Detroit, MI
Lions vs Bills winners and losers: Detroit’s Super Bowl 2025 chances take big hit
Eagles look like team to beat in NFC, Bills beat Lions in potential SB preview
Mackenzie Salmon breaks down the top storylines from Week 15 in the NFL.
Sports Seriously
Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett highlights the best and worst performances of the Lions’ 48-42 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Ford Field.
The Lions (12-2) lost for the first time in exactly three months — when they also lost at home to Tampa Bay, 20-16, in Week 2 on Sept. 15 — and had their franchise-record 11-game win streak snapped. The Lions will have to wait a week to get a second shot at setting the franchise single-season wins record when they visit division rival Chicago Bears in Week 16.
Lions-Bills winners
Bills QB Josh Allen
Allen was phenomenal Sunday, passing for 362 yards and two touchdowns and running for two more scores. He has five rushing and five passing touchdowns with zero turnovers in the Bills’ past two games and made a handful of improbable throws after extending plays with his legs.
With his performance, Allen cemented his place as this year’s probable MVP.
“Josh Allen just doing Josh Allen things, man,” Lions cornerback Amik Robertson said. “I don’t think they got any standout dog rec(eiver). They didn’t do nothing — for me they didn’t do nothing special, we just didn’t play Lions football today, man, but we’re going to be all right”
Lions S Brian Branch
Branch was one of the few bright spots on a defense that gave up its most points since Week 4 of the 2022 season.
The second-year safety had 15 tackles, two for loss, and a pass breakup. He had a TFL on a first-and-10 play in the third quarter that helped force the Bills’ only punt of the game and a pass breakup in the end zone that forced the Bills to settle for a short field goal they missed late in the second quarter.
The Lions defense has been decimated by injury and is hemorrhaging talent in the front seven, but they still have two of the best safeties in football in Branch and Kerby Joseph.
Lions-Bills losers
Lions OL
The Lions have one of the best rushing offenses in the NFL, but couldn’t run the ball a lick Sunday — 48 yards on 15 carries — and that’s part of why they found themselves in a big early hole. They went 0 yards, 1 yard, minus-2 yards on their first three carries and gave up two sacks in their first six pass attempts.
While the failures were a collective effort, Frank Ragnow (two holding penalties) and Graham Glasgow (a face mask) had especially rough days on the interior trying to block Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver (one sack, three QB hits).
The Lions still rallied for 42 points, so the line wasn’t all bad. But one of the league’s best groups hasn’t been its sharpest in a few weeks and that’s not what this team needs heading into the home stretch.
Lions’ Super Bowl 2025 chances
The Lions are still one of the best teams in the NFL, but it’s indisputable their Super Bowl 59 chances took another hit (or four) with injuries Sunday.
Already down defensive starters Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport, Derrick Barnes and Alex Anzalone, the Lions lost two more defensive starters to major injury Sunday in Alim McNeill and Carlton Davis, gunner/cornerback Khalil Dorsey to a broken leg and running back David Montgomery to an MCL injury.
As good as they’ve been, the Lions are starting to run out of capable bodies, especially on defense. They could lose all four of the players who got injured Sunday for the remainder of the season, and good teams like the Bills and good quarterbacks like Allen are more than capable of exploiting their holes.
On Sunday, the Lions’ decimated linebacking corps struggled to get off blocks and cover Buffalo’s running backs and tight ends in the pass game. Anzalone should return soon, but it might not be enough to save the league’s most injury-ravaged defense.
Dave Birkett is the author of the new book, “Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline.” Order your copy here. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
The Detroit Lions are starting to take care of their own ahead of free agency, and it begins with one of the easier decisions to make. According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the Lions have tendered kicker Jake Bates an exclusive rights free agent offer. What that means is Bates now has a one-year contract offer at the minimum salary ($1,075,000 for Bates). He can choose to sign it or sit out the season.
The reason the Lions can offer this ERFA tender is because Bates’ contract is expiring after just two accrued seasons in the NFL. All players with fewer than three years of experience who are on expiring contracts could be offered these ERFA tenders. In fact, the Lions did so with three other ERFAs earlier this offseason, all of whom already signed the deals: OL Michael Niese, RB Jacob Saylors, and CB Nick Whiteside.
Bates is coming off a season where he took a step back after an outstanding 2024. After making 89.7% of his field goals in his first year with the Lions, Bates slid back to just 79.4% accuracy. That said, five of his seven misses all season were from 50+ yards, and he was a perfect 14-of-14 from 39 yards or shorter. Additionally, he increased his extra point accuracy from 95.5% to 96.4%. He also steadily improved at the new NFL kickoff, which requires a lot more precision from kickers to boot the ball as close to the goal line without going into the end zone.
It’s unclear if the Lions intend on bringing in competition for Bates this offseason, but special teams coordinator Dave Fipp made it abundantly clear all last season that they value Bates, despite some struggles in 2025.
“Clearly, we have a very, very good player,” Fipp said in December. “If you put him on the streets, there would be a bunch of teams claiming him right away. And the truth is, we’d have a really hard time finding a guy even near the same player as him.”
What questions have Pistons answered this season?
Friend of the pod Laz Jackson walks through what the Detroit Pistons have proved of themselves this year.
