Lions At Bills Thursday Night Football Betting Odds, Picks And Predictions: Best Bets, Player Props

New digs. New season. New Super Bowl dreams.

That's what it's all about for the Buffalo Bills (1-0), who welcome the Detroit Lions (1-0) to Highmark Stadium for Thursday night's game.

The Bills got their campaign off on the right foot on Sunday, battling to a 36-31 road win against the Houston Texans. As for their counterparts, the Lions needed overtime after blowing a 21-0 lead in the second half to fend off the New Orleans Saints in a 31-30 overtime victory.

Two high-powered offenses and two mediocre defenses will be on display in Buffalo, which should lead to a lot of points and excitement in western New York.

Detroit Lions at Buffalo Bills (-5, 54.5)

Detroit was on cruise control much of the game against New Orleans, cruising to a 21-0 lead midway through the third quarter thanks to two touchdowns from Jahmyr Gibbs and another from Amon-Ra St. Brown.

However, the Lions took their foot off the gas on offense after that St. Brown score and the defense was absolutely torched by the Saints QB Tyler Shough. He hit Juwan Johnson with a touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter to cap a 24-3 scoring run, forcing the extra session.

New Orleans nearly completed the stunning upset, but missed a two-point conversion that would have won it. Shough lit the Saints' defense up during the rally, finishing with 410 yards passing and three touchdowns. If you're the Lions, allowing that is just unacceptable.

As for the BIlls, they held their heads high leaving the state of Texas. Josh Allen (20-of-29 for 334 yards, 4 total TDs) and the offense were brilliant, as putting up 36 points against the Texans on 7.9 yards per play was stunning.

Bet the Lions and Bills to go over the total on Thursday Night Football

Obviously, the defensive woes are clouds hanging over these franchises. And if either teams falls short of the Super Bowl, it won't be because their offenses sputtered. The shortcomings will fall squarely on the defenses, which neither team has time to address with the short Week 2 turnaround.

This meeting has "shootout" written all over it. Thinking this game will be some low-scoring affair is simply irresponsible, especially considering the fact the last time these sides met resulted in Buffalo earning a 48-42 win in 2024.

Bet: Over 54.5 (-114, FanDuel)

Player props

QB Josh Allen 30+ yards rushing (-114, FanDuel)

While I expect Allen to have a field day picking apart the porous Detroit defense with his arm, I think he will enjoy just as much success with his legs.

In 18 games a season ago (playoffs included) , Allen ran for 30 yards or more in 12 of them. And if you go back to the 2024 meeting, Allen ran all over the Lions. He finished with 11 carries for 68 yards and two scores.

What works in Allen's favor here is I think defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard is going to have the Lions playing more man coverage than he'd like. And Detroit, which plays zone coverage more than 70% of the time, will just get lit up by Allen if it goes that route.

The switch to more man coverage will lead to more pressure on Allen up front, which will get him out of the pocket and into some open spaces for some big chunk plays on the ground.

WR Keon Coleman 15+ yards receiving (-106), 20+ yards receiving (+136) and 25+ yards receiving (+182, FanDuel)

Coleman endured a statistical clunker (one catch for 1 yard on one target) against Houston, but the underlying data has me optimistic a big bounce-back effort is coming in this clash.

Surprisingly, the embattled wide receiver earned a 53.1% route share against Houston, finishing with 17 routes run on the day. That was second-best to DJ Moore (24), so Coleman was involved. He just wasn't being targeted as the first, second or even third option by Allen.

Bottom line, the opportunities for Coleman in this electric Buffalo offense are going to come and I think it happens here. His numbers at home were glaringly better a season ago, where he finished with 20 or more receiving yards in five of the seven games he played in at home.

Another reason I like Coleman in this spot is tied to Moore's health. Moore, who finished with five catches for 100 yards and a score against Houston, suffered a minor right leg injury in the fourth quarter. Moore said he's fine, but if he does see fewer snaps someone will have to pick up the slack and I believe head coach Joe Brady will call on Coleman.

Call this a feast-or-famine angle via this ladder play if you want. Coleman could put up a similar stat line to the one he did in Week 1 or hit all three bets (and more) with one deep catch against Detroit.

I'm going with the latter.

Anytime TD scorers

TE Dalton Kincaid (+175, FanDuel)

Guess who Buffalo's leading receiver was in the win against Houston?

Was it Moore? Nope. How about Khalil Shakir? Try again. It was Kincaid.

The fourth-year tight end had five catches for a career-high 130 yards, which marked just the third time he eclipsed the 100-yard mark in Buffalo. He failed to get into the end zone against the Texans, but I think that changes here.

Kincaid saw the field a lot against Houston, finishing with a 72% snap share. He was basically the second option to Moore, which I think will continue against the subpar Detroit defense.

The Lions didn't defend well against the New Orleans tight ends, yielding a combined seven catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns to Johnson and Noah Fant. Suffice it to say, I think Kincaid will find just as much success against Detroit and reach the end zone.

TE Sam LaPorta (+220, FanDuel)

You're probably sensing a theme seeing LaPorta on this list.

Much like his counterpart, Detroit's tight end has a prime matchup he will be able to exploit. Playing his first game since undergoing back surgery, LaPorta finished with five receptions on eight for 48 yards. He also played 81% of the offensive snaps, letting everyone know he's back and ready to regularly contribute to the Lions' offense.

The trio of Dalton Schultz, Marlin Klein and Foster Moreau wound up with a collective line of seven catches for 61 yards against the Bills.

With the Buffalo defense clearly focused on stopping the triumvirate of Gibbs, St. Brown and Jameson Williams in the red zone, that will open things up for LaPorta. And with the price we're getting on him to score a touchdown — he has the best odds of the four Detroit players mentioned — I'm happy to back LaPorta to find paydirt in Buffalo.