Lions fans believe Detroit’s offense will need to put up a significant number of points to defeat the Bills.
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey that gathers opinions from fans across the NFL. Throughout the year, we ask questions to the most engaged Detroit Lions fans, along with fans from around the league. You can sign up here to participate in our weekly surveys.
In this week’s SB Nation Reacts survey, we asked Lions fans two important questions:
- Are you confident the Lions are headed in the right direction? (weekly poll)
- How many points will the Lions offense need to score to beat the Bills?
After four consecutive weeks of reaching 99% confidence, the fan vote dropped to 91% ahead of the Packers game (likely due to some trolling from Green Bay fans). However, after the Lions took care of business against their division rivals, confidence surged back up to 98% this week.
For the second question, we asked fans how many points the Lions would need to score to beat the Bills. After correctly predicting the score in last week’s game against the Packers, I was eager to see how the vote would turn out this time.
With the Lions and Bills both boasting top-scoring offenses in the NFL (ranking No. 1 and No. 2, respectively), fans are anticipating a shootout. The Lions average 32.5 points per game, while the Bills score 30.5 points per game. So, how many points will the Lions need to score? A whopping 87% of fans believe they’ll need to score at or above their season average.
Here are some fan comments, lightly edited for length and clarity:
- Mic2000: “30 to 35, our defense may limit it, but Josh Allen is playing at an MVP level right now.”
- Gomers Pyle: “We only needed 32 to beat Green Bay without Alim and Reader, and that was with the coach/offense giving the Packers two short red zone opportunities… If the Lions don’t give the Packers those two short fields, they don’t score 30. Lions need to dominate time of possession again in this game and they’ll keep the Bills under 30.”
- IsLionfan: “The Bills are 10-3 and have scored under 30 points in only 3 games. They’ve scored 30 or more in each of their last 7 games, including 42 in the loss to the Rams last week. […] The Lions’ offense needs to be efficient, avoid turnovers, and have a high red zone touchdown conversion rate. The Lions may need over 35 points to win this game. Should be thrilling, whatever happens.”
The sentiment is clear: Lions fans are expecting a high-scoring affair and believe the team’s offense will need to rise to the occasion.
