game is on the road, but as we have covered in this article before, Goff's outdoor splits are largely overblown.

The past two seasons, Goff has averaged 17.1 and 17.3 fantasy points per game outdoors, with touchdown rates of 7.6% and 5.5%.

What matters with Goff playing outdoors is temperature and precipitation.

Both could have been an issue here in November or December, but neither is a concern for Thursday night.

I do have minor concerns about the short week and the state of the offensive line, but Detroit will be pushed to score points, giving Goff the chance to stack counting stats even if there are some efficiency hiccups.

If you played Goff in 1QB formats last week, I would run him out there again as a volume-based QB1 with larger upside.

This game just has too much shootout appeal to not chase a crazy score.

When these teams played two years ago in that barnburner, Goff also scored 41.1 fantasy points and threw 5 touchdowns.

Now, there are some moving parts up front.

Left guard Christian Mahogany left Week 1 with a knee injury.

Rookie right tackle Blake Miller is also dealing with a knee injury.

Miller is more probable than Mahogany, but those are two injuries to monitor.

This unit is already without starting center Cade Mays.

At the end of last season, when the offensive line was banged up, Goff was less efficient, but Detroit averaged 37.5 pass attempts per game over their final 10 games.

I believe we are looking at something similar here.

That aforementioned matchup was against Sean McDermott‘s defense.

In Jim Leonhard‘s first game with Buffalo, they allowed C.J. Stroud to complete 26 of 38 passes (68.4%) for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Leonhard raised the blitz rate (26.2%) and lowered the sub-package rate (59%) compared to what Buffalo did under McDermott.

Under McDermott, the Bills ran a 77% sub-package defense with a 21.1% blitz rate.

Buffalo was middle of the pack with a 31.8% pressure rate in Week 1 (19th).

When they did not pressure Stroud, he completed 20 of 28 passes (71.4%) for 226 yards (8.1 Y/A) with 2 touchdowns.

Lions vs. Bills Fantasy Running Back Preview

Jahmyr Gibbs

Gamers were excited about Gibbs' potential this season, making him the consensus first pick in fantasy drafts this summer.

He did not disappoint in Week 1, turning a career-high 34 touches into 186 total yards and 2 touchdowns.

Gibbs played 72.6% of the offensive snaps (RB8 on the week), accounting for 91.9% of the Detroit backfield touches (RB3).

Gibbs coming off a career-high touch count in a short week is a factor here, but Detroit lacks viable depth to push for offensive touches.

Sione Vaki played 22 snaps in Week 1 with 3 touches.

Jacob Saylor did not log a single offensive snap.

Those offensive line injuries are another variable, but Gibbs is a front-end RB1 option who will sit as the RB1 in ranks again in a game that could be the highest-scoring of the week.

This is a game where you play all the core pieces on both sides, no questions asked.

Even if Detroit runs the ball less as a road underdog, Gibbs has an out as a pass catcher.

He was targeted on 29.4% of his routes in Week 1 (RB8), catching all 5 targets for 30 yards.

Buffalo allowed 119 total yards and 3 touchdowns to the Houston backfield in Week 1.

The Bills did play the run better, allowing 3.5 yards per rush to David Montgomery and Woody Marks (7th in Week 1) with 0.93 yards allowed before contact (11th).

Those are far more impressive rates than they allowed in 2025, allowing 5.0 YPC (30th) and 1.46 yards before contact per rush to backs (26th).

Still, Monty reached the end zone 3 times.

James Cook

Cook was bottled up in Week 1, turning 16 touches into 69 total yards.

While the outcome was mild against a Houston defense we still buy as one of the best defensive fronts, Cook got the usage we wanted to see.

He played 69.2% of the snaps (RB11) and saw 88.9% of the backfield touches (RB4).

The one element that left more to be desired was the passing-game usage that was talked up this preseason.

Cook caught 3 of 4 targets for 12 yards.

The box score didn't fully show it, but usage was up.

With Ty Johnson inactive, Cook ran a route on 50% of the dropbacks (RB13).

He ran a route on 43.9% of dropbacks last year.

Buffalo was pushing the ball downfield successfully, so it is hard to fault them for not getting Cook a ton of targets, but he was still targeted on 25% of his routes.

In 2025, that rate was 15.5%.

Johnson is still questionable to play on Thursday, giving Cook more room to run back those rates.

Cook remains an upside RB1, attached to a home favorite with a high-end team total.

Detroit allowed 8 receptions to the New Orleans backfield in Week 1, but held those backs to 30 yards receiving.

In the run game, they allowed 80 yards and a touchdown on 20 attempts.

Lions vs. Bills Fantasy Wide Receiver Preview

Amon-Ra St. Brown (TRUST)

St. Brown was busy on Sunday, seeing a league-high 14 targets.

He caught 10 of those for a modest 67 yards, but he scored twice to propel a high-scoring week.

St. Brown was a high-leverage target once again.

He accounted for 54.5% of Detroit's third-down targets and 57.1% of red-zone targets.

Per Fantasy Points Data, St. Brown accounted for 48% of the first-read targets.

The only wide receivers with higher Week 1 percentages were Jaxon Smith-Njigba (61.1%) and Justin Jefferson (53.3%).

The only thing to poke at in Week 1 was the lower-end yards per catch, tied to a low depth of target.

St. Brown averaged 5.2 air yards per target, with 78.6% of his targets coming shorter than 10 yards downfield.

In 2025, he averaged 7.9 air yards per target with 64.5% of his targets shorter than 10 yards downfield.

Nothing else changed about his usage.

He played 59.1% of his snaps out wide and 40.9% in the slot.

