Lions Vs Bills Showdown DFS: EMac's Week 2 TNF Top-10

Detroit Lions Overview

The Lions escaped a shameful loss at home on Sunday, by the grace of New Orleans failing on a 2pt conversion to cement victory in overtime. The defensive backfield is dealing with multiple injured players, which is going to mean that the Detroit offense will likely need to push towards 30 points to have a chance of garnering a road win tonight.

Isiah Pacheco was brought in to provide Jahmyr Gibbs some relief, though he is on the IL after needing back surgery. That means Sione Vaki and Jacob Saylors are the RB2 options and it, along with the close game on Sunday, resulted in Gibbs getting a career-high 29 carries, while marking the 7th time he had 20+ carries in his 50 career regular season appearances.

That was barely 100 hours ago and while coach Dan Campbell may want to avoid another heavy workload on a short turnaround, the other options are pretty dicey. Perhaps we see a more concerted effort for the short passing game, which is something the Lions are good at and it can bring more of the talent into play, while still maintaining high-value opportunities for Gibbs, without him running between the tackles more than necessary.

On a fun note, Gibbs now has 51 touchdowns in his 50 games, ranking third all-time in Detroit history with 41 on the ground. Fellow olds will remember Oklahoma’s Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims who ranks second with 42 and of course the otherworldly Barry Sanders has 99 rushing and 10 receiving.

The offensive line is very thin with Giovanni Manu, Christian Mahogany, Cade Mays and Blake Miller all out with injuries. Jared Goff was sacked only once on Sunday, but the Saints are not even close to what Buffalo can bring to bear via the pass rush.

To his credit, the gap between Goff’s home and road splits have narrowed and while this will be an outdoor game, the weather is pleasant and should be considered a neutral variable.

Goff is best employed as a flex-option as he provides next to nothing with his legs. It has been 47 games since his last rushing score and he is averaging 2.4 yards per game in this timeframe. He is no stranger to multi-touchdown games and he should be north of 250 passing yards in tonight’s tilt, with outstanding options across every skill position.

Similar to the backfield, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams are a two man show. This position is so top heavy that only three other wide-outs had targets last year. Kalif Raymond had 30, though he is now in Chicago and Isaac TeSlaa had 27 in his rookie campaign, though it felt like more since he had half a dozen touchdowns. Tom Kennedy rounded things out with four targets and while he is still with the team, it was only St. Brown, Williams and TeSlaa who saw the field, despite the game going to overtime.

Sam LaPorta has the tight end position on lockdown and his eight targets in Week 1 trailed only St. Brown (14) and Williams (9). Brock Wright remains the main blocker and that should have him on the field for 50%-60% of the action, though multiple offensive opportunities would be a surprise.

Jake Bates led the league in point after touchdown attempts and makes each of the last two seasons. He is steady inside of 50 yards, though he has connected on only 10 of 17 (58%) from 50+ despite setting a UFL record with a 64 yard kick in 2024 while he was with the Michigan Panthers, with two others from beyond 60 yards that season.

He is known for his booming kickoffs, so distance is not the problem, it comes down to accuracy. He spent his first two seasons in college playing soccer with Central Arkansas, before spending two years with Texas Sate and one with Arkansas, handling kickoffs only, earning All-SEC honors as a senior with the Razorbacks.

In 2025, Buffalo allowed more sacks (40) than in the two preceding seasons combined (38). Pro Football Focus ranked this unit sixth-overall heading into Week 1. Detroit ranked fourth with 49 sacks last year, after being in the bottom-third of the league in 2024 with 37 quarterback takedowns. The Lions had three takeaways in the opener, though the team has average around 1.5 for the last two combined seasons, which is in the middle of the pack.

Buffalo Bills Overview

Josh Allen once again carried the Bills to victory, with two rushing and two passing scores. Unless you have been under a rock, you have heard that was his 9th career game completing that feat, which is more than Steve Young (4) and Cam Newton (3) combined. Allen is now tied for 20th all-time with 81 rushing scores and six more will have him moving up to solo-15th.

On a fun note, when these two teams last played, back in December of 2024, Allen had 362 passing yards with two scores, rushing for 68 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns. That game was a wild 48-42 thriller, with each side posting over 500 combined yards on offense. Most of the same skill-position players remain on both sides, which is of course recognized in the 50-point projected game total.

Detroit is without defensive backs Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, with D.J. Reed (foot) questionable. That definitely opens up the second level for Allen and someone to find opportunities.

The Bills Mafia must cry themselves to sleep every night, wondering what the results would be if 2024 second-round selection Keon Coleman had been even league average. The 33rd overall selection looked sharp in the 2025 opener with 11 targets for 8/112/1, but it took him another five games to surpass that production, then things got really dire.

D.J. Moore was brought in via a trade with Chicago, though his best days are behind him and surprisingly, despite four different seasons of 1,100+ receiving yards, he has never been named to the Pro Bowl. This is his age-29 season and while even in today’s form is the best wide-out to play for the Bills since Stefon Diggs in 2023, he will be turning 30 with his next birthday and we have seen him pout/give up in good situations before. He is still a core play tonight, but no hosannas should be handed out just yet.

