McDermott told reporters that his team needed to adopt the right mentality against Detroit. He noted that the Bills would need to win at the line of scrimmage against a well-rounded offense.
“We’ve got to perform better, and that starts in practice today,” McDermott said on Dec. 11. “It is a mentality. It is an attitude. And if you want to play good defense, that’s where it starts… There’s not a whole lot of shortcuts or ways around it. It’s got to be a mentality for us, first and foremost, that we carry through the rest of the season.”
The Bills head coach also stressed the need to maintain a sense of urgency, which could be a challenge for a team that already clinched its fifth straight AFC East title at the start of December and is now playing for seeding.
“I’ve seen consistently this year them being very urgent,” McDermott said. “I think there’s potentially things that factor into that, whether it’s coming off of the couple games that we come off of and perhaps maybe losing just a little bit of the urgency… So what has to be in front of us this week is the opportunity that’s in front of us, quite frankly, to challenge that team. It’s going against a 12-1 team, and at their place, it’s going to be a heck of an environment.”
Both Teams Prepared for a Battle
The Bills aren’t the only team gearing up for an offensive onslaught this weekend. Lions head coach Dan Campbell said his team expects a difficult task against Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who is in the midst of an MVP-worthy season.
Allen set an NFL record against the Rams, becoming the first player in league history with three passing and three rushing touchdowns in a game. He also set a record the previous week in a win over the San Francisco 49ers, becoming the first quarterback in league history with a passing, rushing, and receiving touchdown in the same game.
Campbell said he’s well aware of Allen’s many strengths and warned that it would be difficult for his defense to contain him.
“He’s got a big-time arm, he’s accurate, he can read defenses, and then he’s got the physical ability to take off and run,” Campbell said, via SI.com. “And, he can run over people, he can run around you, he can get on the perimeter. So, yeah, this is going to be a huge task for us. This is not going to be easy.”
