As Week2 approaches, the NFL will fall into it's normal TV pattern of Thursday, Sunday and Monday night games until the international games start in a few weeks. This week kicks off with the Detroit Lions visiting the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night in prime time, seen only on Amazon Prim Video nationally and on local stations in those two markets. The usual duo of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstret will be on the call. Sunday's games will be seen across CBS (single game, regional viewing) and FOX, who has Early and Late games. The Early CBS slate will consist of PIT@NE, CIN@HOU, NO@BAL and CLE@TB. The late CBS games will be JAX@DEN and LAV@LAC. FOX early games will be PHI@TEN, MIN@CHI (which almost 50% of country will get), GB@NYJ and CAR@ATL. The Late FOX games will be WAS@DAL to 75% of the country, MIA@SF and SEA@ARZ. Byes: None NATIONAL BROADCASTS Thursday 8:00 ET: Detroit @ Buffalo (Amazon) Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit Also WJBK/FOX Detroit, WKBW/ABC Buffalo Sunday 8:00 ET: Indianapolis @ Kansas City (NBC) Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth Monday 8:00 ET: NY Giants @ LA Rams (ESPN / ABC) Joe Buck, Troy Aikman CBS Single FOX Early FOX Late All listings are unofficial and subject to change. Check back often for updates.  Courtesy of the folks at 506 Sports

The final practice reports bring some seriously concerning news for the Lions, as two starters likely will be out unexpectantly, and the Bills should be fairly healthy. Lions at Bills final practice report Bills Wednesday: The only change for the Bills, who had a walkthrough, was that TJ Sanders improved to Limited, and will be Questionable along with Benard and Johnson for Thursday. The other players are all godo to go. Tuesday: The Bills saw not one, but two starters downgraded after actually practicing on Tuesday. S Cole Bishop went from full practice estimate to limited today, and starting DL TJ Sanders went from an estimated Limited to not practicing today. The rest of the players from yesterday were at their same designations. Monday: The Bills had four starters show up on their estimated injury report, with all four from the defensive side of the ball. two were limited (Bernard and Sanders) and two were full participants. The two backups on the report were Hancock (FP) and Johnson (LP), with Hancock a depth Nickel CB and Johnsons unlikely to get a lot of reps. Lions Wednesday: Wednesday brought bad news, as two starting OL (Mahogany and now Blake Miller) will both be out and starting CD DJ Reed is Questionable. Izien and Scruggs are godo to go and will play. Tuesday: The Lions did not practice again on Tuesday, and the four players from Monday retained their same designation. Campbell did say that Izien will likely be out there Thursday, which will be helpful defending against Josh Allen runs and the 13-personell they employ with those three TE sets. Of bigger concern is that starting CB DJ Reed popped up today with a foot injury and was projected as limited had the Lions practice. Something to watch for tomorrow unfortunately, because he would be tasked with handling Bills WR DJ Moore on Thursday. Monday: We knew that starting LG Christian Mahogany was nicked up after leaving the game and not returning, and as a result it was estimated that he would not practice today with the hip injury. Joining him as estimated to not practice were starting OT Blake Miller (Knee), and then Staring OC Juice Scruggs would have been limited. Christien Izien, who did not play lasty week, was estimated to be a Full Participant after resting a few extra days to be ready for the Bills.

