Tight battle in preseason finale goes to Lions

Tight battle in preseason finale goes to Lions

What looked like an early blowout for the Lions up 28-7 in the first half turned into a barnburner with Buffalo erasing the 21-point deficit to take the lead early in the fourth quarter on a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown, but the Lions put the last points on the board in a 38-32 victory for Detroit leaving the Bills winless in the preseason.

“Well we gave up two touchdowns there early in the ball game and fought back,” said head coach Chan Gailey. “I was impressed with a lot of things that happened. The defense stiffened a couple of times, not quite enough, but a couple of times. The biggest problem were the penalties on defense and giving up some big plays on third down. And then offensively Tyler (Thigpen) had his hand hit twice for interceptions. We can’t have that kind of penetration in there on those situations.”

The big positive to start the game was Buffalo’s starting offense got the drive they were looking for to close out the preseason. Ryan Fitzpatrick was a perfect 5-5 passing for 39 yards through the air including a four-yard fade pass to Stevie Johnson in the back left corner of the end zone and C.J. Spiller rushed six times for 29 yards.

“We wanted to start fast and put some points on the board,” said Fitzpatrick. “It was good to get into the end zone and spread the ball around a little bit and let everyone touch it.”

Available@ BuffaloBills.com