The Buffalo Bills opened their new stadium on Thursday night with the kind of game their quarterback has made routine.
Buffalo beat the Detroit Lions 41-31 on September 17, 2026, in the first regular-season game played at the new Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. Josh Allen accounted for five touchdowns — three through the air, two on the ground — and the Bills led from the opening drive.
Five touchdowns, and a record that is his alone
Allen completed 20 of 31 passes for 248 yards, with touchdown throws of 43 yards to Josh Palmer, 1 yard to Dawson Knox and 16 yards to Dalton Kincaid. He added 69 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.
It was the fourth game of his career with at least three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns. No other player in NFL history has more than two.
The supporting numbers were just as one-sided. Buffalo scored on each of its first four possessions, punted twice all night, converted 9 of 12 third downs and went 5 for 5 in the red zone. James Cook carried 21 times for 135 yards and closed the game out with a 1-yard touchdown run. Outside linebacker Greg Rousseau had two sacks and forced a fumble.
Detroit moved the ball and still lost by 10
Jared Goff was not the problem. After a slow start he finished 26 of 38 for 327 yards and four touchdowns, and passed 40,000 career passing yards in his 153rd game — the sixth-fastest any quarterback has reached the mark. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught nine passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
Detroit's difficulty was that it never got the ball back on favorable terms. Receiver DJ Moore left in the first half with a shoulder injury and a stinger.
Buffalo moved to 2-0; Detroit fell to 1-1.
A $2.2 billion debut
The new Highmark Stadium held its formal ribbon-cutting on June 23, 2026, and seats 60,108 — more than 10,000 fewer than the Bills' previous home across the street. The project cost about $2.2 billion, roughly $800 million above the $1.4 billion figure in the original agreement, with labor and materials accounting for much of the increase.
A smaller stadium at that price is a choice rather than an overrun: the Bills traded raw capacity for a denser, more expensive building, and Thursday was the first night it was measured against an actual opponent.
Reporting from NBC Sports, NBC News and StadiumDB.
