Josh Allen Opens Highmark Stadium With Five Touchdowns

Josh Allen accounted for five touchdowns as the Buffalo Bills opened Highmark Stadium with a 41-31 win over the Detroit Lions on Thursday night. Buffalo converted all five trips inside the 20 and improved to 2-0 in the first regular-season game in its new home.

Jared Goff threw four touchdown passes and the Lions reached 31 points. They never led, because Joe Brady kept calling plays after a 21-0 start and Detroit’s defense never forced the stop that would have made the shootout even.

Buffalo Finished Every Trip Inside the 20

Allen completed 20 of 31 passes for 248 yards and three scores, ran 14 times for 69 yards and two more, and did not throw an interception. It was his fourth career five-touchdown game, coming four days after a four-touchdown night in a 36-31 win at Houston. Through two weeks he has nine touchdowns and no turnovers, a start Elias Sports Bureau says only two other players have matched.

James Cook carried 21 times for 135 yards and the closer. Dalton Kincaid caught seven balls for 95 yards and a score. The Bills piled up 446 yards, 34 first downs, and 9-for-12 on third down. They held the ball for 33 minutes, 45 seconds and never turned it over.

The red zone was the whole night in miniature. Buffalo reached scoring position five times and came away with six points every time, the last a Cook plunge from the 1 with 2:50 left. Allen had a hand in the first five touchdowns, two through the air and three on the ground if you count Cook’s seal as the only score he did not touch.

THE OPENING NIGHT SCORES

1. 9:09, first quarter: Allen sneaks 1 yard, capping a 10-play, 85-yard drive. Bills 7-0.
2. 3:42, first quarter: Josh Palmer walks in alone on a 43-yard catch. Bills 14-0.
3. 11:48, second quarter: Dawson Knox from 1 yard. Bills 21-0.
4. Second quarter: Goff to Jahmyr Gibbs, 11 yards. Bills 21-7.
5. Second quarter: Kincaid from 16 yards, extra point missed. Bills 27-7.
6. Before halftime: Jake Bates from 31 yards. Bills 27-10.
7. 9:29, third quarter: Amon-Ra St. Brown from 2 yards. Bills 27-17.
8. 1:07, third quarter: Allen from 2 yards after 15 plays and 8:22. Bills 34-17.
9. Fourth quarter: Sam LaPorta from 1 yard. Bills 34-24.
10. 2:50, fourth quarter: Cook from 1 yard. Bills 41-24.
11. 1:42, fourth quarter: St. Brown from 27 yards. Bills 41-31.

Aidan Hutchinson stripped Allen on the opening series, and Buffalo fell on the ball. Allen then ran for 39 yards on that drive and scored the first regular-season points the building had ever seen. The Bills’ account posted the sneak as if no other ending had been on the table.

Of course @JoshAllenQB scores the first touchdown at Highmark Stadium!!

📺: @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/kQphVyhZZc

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 18, 2026

Four Goff Scores Still Left Detroit Short

Goff went 26 of 38 for 327 yards and four touchdowns, also without an interception, and finished with a 130.0 rating. St. Brown caught nine passes for 142 yards and two scores. Gibbs added six catches for 61 yards and the first Lions touchdown. LaPorta had six receptions for 52 yards and the 1-yard strike that made it 34-24.

That is a functioning offense. It is also an offense that spent the night chasing. Detroit managed 355 yards, 24 first downs, and 4-for-11 on third down. The Lions sat on the ball for 26:15, went 3-for-4 in the red zone, and still lost by 10 because they never got Buffalo off the field for long enough to use all those points.

THURSDAY NIGHT, SIDE BY SIDE

With 8:25 left and the gap at 10, Detroit forced a punt, its second of the night, and got the ball back. Forty-nine seconds later it had to punt again. Deone Walker tipped two Goff throws, Gibbs was stood up for no gain, and Brady went right back to work. Completions to Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman moved the chains, and Cook walked in from the 1.

Highmark Stadium Gets Its Opening Night

The new bowl sits across the street from the 1973 stadium the Bills just left. Populous designed a 60,108-seat Highmark Stadium that cost $2.1 billion, the largest construction job in western New York and the first new NFL venue since SoFi Stadium and Allegiant Stadium opened in 2020. A ribbon cutting on June 23 handed the keys over. Thursday was the first night that counted.

THE NEW BOWL

• Price tag: $2.1 billion, up from a $1.4 billion plan, with $850 million in public money.
• Seats: 60,108, about 11,500 fewer than the old 71,608-seat Highmark, the smallest listed capacity in the league.
• Field: Natural grass under a curved canopy that covers about 60 percent of the seats.
• Place: 10 Bills Plaza, Orchard Park, next to the old building, which is slated for demolition in 2027.

Fans started the “M-V-P” chant on the first drive and did not really stop. Allen was loose enough in that noise to ask Detroit’s defensive line, mid-cadence, whether they planned to jump. They told him no. Then he threw it over them anyway.