The second practice report of Week 2 brings some potentially bad news for both the Lions and Bills, as each had at least one starter downgraded from Monday's estimated practice. Lions at Bills Week 2 Practice 2 Injury Report Bills Tuesday: The Bills saw not one, but two starters downgraded after actually practicing on Tuesday. S Cole Bishop went from full practice estimate to limited today, and starting DL TJ Sanders went from an estimated Limited to not practicing today. The rest of the players from yesterday were at their same designations. Monday: The Bills had four starters show up on their estimated injury report, with all four from the defensive side of the ball. two were limited (Bernard and Sanders) and two were full participants. The two backups on the report were Hancock (FP) and Johnson (LP), with Hancock a depth Nickel CB and Johnsons unlikely to get a lot of reps. Lions Tuesday: The Lions did not practice again on Tuesday, and the four players from Monday retained their same designation. Campbell did say that Izien will likely be out there Thursday, which will be helpful defending against Josh Allen runs and the 13-personell they employ with those three TE sets. Of bigger concern is that starting CB DJ Reed popped up today with a foot injury and was projected as limited had the Lions practice. Something to watch for tomorrow unfortunately, because he would be tasked with handling Bills WR DJ Moore on Thursday. Monday: We knew that starting LG Christian Mahogany was nicked up after leaving the game and not returning, and as a result it was estimated that he would not practice today with the hip injury. Joining him as estimated to not practice were starting OT Blake Miller (Knee), and then Staring OC Juice Scruggs would have been limited. Christien Izien, who did not play lasty week, was estimated to be a Full Participant after resting a few extra days to be ready for the Bills.

After week 1, and with a short turnaround, it's to be expected that both the Lions and Bill will come in with some nicks and bruises, but it appears that the Bill may be a bit better off than the Lions, who likely will be without a starting OL. Both the Bills and Lions had four starters show up in various participation buckets, but the Lions OL took a bit of a beating, which is never good to have so many at one position hurting. Monday 9/14/26 Practice Report for the Lions and Bills Bills Monday: The Bills had four starters show up on their estimated injury report, with all four form the defensive side of the ball. two were limited (Bernard and Sanders) and two were full participants. The two backups on the report were Hancock (FP) and Johnson (LP), with Hancock a depth Nickel CB and Johnsons unlikely to get a lot of reps. Lions Monday: We knew that starting LG Christian Mahogany was nicked up after leaving the game and not returning, and as a result it was estimated that he would not practice today with the hip injury. Joining him as estimated to not practice were starting OT Blake Miller (Knee), and then Staring OC Juice Scruggs would have been limited. Christien Izien, who did not play lasty week, was estimated to be a Full Participant after resting a few extra days to be ready for the Bills.

