Blake Miller "doing everything I humanly can" to play Thursday night

Dan Campbell is hopeful that Blake Miller will be good to go Thursday night after injuring his knee in the season opener. So is Blake Miller.

"Short week, long week, it doesn’t matter, I’m doing everything I humanly can to get my body feeling the best it can feel. Even with the progress just in today that I’ve made, I’m happy and I’m optimistic," Miller said Monday.

Miller played well in his NFL debut, helping the Lions rush for 165 yards in a closer-than-expected 31-30 overtime win over the Saints. But he tweaked his knee somewhere along the line, and felt it get worse when he got home Sunday night.

He was estimated as a non-practice participant for Monday's walk-through.

"It was one of those things, you come off after a drive, something feels a little weird, you get home and the adrenaline wears off and you start to notice it a little bit more," Miller said. "Tried to come in today as early as I could and get on top of it, so it’s something I can nip in the bud."

The Lions are in Buffalo Thursday night for the Bills' first ever game at Highmark Stadium. In what will be a raucous environment, their offensive line will need to be on point.

"It will be rocking in there," said Miller, speaking like he expects to play. "We gotta make sure we’re on our A game when it comes to communication, being keyed into the snap count. Really, really know the plan, know it forwards and backwards, so even if you don’t hear anything you still know where you’re going. It’s exciting."

Miller was up to the challenge against the Saints, earning the second highest grade on Detroit's offense from Pro Football Focus. He was charged with just one quarterback pressure on 41 pass-blocking snaps and more than held his own on the ground.

"I really tried to go out there and, technique aside, just play with effort and physicality every play, and I felt happy with that," Miller said. "And like any game or practice, there’s things to clean up and get better at."

While the offense struggled at times to sustain drives, running the ball as well as the Lions did was important to re-establishing their identity in the trenches.

"O-linemen take pride in running the football effectively, and it’s always great to see Gibby go out there and have a day and run the ball efficiently," said Miller. "But at the end of the day, if we gotta pass the ball for however many yards, I’m here for that. It’s all about getting wins. That’s all that matters."

If Miller is out there Thursday night, he'll have his hands full with the pass-rushing trio of Gregory Rousseau, Bradley Chubb and Ed Oliver. Rousseau had not one but two strip-sacks of C.J. Stroud on Sunday in the Bills' 36-31 road win over the Texans.

"This defensive line is their catalyst over there," Campbell said Monday. "That's an active defense and it was a big win for them yesterday. It's opening night, out at their place Thursday night, it'll be electric. It's going to be a great atmosphere. We'll be looking forward to that, but excellent opponent. This will be a big-time game here early in the year."

Campbell said the Lions will "know a lot more" about Miller's status for Thursday based on how he feels Tuesday. Were the game on Sunday, his availability probably wouldn't be in question. The question really is how quickly he can recover.

Campbell added that he feels better about Miller's chances of playing than those of guard Christian Mahogany, who left the season opener with a hip injury.

"I just can't give you a definitive (answer) yet," said Campbell.