Khalil Shakir continues to be a steady contributor, though he is not much of a downfield threat, which is how Coleman maintains relevance for now. Shakir tends to work in the same areas as tight end Dalton Kincaid, who is really a giant slot receiver. Dawson Knox is the main blocking tight end and he is an adequate pass catcher, actually tying Kincaid with 49 targets last year, ranking fourth on the team. Knox had the 12-10 edge for red zone targets, though neither is a priority with Allen and Cook running them in at a high rate and Allen not playing favorites under the shadow of the goal post.

Turning our attention to the running game, Ty Johnson (hamstring) is injured, which leaves Ray Davis and Frank Gore Jr. as the backups, with each seeing sparse playing time and getting one carry each in the opener. In a twist, Frank Gore Sr. and Ottis Anderson are tied with Allen on the all-time rushing touchdown list.

Gore did have 11 snaps to the 9 of Davis, though he has spent most of the last two seasons on the Buffalo practice squad, getting onto the active roster in the postseason when Johnson was out. Each had a carry on Sunday, though if anything happens to James Cook III it would likely be Davis who assumes the lead role, with Gore being the passing down and change of pace option. That has this reserve duo likely game-flow dependent for their opportunities.

Cook tied for the league-lead with 16 rushing touchdowns in 2024, adding a dozen more last year, accompanied by four touchdown catches across these campaigns. He has earned Pro Bowl accolades each of the last three seasons and while he is not thought of as a receiving back, he is capable and averaged 8.9 yards per reception for his career. New head coach Joe Brady has indicated he wants more passing game involvement to push Cook into the coveted “bell cow” role.

Though he will be competing in the red zone with Allen, it was good to see Cook with four targets and three red zone opportunities on Sunday. His salary is high enough that he is going to need a touchdown to have any chance at breaking even, though the oddsmakers have him around -180 to find the end zone.

Tyler Bass is an adequate kicker who plays most games outdoors and half the season in less than ideal weather. This is his sixth season in Buffalo and the team knows his limitations, letting him attempt only 13 from 50+ yards over the last three seasons. He has converted on 10 (77%) of these kicks, but he is the rare tenured placekicker who does not really move the needle, even in the single-game format. We should still absolutely roster him, but he is nowhere near the likes of Brandon Aubrey, Ka’imi Fairbairn, Cam Little, Chris Boswell, Jason Myers, Chris Boswell, etc.

NFL DFS Week 2 TNF Showdown: Top-10

1. Josh Allen: There is a trio at the top that are all viable multiplier plays, but it is hard to say no to the potential MVP, particularly on FanDuel.
2. Jahmyr Gibbs: Capable scorer from any range on any type of touches.
3. Amon-Ra St. Brown: One of the most complete route runners in the game, four consecutive Pro Bowls, three straight All-NFL nominations.
4. James Cook III: Now things get into personal preference and lineup construction. Still has just over a 10% probability of being the best multiplier option on the main DFS sites.
5. Dalton Kincaid: Do not count on 130 yards again, but also do not dismiss it as an aberration, just shows how impacted he was by managing his injuries last year.
6. Jameson Williams: So much of the offense is concentrated among the starting skill position players for Detroit, plus the defense is more worried about Gibbs and St. Brown.
7. Jared Goff: One-trick pony, who is very very good at that one wrinkle.
8. Khalil Shakir: Gets the edge over Moore on DK with a $1.4k discount.
9. D.J. Moore: The WR1 in a run-heavy, spread out attack.
10. Sam LaPorta: Benefits from a top-heavy wideout corps.

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Secondary Targets

• Buffalo DST: First official game in Highmark Stadium, it was designed to maximize crowd noise, similar to the trend started by Lumen Field, built in Seattle by Paul Allen, coming on-line in 2002. Expect the #BillsMafia to be out in full force tonight.
• Tyler Bass: More experience than his counterpart.
• Jake Bates: Longer leg, but less accuracy than Bass.
• Isaac Teslaa: In the opener he was on the field for 68% of the snaps, but saw only one target. Do not expect competition from any receivers lower on the depth chart, but he is likely to get only crumbs from the offense in most games.
• Keon Coleman: If there were ever a situation where he could make some noise downfield, this is it against the banged up Detroit secondary.

Lottery Tickets

• Dawson Knox: Long history with Allen, there are just so many options these days.
• Josh Palmer: Very well could usurp Coleman in the pecking order, but it has not happened yet.
• Detroit DST: Injuries in the secondary and a mediocre pass rush against a monster quarterback makes for a tough recommendation. Of course one pick-six or scoop-and-score and this unit could be in the optimal lineup, Such is the variance of single-slate DFS.
• Ray Davis: Third fiddle in the rushing game, does return kickoffs.
• Sione Vaki: Appears to be the RB2, though he has almost no track record outside of preseason.
• Ty Johnson and Frank Gore Jr.: If Johnson plays, skip Gore. If his hammy keeps him out, then rank Gore here.
• Brock Wright: Will at least be on the field and has a high probability of getting one look.
• Tom Kennedy: Returns punts and kickoffs, needs a WR injury to pose any real DFS relevance
• Jacob Saylors: Looks like the RB3, returned kickoffs but did not step between the lines on offense for the Lions.
• Greg Dortch: Returned punts and kickoffs in the Buffalo opener, though no offensive snaps.
• Tyler Conklin, Tay Martin, Jackson Hawes, Keleki Latu and Jackson Meeks: Not this week.

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