Joe Brady Called His First Home Game Like a Coordinator

Brady, 36, is the youngest head coach in the league. Buffalo promoted him on Jan. 27, eight days after owner Terry Pegula fired Sean McDermott following a 33-30 overtime loss to Denver in the AFC divisional round. McDermott had gone 98-50 in nine seasons. Brady kept the play sheet. The night in Orchard Park looked like the night in Houston, when Allen said the new boss “was aggressive. Which I love.”

A 21-0 lead is when a lot of first-year coaches start chewing clock. Brady did not. After St. Brown cut it to 27-17, Buffalo went 75 yards in 15 plays and 8:22, and Allen beat the pile to the right pylon from 2 yards out for 34-17. After the two-minute warning in the first half he already had four touchdowns. After Cook’s plunge he had overseen touchdowns on five of Buffalo’s first six possessions.

The box score will remember five Allen scores. The drive chart will remember a coach who still calls the offense and refused to treat a housewarming like a preseason script. This was also Allen’s fourth game with at least three passing touchdowns and two rushing scores, a club that, per league research, puts him with Kordell Stewart among the only players with multiple three-pass, two-rush games.

What the Lions Could Not Take Away

Dan Campbell had spent the week saying the problem was Allen, not a single personnel grouping. “You have to check every box on your defense,” he said. The boxes stayed open.

Ultimately, I don’t care what they throw at us, the quarterback is the key to all of this. If we don’t make him go the long, hard way every time, it can get very difficult.

Dan Campbell, Lions head coach, to 97.1 The Ticket

Buffalo did not go the long, hard way. The Bills outgained Detroit 169-10 in the first quarter. Gregory Rousseau sacked Goff on third-and-8 of the opening series. On the next Buffalo drive, nobody picked up Palmer on third-and-long. Two red-zone plays that would have given Detroit a pulse, an interception by Skyler Gill-Howard and a sack by Devin White, came back because of defensive holding on Rock Ya-Sin and linebacker Jack Campbell. Avonte Maddox hurt his foot on the second of those flags and did not return.

WHERE THE LIONS NIGHT SLIPPED

• The empty seam: Palmer’s 43-yard score came with two defenders sitting on DJ Moore in the flats.
• Flags on takeaways: Holding wiped a goal-to-go interception and a sack on back-to-back snaps.
• The run fit: Eight of Gibbs’ 16 carries went for a loss or no gain. He finished with 52 rushing yards.
• The penalty tape: Ten flags for 58 yards, which Campbell, at halftime on the Amazon broadcast, said were “killing us right now.”
• The short week: Since a first-half shutout of New Orleans, Detroit has allowed 730 yards and 71 points across six quarters plus an overtime drive.

The offensive line was already thin. Right tackle Blake Miller (knee), left guard Christian Mahogany (hip), and center Cade Mays (wrist) did not play. Goff was sacked four times for 38 yards. A snap sailed over his head on one of the first two series. The Lions had rallied from 21-0 to beat the Saints 31-30 in overtime in Week 1. They rallied from 21-0 again on Thursday and ran out of field.

DJ Moore’s Night Ends in the End Zone

Moore, acquired from Chicago in March, had five catches for 100 yards and a touchdown in Houston. On Thursday he had a carry for minus-1 yard and no receptions. With 2:56 left in the half, on second-and-3 from the Detroit 6, he dove for a low ball at the back of the end zone and landed on his left shoulder. Knox was flagged for holding, so the play died anyway. Kincaid scored on the next snap.

Moore walked to the locker room for X-rays. The club posted a shoulder and stinger injury update and ruled him out. Ed Oliver never made it that far. The starting defensive lineman hurt his hip in pregame warmups, was scratched, and left Buffalo with four healthy linemen. They still sacked Goff four times.

The Bills host the Los Angeles Chargers at 1 p.m. ET on Sept. 27 in the same building, a date already on the Chargers visit on Sept. 27 league grid, then New England on Oct. 4. Moore’s shoulder is the only unfinished piece from a night the rest of the roster already closed out.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Public Money Built Highmark Stadium?

New York State put in $600 million and Erie County put in $250 million, an $850 million public share that is the largest taxpayer contribution for an NFL venue. Terry and Kim Pegula covered overruns after the budget climbed from $1.4 billion, and personal seat licenses raised $263 million toward the rest.

How Does New Highmark Stadium Compare With the Old Bowl?

The new stadium is the smallest in the league at listed capacity, with Soldier Field next at 62,500, and it can stretch into the low 60,000s with standing room. The field is natural grass, a switch from the old A-Turf surface. The 1973 stadium across Abbott Road is scheduled to come down in 2027.

Where Does Josh Allen Rank After His Two Rushing Scores?

The two rushing touchdowns gave him 83 for his career, tying Hall of Famer Jim Taylor for 18th on the NFL list. The win was also Allen’s 90th in the regular season, a total only four quarterbacks have reached in their first nine seasons.

What Was the Last Bills-Lions Meeting Before Thursday?

Buffalo won 48-42 at Detroit on Dec. 15, 2024. The Bills now lead the all-time series 9-4-1.