ORCHARD PARK - During his new weekly radio appearance on Buffalo’s WGR-550 AM the other day, Buffalo Billsoffensive tackle Dion Dawkins was asked what he feels is different now that Joe Brady is the head coach, as opposed to Sean McDermott.
"I love McD, McDermott is our guy, but McDermott was a defensive-driven coach,” Dawkins said. “Joe Brady is an offensive-driven coach and you can drastically feel it.”
As he said, Dawkins loved McDermott and he always will. As a 2017 second-round draft pick, Dawkins was with McDermott for his entire nine-year coaching tenure and they shared all the great wins and all the crushing defeats.
But the Bills needed to try something different and as an offensive player, Dawkins made it perfectly clear that he thinks
the switch to Brady could take an already great Buffalo offense to new heights, and perhaps get the Bills to the Super Bowl, the one black mark that will ultimately stain McDermott’s otherwise wildly successful tenure in Buffalo.
In their 36-31 victory over Houston, the Bills attacked a great Texans defense from start to finish, and it makes you wonder if that same downfield approach in the passing game would have been utilized if McDermott was still in charge.
“Heck yeah, we love chunk plays, that's how you score 36 points,” Josh Allen said after throwing for 334 yards and completing five passes of 34 yards or more, two of those going for touchdowns. “You give yourself the opportunity to go score in four or five plays in a drive instead of the long 13-, 14- or 15-play drive. That's also a way to win football games; we don't want to just try to live off the chunk plays. We want to be smart, and we want to take our opportunities when they're there.”
Chunk plays and plenty of points could be in vogue Thursday night when the Bills host the Detroit Lions.
The Lions just got torched for 410 yards passing by New Orleans’ second-year quarterback Tyler Shough, and they are playing backups across the secondary due to injuries, plus the release of cornerback Terrion Arnold, their 2024 first-round pick who ran into off field trouble.
Buffalo’s defense struggled in its opener, too, and the Lions have plenty of dangerous weapons with Jared Goff distributing the ball to running back Jahmyr Gibbs, wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, and tight end Sam LaPorta.
Here is the broadcast and betting information:
Watch Bills vs Patriots live on Prime Video
What time is San Buffalo Bills vs Detroit Lions in NFL Thursday Night Football? When is NFL Bills-Lions game today?
- Date: Thursday, Sept. 17
- Start time: 8:15 p.m. ET
- Where: Highmark Stadium, Orchard Park, New York.
How to watch, stream Buffalo Bills vs Detroit Lions in NFL Thursday Night Football
- Streaming: Amazon Prime Video
This is an exclusive Amazon Prime game, with the exception of the local Buffalo market (which does not include Rochester). In Buffalo, the game will be available over the air on the ABC affiliate, WKBW, channel 7. You can also watch on NFL.com and the NFL mobile app, and if you have a subscription to NFL+, the league’s own streaming service, but in that case you can’t cast the games to your TV so you must watch on your phone or tablet.
Buffalo Bills vs Detroit Lions odds, betting line in NFL Thursday Night Football
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Sept. 16, subject to change:
- Betting line: Bills -5
- Over-under: 54.5
- Money line: Bills minus-235 (bet $235 to win $100) and Lions plus-190 (bet $100 to win $190).
Who is announcing the Bills vs. Panthers game
- Play-by-play: Al Michaels
- Analyst: Kirk Herbstreit
- Sideline reporter: Kaylee Hartung
On the radio: How to listen to the Bills vs Lions game
You can listen on SiriusXM satellite radio on channel 192 (Bills feed) and channel 193 (Lions feed), and on traditional radio, the Bills Radio Network has stations all across the state. Chris Brown has the play-by-play, Eric Wood is the analyst, and Steve Tasker is the sideline reporter. The network includes:
- Rochester (WAIO 95.1 FM);
- Buffalo (WGRF 96.9 FM);
- Syracuse (WSKO 1260 AM);
- Albany (WOFX 92.5 FM);
- Utica (WKLL 94.9 FM);
- Dunkirk (WDOE 1410 AM);
- Hornell (WKPQ 105.3 FM);
- Elmira (WMTT 94.7 FM);
- Jamestown (WWSE 93.3 FM);
- Olean (WPIG 95.7 FM);
- Ogdensburg (WQTK 92.7 FM);
- Watertown (WOTT 94.1 FM);
- Bradford, Pa. (WBRR 100.1 FM);
- Cortland/Ithaca (WIII 99.9 FM);
- Auburn (WAUB 1590 AM);
- Geneva (WGVA 1240 AM);
- Binghamton (WENE 1430 AM);
- Newark (WACK 1420 AM);
- Cobleskill/Schoharie (WSDE 1190 AM);
- Williamsport, PA (WRAK 1400 AM);
- Erie, Pa. (WRKT 104.9 FM);
- New York City (WEPN 1050 AM);
- West Palm Beach, Fla. (WESP 106.3 FM);
- Montreal, Canada (CKGM 690 AM);
- Ottawa, Canada (CFGO 1200 AM);
- Toronto, Canada (CHUM 1050 AM).
Buffalo Bills schedule 2026
- Week 1: Sunday, Sept. 13 at Houston Texans, W 36-31.
- Week 2: Thursday, Sept. 17 vs. Detroit Lions, 8:15 p.m.
- Week 3: Sunday, Sept. 27 vs. Los Angeles Chargers, 1 p.m.
- Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 4 vs. New England Patriots, 1 p.m.
- Week 5: Monday, Oct. 12 at Los Angeles Rams, 8:15 p.m.
- Week 6: Sunday, Oct. 18 at Las Vegas Raiders, 4:25 p.m.
- Week 7: Bye Week
- Week 8: Sunday, Nov. 1 vs. Baltimore Ravens, 1 p.m.
- Week 9: Monday, Nov.9 at Minnesota Vikings, 8:15 p.m.
- Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 15 at New York Jets, 1 p.m.
- Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 22 vs. Miami Dolphins, 1 p.m.
- Week 12: Thursday, Nov. 26 vs. Kansas City Chiefs, 8:20 p.m.
- Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 6 at New England Patriots, 4:25 p.m.
- Week 14, Sunday, Dec. 13: at Green Bay Packers, 8:20 p.m.
- Week 15: Saturday, Dec. 19 vs. Chicago Bears, 8:20 p.m.
- Week 16: Friday, Dec. 25 at Denver Broncos, 4:30 p.m.
- Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 3, at Miami Dolphins, 1 p.m.
- Week 18: TBD vs. New York Jets
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, he has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: What channel is Bills vs Lions game on tonight? Thursday Night Football time, TV schedule
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