CLEVELAND – In just five days, the Detroit Pistons faced the Cleveland Cavaliers twice.
They split the games to finish their season series against the Central Division rivals, but with a potential reunion looming in the second round of the NBA playoffs, the Pistons came away from both games unsatisfied.
On Friday, it was the Pistons needing overtime to overcome a Cavaliers team missing James Harden and Donovan Mitchell at Little Caesars Arena. On Tuesday, March 3, in Cleveland, however – with Harden back in the lineup – the Pistons struggled in the areas they usually thrive, for a 113-109 loss.
The Pistons’ first loss on the road since Jan. 29 didn’t feature their usual fire for much of the night.
“I’m frustrated with the effort level, the attention to detail that we played on that end of the floor,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “The times and opportunities where we did do the right thing, did get stops, we let people outwork us to come up with offensive rebounds. We can’t afford to not play at maximum effort. That’s been our superpower all year long and, tonight, I felt like there were times where we were outworked. If we’re outworked, this isn’t going to be the results that we want.”
The Pistons work at being the league’s most disruptive team via turnovers has given them a top-three defensive rating. They force turnovers on 17.2% of possessions – best in the NBA –and only trail the Houston Rockets in offensive rebounding percentage. They also lead the league in steals and blocks per game. Getting out in transition and capitalizing on second-chance opportunities has created an above-average offense despite struggles on 3-point shooting.
For three quarters against the Cavaliers, little of that materialized – as least until the Pistons grabbed seven steals in the final period (after just two in the first three). Overall, the Pistons were beat on the offensive glass (11-10), mustered just 10 fastbreak points (their lowest total since Jan. 27) and picked up 11 second-chance points (their least since Feb. 6).
It was, in all, a lackadaisical defensive performance, with the Pistons repeatedly losing shooters behind the arc as the Cavs knocked down 17 3-pointers – eight more than the Pistons.
“Obviously they’re a good team, but we haven’t been playing to our standard on that side of the ball,” Pistons wing Javonte Green said. “Coach talked about the effort we need to bring every game. We just need to play harder. We can’t get outworked on offensive rebounds and 50-50 balls, that’s our identity. I feel like we needed to pick up that slack.”
The Pistons also were hurt by a poor shooting performance by Cade Cunningham; he finished with 10 points and 14 assists but shot 4-for-16. Cleveland threw multiple defenders at him all night, and he obliged by passing the ball and setting up his teammates. It led to a big second half for Tobias Harris, who scored all 19 of his points in the last two quarters.
But it wasn’t enough.
“On the defensive end we just couldn’t put up a wall, couldn’t get a stand going,” Cunningham said. “Personally, I had a lot of bad closeouts; just off the ball, I didn’t feel sharp. Just gotta clean all that stuff up.”
With 22 games remaining, the Pistons are focused on cleaning up the margins so they’ll be ready for postseason play. These two games against the Cavaliers have given them a list of areas to clean up.
Friday, they needed an extra period to win after rallying from a late nine-point deficit despite losing Cunningham late after he fouled out with just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Jalen Duren and Daniss Jenkins stepped up in overtime after Duncan Robinson also fouled out.
Mostly, the Cavaliers have proven they can pounce during soft stretches on defense. Thursday brings another rematch with a contender, as the Pistons wrap up a three-game road trip against the San Antonio Spurs (another opponent from last week).
“We didn’t play our best basketball the other night,” Bickerstaff said of the Cavaliers’ game on Feb. 27. “Give our guys credit because we played 53 minutes and were able to pull it out in some adverse conditions. Cade fouls out, Duncan fouls out, our guys still figure out a way to get it done.
“We need to be better. We need to be better defensively, we need to impose ourselves on the game a little bit more than we did last game. I thought the last two quarters of the Orlando game [on Sunday] were the best quarters we’ve played defensively since New York [on Feb. 19]. I hope, and told our guys, that we can continue to build off that, because that’s where it always starts for us. You can tell the tone by how we are defensively and how we’re getting after it.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky and/or X @omarisankofa.
[ MUST WATCH: Make “The Pistons Pulse” your go-to Pistons podcast, listen available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) or watch live on YouTube. ]
Next up: Spurs
Matchup: Pistons (45-15) at San Antonio (44-17).
Tipoff: 8 p.m. Thursday, March 5; Frost Bank Center, San Antonio.
TV/radio: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).
Detroit, MI
Police search for suspect, accomplice after teen injured in shooting outside Detroit school gym
The Detroit Police Department is searching for a suspect and an accomplice in connection with a shooting last week that injured a teen outside a school gym.
The shooting happened in the 3400 block of St. Aubin, the same area where the Detroit Edison Public School Academy’s Early College of Excellence is located. Police say that at about 8:27 p.m. on Feb. 27, there was an altercation inside the gym that continued outside.
Police say the suspect allegedly fired multiple shots at the victim, striking him. The teen was taken to a hospital for treatment. His current condition is unknown.
Police say the accomplice who was with the suspect was also armed.
Anyone with information is asked to call DPD’s seventh precinct at 313-596-5740, Crime Stoppers at 800-Speak Up or DetroitRewards.tv.
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