Josh Allen quickly put his stamp on the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium that’s been aptly dubbed “The House that Allen built.”
Allen threw three touchdown passes and ran for two scores, and the Bills beat the Detroit Lions 41-31 on Thursday night in the first regular-season game at Highmark Stadium.
It was Allen’s fourth career five-TD outing, and followed a four-touchdown outing (two passing, two rushing) in Buffalo’s 36-31 season-opening win at Houston.
The $2.1 billion stadium that officially opened last month was built across the street from the Bills’ former home.
Allen followed the pregame fireworks celebration with more fireworks of his own by overseeing touchdown drives on each of Buffalo’s first four possessions.
He scored the first regular-season TD in the stadium on a 1-yard run 5:51 into the opening quarter. He followed that with a 43-yard scoring pass to a wide-open Josh Palmer. Tight ends Dalton Kincaid, with a 16-yard catch, and Dawson Knox, with a 1-yarder, also scored for Buffalo in the first half.
Allen finished 20 of 31 for 248 yards and added 72 yards rushing. James Cook had 134 yards rushing and put the game away with a 1-yard TD run with 2:50 left.
Allen’s two rushing TDs upped his career total to 83, moving him into a tie for 18th on the NFL list with Jim Taylor. He also picked up his 90th regular-season victory, becoming one of just four quarterbacks to reach that milestone through their first nine seasons.
The Lions were undone by an injury-depleted defense and a banged-up offensive line that had difficulty opening holes for Jahmyr Gibbs and protecting Jared Goff.
After rallying from a 21-0 deficit to cut Buffalo’s lead to 34-24, the Lions’ offense stalled midway through the fourth quarter. Backed up at their own 10, the Lions went three-and-out and were forced to punt after Goff had two passes tipped by Deone Walker, and Gibbs was stopped for no gain.
Goff finished 26 of 38 for 327 yards and four touchdowns, with Amon-Ra St. Brown having nine catches for 142 yards and two scores. Gibbs also scored on an 11-yard catch but was limited to 52 yards rushing. Sam LaPorta also scored on a 1-yard catch.
St. Brown and Gibbs have now scored in the same game 22 times to move into a tie for fourth place in matching the Cleveland receiver/running back combo of Paul Warfield and Leroy Kelly.
The Lions’ defense got off to a dreadful start in allowing the Bills to score 27 points and gain 299 yards in the first half alone. The struggles carried over from a season-opening 31-30 overtime win over New Orleans, in which the Saints rallied from a 21-0 first-half deficit and lost only after their 2-point conversion failed in overtime.
The Lions’ troubles began on Buffalo’s second drive when two defenders converged on DJ Moore in the flats and allowed Allen to find Palmer wide open deep for a 43-yard touchdown. On Buffalo’s next drive, a holding penalty against Rock Ya-Sin negated Skyler Gill-Howard’s interception of a tipped pass.
The Lions’ offense had its own sputters, with Goff sacked twice and also having a snap go over his head on Detroit’s first two series.
Detroit played minus two offensive line starters: Blake Miller (knee) and Christian Mahogany (hip).