The scoreboard and W-L record reads differently than after Week 1 in 2025, but it sure feels like the Detroit Lions lost their initial game of the 2026 season. After playing fantastic on defense for a half, and the offense seemingly two to three mistakes away from cruising to a blowout win, the wheels absolutely came off the defense in the second half. The offense played well for most of the game, keeping Goff mostly clean (8 QB Hits, but only 1 sack) and letting the running game thrive against a defense that will likely en dup in the top 15 by seasons end. However, there were too many bad sequences where the play calls were head scratching when it felt like they could pretty much get what they wanted on certain plays at any time. Goff had a decent game with a 66.6% completion percentage and 2 TDs with no INTs, but there weren't many connections downfield and too many drops by WRs. I was encouraged by the OL play, which gave up some hurries and pressures, but only one official sack and gave him the space to step up in the pocket, something that was missing all last season. Regardless, the offense was below par mainly due to self-inflicted mistakes including several dropped passes in key situations (at least 3 would have been 1st downs), penalties and unforced errors (Vaki hitting Sewell, Opening KKR muffed, etc.) As far as the defense, they looked great ion the 1st half, and like a leaky sieve in the second half. Shepp through the kitchen sink in blitzes and pressure at Shough and Kellen Morre and had them thoroughly confused, but when the Saints made their adjustments at half, Shepp stuck with his guns and almost let this one slip away by not making counter adjustments, or at least ones that worked. It wasn't all bad, as the front seven played their hearts out with only a few issues here and there, but the defensive back needs some serious work this week to get ready for what the Bills will bring into Highmark o Thursday night. One has to wonder if this is just like last year, where the Lions refused to play their starters in the preseason, allowing some rust and lack of cohesion to find its way into Week 1 game. The Good Aidan Hutchinson - Hutch was his usual dominant self, notching 5 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL and 4 QB hits and constantly forcing Shough out of the pocket Kelvin Sheppard (1st Half) - Shepps aggressive blitz-heavy scheme was confusing Tyler SHough and Kellen Moore to the tune of 10-22 85 yards and 1 INT for a 37.1rating in the first half and the Lins were well on their way to fulfilling Dan's prophecy of a Top 5 defense by years end. At the start of the second half, Gibbs had 105 yards on his own, and Saints had a total of 111 yards. Jahmyr Gibbs - He was paid like a workhorse this offseason and used like a workhorse in this game. Amassing a total of 29 carries for 156 rush yards with 2 rushing TDs and another 5 receptions for another 30 yards he ended up with 186 total scrimmage yards on 34 touches. While those stats are nice, that is way too many touches going forward. Lions LB play - Both Jack Campbell and Derrick Barnes had good days against the Saints, with Barnes notching an INT, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 2 Passes defended and a 1 QB hit. He seemed to fill the Anzalone role quite well today and stuffed the stat sheet against the Saints. Campbell's day was a little quieter, but he ended up with 7 tackles and 1 TFL, Devin White chipped in 3 tackles and Malcolm Rodrtiguez 4 tackles and a QB hit. Most importantly, they held the Saints to 91 yards and 3.6 YPC, although Campbell did get beat by Noah Fant on the potential game tying TD by a perfectly thrown ball. Special teams - Bates was perfect on the day (1/1 FG and 4/4 on XP) and the Punt and Kick Coverage were stellar due to Tay Martin and Erick O'Neil. Jack Fox also boomed 7 punts for an Avg of 48 yards with 1 Tb and 3 inside the 20. However, the Return game helped flip the field in this one. Tom Kennedy averaged 11.7 yards on 3 PRs (NO avg 5.3 on 4) and he and Saylors combined for 21 yards on KR (TK 29.5, Saylors 12.5) while the Saints avg 18.5, netting the Lions an additional 6 yard after punts and 2.5 on Kickoffs. The Bad Jameson Williams - Williams had a very poor game with two catches that were 1st down conversions clank off his hands, and another knocked away. Throw in the botched end around (that looked like it was poised to gain double-digit yards) and he just needs to be...better. He did have a small redemption in OT, but being consistently good is the expectation and this game likely would have been put away with some better execution on his part. Kelvin Sheppard (Second Half) - The Saints offense made some serious adjustments to overcome the blitz package that Shepp unleased against them in the game. In the first half, Shough was terrible and had no confidence and was panicking. In the second half, he played like an All-Pro and brought his team back with some desperation heaves and great catches by his receivers. However, Shepp did not make adjustments to what Saints did, and the DBs were constantly leaving large holes in the gaps and giving up chunk plays on the blitzing side that allowed the Saints to get back and almost win the game. Backup RBs - Sione Vaki was the #2 RB and while he had a few decent plays, he also about cost Jared Goff a life by chipping Sewell and allowing Chase Young to destroy Goff from the blindside. His two carries were nothing special, notching a total of 7 yards and 3.5 YPC. Jacob Sayloirs didn't get many, if any offensive snaps, but his KR issues form last season flared up and are not ideal, especially when compared to Tom Kennedy. TK averaged almost 30 yards on each of his returns, then the Saints started kicking it to Saylors, and that avg plummeted to 12.5 (mainly due to the muffed opening kickoff). Either way, he has to be more explosive here and if he gets offensive snaps. The Ugly Lions CB play - Any time you give up 410 yards to an opposing QB and your top two tacklers are your starting outside CBs; there are some issues. The main problem was the CBs getting caught a step or two behind the receivers on these busted plays (SHough scrambles) and leaving huge holes in the zones for Olave to exploit along with penalties for DPI on Ya-Sin. There is much to clean up here, including figuring out by Shep how not to expose these guys when they are on an island and the Pass Rush isn't getting home. At this point, we have who we have, and its unlikely reinforcements are coming, but Rakestraw and Nick Whiteside being active against the Bill may be more beneficial in the long run. Secondary - Tyler Shough had a miserable first half, with 87 yards 10-22 (and a 37.1 rating. In the second half, he threw for 410 yards and completed 73.5% of his passes with two TDs, but he was picked off two times and sacked five times, Chris Olave pretty much had whatever he wanted when they wanted and when Shough scrambled the DBs gave up a lot of yards by being constantly a step or two behind the Saints receivers. The Lions got away with this today, but against some of the WR on the schedule and in the playoffs, this won't fly going forward. NO QB Tyler Shoughs 1st, 2nd and full game stats Rookie Report Blake Miller - Played pretty well, and I base that on not hearing his name called out much. His one gaff was getting out of his stance late and giving up the lone sack of Goff to Granderson in the 4th quarter Derrick Moore - Moore likely had some snaps, but he did not record a stat or have his name called during the telecast Skyler Gill-Howard - Gill-Howard was on the field on the third defensive snap of the game and ended up with three total tackles. Eric O'Neil - O'Neil had three tackles and was on the field on defense several times, but his biggest impact was on special teams. Between he and WR Tay Martin, they pretty much had almost every Kick and Punt return tackles. Keith Abney II - Ended up with two tackles, 1 tackle for loss and came in during the Saints final drive for injury relief. Don't recall him getting victimized by anyone on the Saints. Jimmy Rolder - Inactive

