ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions after their 14-13 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday:

Quarterback

Matthew Stafford had another quiet day passing as the Lions once again struggled to move the ball with any consistency. He completed 22 of 29 passes for 208 yards, but missed a handful of throws. Stafford overthrew TJ Jones on a third-and-9 play early in the fourth quarter, and Kenny Golladay saved him from his 12th interception when a ripped a pass away from Tre’Davious White. Stafford took a shot to his leg on the game’s first series and was playing through a back injury, but Sunday wasn’t his day and this hasn’t been his year.

Grade: C-minus

Running backs

The Lions topped 100 yards rushing for the fourth straight game, spreading the workload almost evenly between Theo Riddick, LeGarrette Blount and Zach Zenner. Riddick had his most impressive performance of the season. He looked elusive early, but finished with just eight carries for 47 yards. Blount was a non-factor with just 9 yards on seven carries, while Zenner (10 carries, 45 yards) ran hard in his first start. He converted a third-and-1 late in the third quarter with a tough run, and scored on a 1-yard plunge in the first half, after dragging linebacker Corey Thompson almost into the end zone on the previous play.

Grade: B-minus

Wide receivers/tight ends

Golladay had a monster game Sunday, but the rest of the Lions’ receiving corps right now is devoid of playmakers. Golladay made a tough contested catch over White for a 33-yard gain on the first play of the second quarter and he finished with seven catches for a career-high 146 yards. Andy Jones scored his first career touchdown on a crisp end-zone route, but separation was hard to come by for Lions receivers and the team only seems to trust rookie Brandon Powell on jet sweeps and shovel passes. Jones and tight end Luke Willson, playing out of a fullback spot, had big blocks to open holes on Riddick’s 19-yard run.

Grade: C

Offensive line

The Lions didn’t give up a sack Sunday, but they also didn’t take many chances downfield. Joe Dahl, playing as the sixth lineman and often lining up in the backfield, cleared a path for Zenner’s 1-yard touchdown run, and Frank Ragnow appeared to have the key block on Zenner’s 17-yard run on the first drive of the third quarter. Center Graham Glasgow was called for his eighth penalty of the season, a holding infraction on third-and-10 that offset a defensive holding call. Ragnow appeared to be a tad late kicking out on screen pass on the first play of fourth quarter that went for minus-5 yards and left the Lions with an unmakable third-and-long.

Grade: C-plus

Defensive line

Bills quarterback Josh Allen converted a fourth-and-inches to ice the game with just under 2 minutes to play, when he caught the Lions in the middle of a defensive line shift and lunged forward for 2 yards. The Lions gave up 117 yards rushing to a team that had no passing game to speak of, with 30 of those yards coming on the opening drive. Romeo Okwara (five tackles) had a strong day against the run, but the Lions didn’t get enough pressure on Allen. A’Shawn Robinson did force an Allen fumble when he chopped the ball loose on a fourth-down scramble, when the Lions also got good pursuit from safeties Quandre Diggs and Glover Quin.

Grade: C

Linebackers

Jarrad Davis had two critical errors Sunday. He jumped offside on a third-and-7 play with the game on the line, two plays before Allen’s fourth-down conversion. If not for the penalty, the Bills would have been forced to punt and the Lions would have had about 1:45 left to mount a game-winning drive. Davis made nine tackles and destroyed guard Wyatt Teller on run blitz for a tackle-for-loss early, but he also fell for Allen’s pump fake, hesitating just enough to let the rookie run by him for a 4-yard touchdown. Devon Kennard had a sack on the opening drive that knocked the Bills out of field-goal range, and Christian Jones had a solid day with nine tackles as the Lions limited Allen to just 16 yards rushing.

Grade: D-plus

Defensive backs

Mike Ford’s rough indoctrination to the NFL continued Sunday. He allowed a couple third-down conversions in the first half, including one on a third-and-4 on the game’s opening drive, and was beat soundly off the line of scrimmage on Robert Foster’s fourth-quarter touchdown. Ford also got beat for a 28-yard gain on a drag by Foster and was called for pass interference in the first half. Glover Quin nearly had an interception in the first half, when officials ruled he did not get both feet in-bounds. He had five tackles, but whiffed on one run blitz. Darius Slay shut down leading receiver Zay Jones for most the game. He did a great job battling Jones for position when he knocked away a heave downfield near the end of the first half, but he was lucky to not get beat for a touchdown when Allen overthrew Deonte Thompson in the fourth quarter and was flagged for pass interference.

Grade: C-minus

Special teams

The Lions had two crucial mistakes on special teams, with Matt Prater missing the go-ahead 48-yard field-goal attempt with 5:50 to play, and Don Muhlbach skidding a snap to holder Sam Martin on the Lions’ first extra-point attempt. There were positive moments. Jones nice diving tackle on the kickoff following his touchdown, Tracy Walker had a big hit on what appeared to be a designed line-drive punt by Martin, and Quandre Diggs had a nice spinning punt return (that was nullified by a Nevin Lawson penalty). But the mistakes were big enough errors to give the whole unit a failing grade.

Grade: F

Coaching

Matt Patricia went 0-for-1 on challenges, when replay officials upheld a 31-yard pass to Foster in the third quarter that officials ruled a catch on the field. That challenge cost the Lions a timeout, but it was still a challenge worth taking given the way it flipped the field in a tight game. Patricia did not challenge Quin’s near interception in the first half. There might not have been conclusive replay evidence to overturn it, but I thought Quin dragged both feet in-bounds on the replay. The Lions shut down Buffalo’s biggest offensive weapon, Allen’s feet, and offensively they played in survival mode again with a short-handed group of skill players, though a third-and-1 incompletion to Blount in the third quarter stood out for its lack of imagination (and potential to succeed).

Grade: C

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!

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