DETROIT -- Tyler Thigpen and Marcus Easley made late rallies Thursday night in their long shot bids to make the Buffalo Bills' roster.
Thigpen started with an ugly interception but engineered three scoring drives to help the Bills erase a 21-point deficit. Easley returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and then caught a 2-point conversion pass in the fourth quarter.
Whether it will be enough for either to make the 53-man roster will be known at 9 p.m. today, the deadline for NFL teams to trim down from 75 men.
Detroit held on for a 38-32 win over the Bills, leaving them winless in the four preseason games.
The Bills' starters played Detroit's starters to a 7-7 draw, with the first units playing only one series apiece. But the mistakes came fast and furious when the Bills' backups took the field. Detroit held a 28-7 lead after the first quarter.
The Bills have 10 days to get ready for the start of the regular season, when they visit the New York Jets on Sept. 9.
The Bills came out of the game without any injuries to their starters, and the first-teamers exited the preseason in good health. Only right tackle Erik Pears, nursing a sore groin, is uncertain to start in the opener.
However, Bills No. 3 quarterback Brad Smith went out of the game in the first half with a groin injury and did not return.
Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick directed an 83-yard touchdown drive on the opening series, capping it with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Stevie Johnson. The march took 11 plays. Detroit was playing without five defensive starters.
Detroit quarterback Matt Stafford responded by marching the Lions 80 yards in seven plays, capped by a 24-yard touchdown pass to All-Pro receiver Calvin Johnson. Bills safety George Wilson was in good position in front of Johnson but didn't look back, and the tall wideout reached over Wilson 3 yards deep in the end zone to made the grab.
A crowd of about 40,000 at Ford Field watched both teams run "vanilla" offenses, sticking to their basic plays.
The Detroit deluge ensued as soon as the starters exited. Smith fumbled the ensuing kickoff return for the Bills, and Detroit recovered at the Buffalo 9. Two plays later, Detroit had a 14-7 lead, after a 2-yard scoring run by Mikel Leshoure.
"We cannot fumble it," Bills coach Chan Gailey said. "You cannot fumble the football. That was a mistake. We let two long plays out of there, again, defensively. Two long plays on third down. We have to avoid those."
A 30-yard punt return by Patrick Edwards set up the Lions for another score. Rookie T.J. Graham let Edwards get outside toward the right sideline on the runback. It took backup QB Shaun Hill six plays to get the Lions in the end zone. He plunged over from the 1 with 54 seconds left in the quarter to put Detroit ahead, 21-7.
On just his fourth pass attempt of the game, Bills quarterback Tyler Thigpen threw an interception that was returned 23 yards for a touchdown by Detroit's Jonte Green. It was a quick throw for receiver Derek Hagan, lined up wide left. Green moved up on Hagan just before the snap and easily picked off the throw, but Thigpen's hand apparently was hit as he released the ball.
"It was a shame Tyler had his hand hit on that one pass," Gailey said. "Really he did not play bad other than that mistake. He played pretty well."
For what it's worth, the final tally for the Bills' first-string offense in four preseason games was three touchdowns and one field goal produced in 16 possessions. The Bills' starting defense allowed five touchdowns and one field goal in 15 possessions.
"We wanted to start fast tonight and put some points on the board," Fitzpatrick said. "It was good to get into the end zone tonight and spread the ball around a little bit and let everyone touch it."
"We have a lot of confidence," Fitzpatrick said. "And we talked about it even before this game, I think on offense we feel we are light years ahead of where we were in the past. We are looking forward to getting off to a fast start to the season."
The Bills got a 30-yard field goal from Rian Lindell with 1:52 left in the first half to make the score 28-10. The kick capped a 63-yard drive.
Buffalo pulled within 28-17 early in the third quarter with a 1-yard TD run by Johnny White.
Later in the quarter, Thigpen drove the Bills 47 yards in four plays, capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dorin Dickerson. It pulled Buffalo within 28-24.
After a Lions field goal, Easley took advantage of a good block by Kyle Moore to burst up the right sideline and score on a return. Gailey opted to try for a 2-point conversion to avoid the prospect of overtime. After a false-start penalty, Thigpen threw to Easley at the 1, and the third-year receiver bulled just over the plane of the goal line to put Buffalo ahead, 32-31.
Detroit answered with an 80-yard drive for a score to re-take the lead.