Welcome to The Grey Manes Monday Morning Rundown, a collection of news and notes form the prior week that impact the Lions, the NFL or whatever else catches my eye. Dan Campbell was the guest on Ep 155 of the St Brown Podcast Lions Players, Coaches and Team Check out our recap of the Lions drama-filled win in OT over the New Orleans Saints Derrick Barnes started the day dressed like a superhero (Spiderman) and closed it having possibly been the best Lions defender on the field The lone major injury from the Saints game was OG Chritian Mahogany, who appears to have a hip issue and did not return The Lions were on the right side of an obscure NFL rule for once, avoiding a disastrous scoop and score after Goff was drilled by Chase Young The Lions freed up $36.68M in cap space for 2026 by restructuring Sewell and St Brown The latest Inside the Den Episode 4: The Dog Days of Camp dropped last week The extension cord autographed by Jahmyr Gibbs is up for auction to benefit the Detroit Lions Academy, a Detroit Lions Foundation Partner Take a look at the inside of the new Lions 1934 club, which is one of a few new amenities at Ford Field for the upcoming Lions season, including this new toy. The Lions made their final tweaks to the roster ahead of Week 1 signing Tom Kennedy to Active roster and bringing in a new DB to the practice squad and what appears to be some cap shenanigans with Levi O and Tylre West Jamo decided to cut his dreads prior to the season, now sporting a fresh look The Lions had Alan Eck as their officiating Crew for the Saints game Barry Sanders made his Detroit Lions debut 37 years ago last Thursday, with n 18-yard scamper Jared Goff's new Little Caeser's ad has been unleashed... The St Brown brothers, after 114 episodes, had the one and only Dan Campbell on for Episode #115 Rumors, Nuggets and Speculation The Rams seriously miscalculated by arriving in Australia 13-hours before their matchup with the 49ers, who have been there for a week The Chicago Bears almost dropped a 60 burger on the Panthers in a game without defenses The Packers and Vikings battled in US Bank Stadium as Kyler Murray gets a concussion and Vikings score 29 straight to pull out the win LA Rams are losing Myles Garrett for at least four weeks to IR as he recovers form a lingering knee injury NFL TEs got paid last week, with Tucker Kraft resetting the market and the Raiders TE #2 Michael Mayer jumping up to the 4th highest TE APY in the league. Sam LaPorta is on deck... Things I think are Noteworthy The sport's world lost a good one with the passing of former NHL Analyst/Coach Barry Melrose Setting a new Guinness World Record, and definitely wife material The Red WIngs and Dylan Larkin drama will spill into the regular season with larking not sporing the 'C' on his sweater Stadium Food is undefeated, Crab Stuffed Pretzel at Commanders game for $24.99 with lemon tarragon crab dip, garlic butter and Parmesan cheese. Barry Melrose

