The debut game for the newly-built Highmark Stadium was exactly how Head Coach Joe Brady’s Buffalo Bills dreamed it would be, winning their first home game 41–31 on Thursday night. Quarterback (QB) Josh Allen once again looked fantastic, with 317 total yards and five touchdowns, split between three passing and two rushing. Wide receiver (WR) D.J. Moore Jr. was a big addition to this team in the off-season, but was injured early in this game, only recording one carry on a jet sweep for -1 yards along with zero receptions. Despite this, the receiving corps looked rejuvenated. WR Keon Coleman had a great game after a disappointing 2025, with six receptions and 63 yards. Tight end (TE) Dalton Kincaid led all TEs in yards per route run last year (a statistic that describes a pass catcher’s efficiency in getting separation) despite limited opportunities, and he continued what could be a breakout year for him with seven receptions for 95 yards and one touchdown. Running back (RB) James Cook was incredible as well, picking up right where he left off as the reigning league’s leading rusher with 135 yards on 21 carries.
Buffalo’s offense under Brady has been different since the departure of previous head coach Sean McDermott. The Bills ran multiple tight end (multi-TE) looks on 59.4% of their offensive snaps, and they yielded 6.1 yards per rush on those snaps. For reference, the league average offensive snaps in 12 and 13 personnel (or one RB and two/three TEs) was around 33% in 2025. This allowed Cook to capitalize on softer boxes, and for the passing game to capitalize off that with play-action. Last year, they only ran these multi-TE looks on 11-11.5% of snaps, which had them ranked 27th in the league.
The Bills did get lucky a few times: early on in the game, Allen fumbled but it was immediately recovered by a teammate. He then almost threw an interception, targeting Joshua Palmer, but it was called back due to a defensive hold. This happened last week as well: near the end of the Texans game in Week 1, Allen almost threw a game-losing interception to cornerback (CB) Kamari Lassiter, but it was dropped. The turnover luck has worked out in their favor, but these mistakes will have to be cleaned up if the Bills want to truly contend in a top-heavy AFC.
Buffalo’s defense could still be cleaned up, even though they became one of three teams to win their first two games of the season despite giving up 30 points in both. Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard was hired based on his work as defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator with Vance Joseph and the Denver Broncos. So far, the first time NFL play-caller’s performances have been up and down. CB Christian Benford, who was called for a crucial pass interference in the end zone during a valiant attempt at a comeback by the Lions offense, also led the team with eight tackles. His performance was symbolic of Buffalo’s defense Thursday night; they were aggressive enough to make plays, but also vulnerable to costly mistakes in high-leverage situations. The Bills have shown they can produce pressure as they recorded four sacks against QB Jared Goff without defensive tackle Ed Oliver due to an injury before the game, but their pass rush still has some questions to answer.
While this game has confirmed a lot of what we knew about the Bills being contenders, and potentially having the best offense in the NFL, it left us with even more questions about the Detroit Lions. Led by defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard in his second year, the Lions defense was unacceptable. Sheppard was promoted from linebacker coach to defensive coordinator after Aaron Glenn’s departure to coach the Jets, and while his inexperience has shown, it’s not the biggest issue with this defensive unit. Despite having a premier edge rusher in Aidan Hutchinson (and blitzing on 55.3% of plays), the Lions were unable to get Allen on the ground when it mattered and couldn’t stop the run.
The Bills ran for a total of 209 yards against this defense. Allen went 12/17 for 137 yards and two touchdowns against the blitz (when more than 5 defensive players rush the QB), and ran five times for 49 yards and another touchdown. But even if the play selection wasn’t great, Sheppard cannot take all of the blame for how often his players were simply blowing their assignments. The best example of this is leaving Joshua Palmer wide open down the seam in Cover 1 due to miscommunication between free safety (FS) Avonte Maddox and nickel CB Roger McCreary. It was representative of the defense as a whole on Thursday night. McCreary is in bad condition due to injuries, forcing depth players D.J. Reed and Rock Ya-Sin at CB, and Maddox and Chuck Clark at safety, to start against one of the best passing attacks. Together, they gave up 243 passing yards.
The Lions’ offense had a disastrous start to the game, but rebounded decently. The Lions were down two offensive line starters and another starter, right tackle (RT) Penei Sewell was playing at left tackle, an unnatural position for him. Goff has one of the highest EPA/dropback in the pocket at +0.43, but it drops down to -0.42 when pressured, which is one of the largest gaps for any QB in the NFL. Despite this, Goff finished 26 of 37, with 327 yards and four touchdowns. WR Amon-Ra St. Brown had nine receptions for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Most of these yards were empty, however, and came down 2-3 scores. Despite having potentially the best RB in the league in Jahmyr Gibbs, the Lions couldn’t get the run game going due to being dominated in the trenches (a term colloquially used to describe the battle between the offensive and defensive lines).
Detroit ultimately finished 4 for 11 on third down and 3 for 4 in the red zone, but by the end of the game, they became decently effective through St. Brown, who was involved in 95% of Detroit’s offensive plays. Detroit also only managed 66 rushing yards, and Gibbs averaged only 3.25 yards per carry. While the team was very efficient in conducting some drives, including the 12-play 70-yard touchdown drive plus the 11-play touchdown drive at the start of the third quarter, their slow start doomed them.