St. Brown remains a front-end WR1 option in Week 2.

I expect Detroit to skew pass-heavy here.

Buffalo allowed a 7-75-1 line on 10 targets to Nico Collins in Week 1.

D.J. Moore (TRUST)

Moore had a stellar debut with Buffalo, collecting 5 of 8 targets for 100 yards and a touchdown.

He also drew a 46-yard pass interference penalty.

Moore got banged up a bit but played through it, running a route on 81.3% of Buffalo's dropbacks.

Moore had 28.6% of the team's targets (WR11), 33.3% of the first-read targets (WR10), and 45.9% of the air yards (WR13).

He was targeted on 30.8% of his routes, up from 15.3% with Chicago in 2025.

That first outing came against one of the NFL's best secondaries.

In Week 2, Moore will face a Detroit secondary coming off allowing a league-high 20 receptions for 293 yards to the New Orleans wide receivers.

Detroit was particularly beaten up downfield.

Moore averaged 19.1 air yards in his Buffalo debut.

Detroit allowed a league-high 6 receptions to wide receivers on throws of 15-plus air yards in Week 1 for 174 yards.

Jameson Williams

It wasn't a pretty game for Williams on Sunday, securing 4 of 9 targets for 45 yards.

He had a big drop on what could have been a 50-yard gain.

While there was meat on the bone, Williams still had strong underlying usage.

He was the WR43 in points scored but was WR11 in expected points based on opportunity.

Williams had 23.1% of the team's targets (WR25) with 54.2% of the air yards (WR6).

He did have the big drop, but 33.3% of his targets were also uncatchable.

Although he did have the shot play that he put down, Williams still got access to a favorable part of the target tree, rather than solely living downfield.

23.1% of his routes were crossing routes (18.1% in 2025), and 44.4% were out routes (10.8% in 2025).

He ran a go route on just 12.8% of his routes (19.9% in 2025).

If that usage sticks, then Williams will have stronger outings and a higher floor than he showed in Week 1.

I expect Detroit to throw the ball a lot here, keeping Williams in play as an upside WR2.

Khalil Shakir

Shakir grabbed 4 of 6 targets for 50 yards in Week 1 against Houston.

Entering the year a bit limited after offseason ankle surgery, Shakir was on the field for 62.5% of the dropbacks.

His rates over the past two years in games played were 74.7% in 2024 and 74.9% in 2025.

Shakir did not get the downfield passing-usage bump we hoped to see.

It was just one game, but his depth of target was 3.2 air yards.

He remained an interior option, playing 25.9% of his snaps out wide.

The good news is that he was still the clear third target in the offense (21.4% of targets) and was targeted on 30% of his routes.

We would like to see more routes run to insulate Shakir as more than a WR4/FLEX, but the matchup and game environment add some upside.

Detroit allowed 127 yards to slot receivers in Week 1, the second-most in the league.

Isaac TeSlaa

TeSlaa did not have a catch in Week 1, drawing just 1 target.

He has too much target competition to be treated as more than a touchdown-or-bust swing, but if you're looking for the silver lining, he ran 32 pass routes (78% of dropbacks).

Buffalo WRs

Josh Palmer (1-34-1 on 2 targets) and Keon Coleman (1 catch for 1 yard) cleaned up things for the Buffalo wide receiver room on Sunday.

Palmer scored a touchdown and ran 13 routes (40.6%), while Coleman ran 19 routes (59.4%).

Outside of looking for a touchdown in single-game DFS, there isn't much to latch onto.

Lions vs. Bills Fantasy Tight End Preview

Dalton Kincaid

Kincaid was hyper-efficient in Week 1, catching 5 of 6 targets for a career-high 130 yards.

After leading all tight ends in yards per route run in 2025 (2.83), Kincaid led the position in Week 1 (5.91).

Kincaid getting healthy and stronger was a topic of discussion this offseason.

With no fullback in the offense anymore, Kincaid got more snaps to kick off the season.

The Bills played 13 personnel on a league-high 40.4% of offensive snaps in Week 1, which included a league-high 19.4% rate on passing plays.

Kincaid played 72.4% of the snaps.

Last year, his highest snap rate in a game was 55%.

He ran a route on 68.8% of the dropbacks.

Ideally, we would like that to be closer to 75-80% for insulation (he was TE18 in Week 1), but that was his highest route share in a game since Week 9 of the 2024 season.

Buffalo ran the ball 42.5% of his snaps, up from 30.6% in 2023, 36% in 2024, and 28.5% in 2025.

Variance in play comes from his route rates, but Kincaid has top-tier per-target upside at the position.

At a low-bar fantasy position, Kincaid's ceiling is worth pursuing versus some potential floor moments.

Paired with Josh Allen in a game environment we want to pursue, Kincaid is an upside TE1.

Detroit allowed New Orleans tight ends to catch 7 of 15 targets for 87 yards and 2 touchdowns in Week 1.

Sam LaPorta

LaPorta collected 5 of 8 targets for 48 yards in Week 1.

The fantasy runout was mild, but LaPorta had the usage rates we look for in a TE1.

He ran a route on 82.9% of the Detroit dropbacks (TE5) and accounted for 20.5% of the team's targets (TE10).

LaPorta ran 34 routes, tied for second at the position.

He did have overtime to boost that total, but Detroit could have a similar number of dropbacks here while LaPorta still carries touchdown upside.

He had 2 red-zone targets, trailing only St. Brown (4).

Buffalo allowed Houston tight ends to combine for 8 receptions and 64 yards on 12 targets in Week 1.

More Week 2 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet: