Lions vs. Bills injury report: Inactives and what to watch for Thursday Night Football

Week 2 in the NFL season kicks off with two 1-0 teams on Thursday night. The Buffalo Bills forced a strip sack on C.J. Stroud to hold off the Houston Texans' comeback while the Detroit Lions blew a 21-point lead to the New Orleans Saints but held on in overtime. Thursday night should be another exciting game. While it is a short week, it’s still early in the season, so mid-year fatigue hasn’t quite kicked in yet. 

That said, both teams are dealing with some injuries. The Lions are already ailing and could be down two offensive lineman. As for the Bills, they’re dealing more with depth injuries than any key starters. Here’s the injury report ahead of the Thursday night game. 

Bills injury report ahead of Thursday Night Football

The three players showing up on the injury report for the Buffalo Bills are all questionable. This shouldn’t be too much trouble as the Bills break in their new stadium for the first regular season game. Cole Bishop and Ty Johnson are probably two of the more notable players on the injury list. Johnson was limited in practice this week, so there’s a chance he makes his 2026 debut against the Lions, though not likely with his hamstring injury. 

Josh Allen carried the offense in Week 1, throwing for 334 yards and four touchdowns and he had a rushing touchdown as well. James Cook is due for a big game to take some of the pressure off the passing game. That doesn’t mean he’ll have one, but after struggling to make a big impact, he’ll be needed. If Johnson is healthy, he could be a secondary option in the run game as well. 

UPDATE:

Ed Oliver was injured during pregame warm-ups and has been declared out for Thursday's gmae.

Lions continuing to be hit with injuries ahead of Thursday Night Football

The Lions will be without Christian Mahogany and Blake Miller on the offensive line, which isn’t ideal. The Lions offense will have to be the difference this season after seeing how bad the defense collapsed against New Orleans. The defensive struggles weren’t as much of a shock as the fact that they just couldn’t stop the Saints in the second half. The offense started slow but finally got on track so it’s certainly not ideal losing two starting lineman ahead of the Buffalo game. 

One of the more notable injuries on the defense is D.J. Reed. He’s dealing with a foot injury, which he suffered in Week 1. This is a potential big loss, with Detroit already being thin in their secondary. Reed is their top cornerback, with rookie Keith Abney II opposite of him. Losing Reed for the Bills would be detrimental. Allen already torched a really good secondary in Houston last week, if the Lions will be without their top cornerback, that just opens the door for Allen to have another big game. 

UPDATE:

What to what for in Thursday Night Football

Look for the Buffalo Bills to go after Detroit’s biggest weakness on Thursday. Tyler Shough lit up the Lions for over 360 passing yards. Josh Allen is fresh off a 300-yard game himself. He’s rarely thrown for 300 passing yards in back-to-back games, but if there’s any game he’d accomplish it, it might be this one. Detroit could potentially be down their starting cornerback, which just adds more pressure to the front seven to generate pressure and force Allen into bad decision-making. 

I don’t think the Lions are going to get blown out, but it won’t be an easy game, especially in Buffalo’s home opener. 

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