The 2026 season kicks off with the New Orleans Saints visiting the Detroit Lions in Ford Field. Like last year, we will be doing a season-long predictions, with Dan looking to defend his title from last year. Unlike last season, we have a new Grey Mane contributor joining the team in staff writer Mickey Bauchan! While 2025 final stats aren't a good indicator of where the team will be this year, the Lions offense and defense did improve in the offseason, while an analysis of the Saints indicates that they will likely improve on Offense (although Jordyn Tyson is out on IR) while their Defense is probably going to be worse off with an aging core and losing several starters. End result is likely a Lions comfortable win in the friendly confines of Ford Field. Before we get to the Week 1 2026 predictions, here is where we ended up last season, with Dan and Brent having the same 9-8 record as the Lions, but Dan taking the crown on a tie-breakler. Both Chris (8-9) and Mike (7-10) were in better shape on their predicted total points scored (tie breaker) but missed too many games each week. Final results for The Grey Manes 2025 Predictions So, for 2026, we will have five of us going head-to-head, and for Week 1 we went with straight picks (no write up), but we will start that up again with Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills. Based on the predictions, The Grey Manes staff thinks it will be the Lions in comfortable fashion, although a few of us are more bullish than others on how many points the Lions will score. The Grey Manes Lions Prediction - Week 1

Friday Practice report brought some clarity to who is in and who is out for Sundays Game. The Saints ruled out three guys that have been NP all week and the NT that was out for rest will play. The Lions are almost completely healthy, with only Izien Questionable. Final Week 1 Practice Report for the Saints and Lions Saints Friday: The Saints ruled out the three guys that missed practice all week, although Cam Jordan did return in a limited fashion today. Alvin Kamar was listed as Questionable after going through a full practice, so the Saints ground game look like it may be close to full strength. Thursday: No changes from the estimates for the four players that appears on Wednesday, but starting NT Davon Godcauz sat out practice today for Rest and was not injury related. Wednesday: Saints had three players that did not practice, including starting Edge Cam Jordan. The ither three are depth players, but Alvin Kamara, the backup RB was limited. So overall the Saints are pretty healthy coming in as of now. Lions Friday: The Lions had an almost clean injury report, with only DB Christina Izien still Limited and Questionable to play on Sunday. All other players fully practiced including DL Mekhi Wingo and Edge Derrick Moore, who had been limited the last two days. Thursday: Zero changes to the Lions estimated report from yesterday, with three limited guys and five that are nicked up but practiced in full. Izien and Moore are the two to keep an eye on as they are expected to contribute, and soft-tissue injuries can be fickle at times. Wednesday: The Lions listed eight players on the injury report, and although none are starters, several are expected to have prominent depth roles (Rakestraw, Abney, Izien, Moore and Harper. The good thing is that no one missed practice, just three guys that were limited and the other five practiced in full (including Jimmy Rolder) and should be good to go.

Friday Practice report brought some clarity to who is in and who is out for Sundays Game. The Saints ruled out three guys that have been NP all week and the NT that was out for rest will play. The Lions are almost completely healthy, with only Izien Questionable. Week 1 Saints and Lions Final Practice Report Saints Friday: The Saints ruled out the three guys that missed practice all week, although Cam Jordan did return in a limited fashion today. Alvin Kamar was listed as Questionable after going through a full practice, so the Saints ground game look like it may be close to full strength. Thursday: No changes from the estimates for the four players that appears on Wednesday, but starting NT Davon Godcauz sat out practice today for Rest and was not injury related. Wednesday: Saints had three players that did not practice, including starting Edge Cam Jordan. The ither three are depth players, but Alvin Kamara, the backup RB was limited. So overall the Saints are pretty healthy coming in as of now. Lions Friday: The Lions had an almost clean injury report, with only DB Christina Izien still Limited and Questionable to play on Sunday. All other players fully practiced including DL Mekhi Wingo and Edge Derrick Moore, who had been limited the last two days. Thursday: Zero changes to the Lions estimated report from yesterday, with three limited guys and five that are nicked up but practiced in full. Izien and Moore are the two to keep an eye on as they are expected to contribute, and soft-tissue injuries can be fickle at times. Wednesday: The Lions listed eight players on the injury report, and although none are starters, several are expected to have prominent depth roles (Rakestraw, Abney, Izien, Moore and Harper. The good thing is that no one missed practice, just three guys that were limited and the other five practiced in full (including Jimmy Rolder) and should be good to go.

Thursdays Practice Report brought no changes for the Lions, as everyone kept their same designation from the estimate for Wednesday. The Saints had no changes to the prior list either, except that they did add staring NT Davon Godcauz as No Practice, but it was only for rest. Week 1 Saints and Lions Practice Report #2 Saints Thursday: No changes from the estimates for the four players that appears on Wednesday, but starting NT Davon Godcauz sat out practice today for Rest and was not injury related. Wednesday: Saints had three players that did not practice, including starting Edge Cam Jordan. The ither three are depth players, but Alvin Kamara, the backup RB was limited. So overall the Saints are pretty healthy coming in as of now. Lions Thursday: Zero changes to the Lions estimated report from yesterday, with three limited guys and five that are nicked up but practiced in full. Izien and Moore are the two to keep an eye on as they are expected to contribute, and soft-tissue injuries can be fickle at times. Wednesday: The Lions listed eight players on the injury report, and although none are starters, several are expected to have prominent depth roles (Rakestraw, Abney, Izien, Moore and Harper. The good thing is that no one missed practice, just three guys that were limited and the other five practiced in full (including Jimmy Rolder) and should be good to go.

Name: Alan Eck Age: 57 Promoted To Referee: 2023 Graphic Courtesy of Football Zebras Last Game: Wildcard Wekend 2026 (01/11/26) SF @ PHI Last Lions Game: 12/14/25 – DET 31 @ LAR 41 The Detroit Lions committed 4 penalties for 25 yards. They were flagged a total of 5 times. The Los Angeles Rams committed 2 penalties for 8 yards. They were flagged a total of 3 times. Together there were 6 penalties for 33 yards. There were 8 total flags in this game. Notable Alan Eck and crew remain largely intact form last season, with a handful of changes including a new Field Judge (Fred Dimpfel) coming in from the ACC and a new Umpire (Paul King) that was part of the Swing Crew last season. Eck's crew also added Ken Hall as replay Assistant, who was on Craig Wrolstad's crew last year. Continuity is key for this crew, as they were consistently ranked in the bottom three in terms of the volume of penalties assessed last season. They had an emphasis on the Line of Scrimmage, with (Offensive Holding, False Starts and Illegal shifts three of their top 5 most called penalties. DPI was also a top 5a long with Unnecessary Roughness, so it's unlikely this crew will let any shenanigans fester before throwing the flags. Of note, they tend to call more penalties on the away squad, so that should be a direct benefit to the Lions this week.

Week 1 has already started with the Defending Champ Seattle Seahawks beating New England Patriots last night on NBC/Peacock 13-10. Tonight's game will be in Melbourne Australia and will feature the Rams and 49ers in an NFC West showdown that will be exclusively* on Netflix with Noah Eagle and Luke Keuchly on the call. Both CBS and Fox will be running regional games in the early slot, with CBS early featuring BUF@HOU, BAL@IND, NYJ@TEN and CLE @JAX. FOC early features ATL@PIT, CHI@CAR, TB@CIN and our Detroit Lions hosting the New Orleans Saints. Luck for us, FOX as once again assigned us the worst color guy in the NFL in Jonathan Vilma to go with Kenny Albert. As for Sunday afternoon, CBS late features 75% of the country getting GB@MIN, and the areas around the cities of ARZ@LAC getting the rest of the audience. Fox late features 90% of the country getting WAS@PHI, with the rest getting MIA@LAV. Byes: None NATIONAL BROADCASTS Wednesday 8:00 ET: New England @ Seattle (NBC) Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth Thursday 8:30 ET: San Francisco vs LA Rams (in Melbourne - NETFLIX) Noah Eagle, Luke Kuechly *Also KNTV/NBC San Francisco, KNBC/NBC Los Angeles Sunday 8:00 ET: Dallas @ NY Giants (NBC) Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth Monday 8:00 ET: Denver @ Kansas City (ESPN / ABC) Joe Buck, Troy Aikman CBS Early CBS Late FOX Early FOX Late All listings are unofficial and subject to change. Check back often for updates.  Courtesy of the folks at 506 Sports