ORCHARD PARK - If what happened in Week 1 is any indication, the first regular-season game to be played at Highmark Stadium figures to be a run and gun shootout between the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions.
The Bills put up a shocking point total against one of the NFL’s best defenses during their 36-31 victory in Houston.Meanwhile, the Lions also won a shootout as they blew a 21-0 third-quarter lead before outlasting New Orleans 31-30 in overtime when the Saints tried to win the game with a two-point conversion but failed.
The Bills and Lions were two of 10 teams who scored at least 30 points in their season openers, on what is on schedule to be the highest scoring Week 1 in the NFL since the 1970 merger. But only one other team (the Bears) also
allowed at least 30 points and still won. It sure feels like Amazon Prime is going to get a crazy game because both of these teams have prolific offenses but their defenses seem to be works in progress.
Buffalo’s defense forced two critical turnovers, but overall wasn’t very good in Houston as it allowed 31 points, 26 first downs and 381 yards to an offense led by CJ Stroud.
It was much worse for the Lions as they got torched by second-year Saints quarterback Tyler Shough who completed 35 of 56 passes for 410 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions. Now they have to face Josh Allen who is coming off a 334-yard passing performance which included two TD passes, plus two more rushing TDs.
“We ended up scoring 36 points against a fantastic defense,” said Allen, who pointed out that they did this despite running just 52 offensive plays, meaning they averaged 7.9 yards per play.
This was Allen’s 25th career game producing at least four total touchdowns. The only others to do so are Tom Brady (47), Aaron Rodgers (40), Drew Brees (42), Peyton Manning (36), and Brett Favre (25), and his 21-yard TD run against the Texans prompted NBC’s Devin McCourty to say on Football Night in America, “Josh Allen running with 20 yards of space is the scariest sight in football.”
Allen became the fastest quarterback in NFL history to record 300 combined passing and rushing touchdowns, doing it in just 129 games. Rodgers was the previous fastest, doing it in 134 games. His 81 rushing TDs make him the first QB in history with at least 80.
"It's just one game, and whether we won this game or whether we lost this game, we're going to have to wake up tomorrow and get back to work," said coach Joe Brady after winning in his head coaching debut. "But to see the guys that have been putting in a lot of the work and to see it to kind of show up, I was really proud of that."
Buffalo Bills key to victory
The Bills' pass rush has to be much better than it was in Houston. Yes, they had three sacks, and two of them were huge sack/forced fumble combos by Greg Rousseau, the second coming with nine seconds remaining which saved the game. Still, according to NextGenStats, even though they sent extra rushers on 26% of the passing snaps, they had the lowest pressure success at 21.4% of any team, and that was against a mediocre Texans offensive line. The Lions have a strong offensive line, and a quarterback in Jared Goff who can benefit greatly from a clean pocket.
Detroit Lions key to victory
Although their strategy ended up not working, the Texans tried to pound the ball on the ground against the Bills and they finished with 32 rushing attempts which helped them possess the ball for more than 36 minutes. They wanted to keep Allen off the field and they did a nice job, the problem was that when Allen was on the field, he ripped their defense apart. Unlike Houston, Detroit has a great running back in Jahmyr Gibbs who ran for 156 yards and two TDs on 29 carries. Getting Gibbs going like that should be a big part of the Lions’ game plan.
Bills vs Lions matchup to watch
Detroit’s secondary is facing a tall task against the Bills’ passing attack. The Lions are starting the season without their two injured starting safeties, Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph, and that was clearly a problem against New Orleans. Chuck Clark, Avonte Maddox and Thomas Harper filled in and Saints star receiver Chris Olave lit them up for 10 catches and 182 yards and the Saints averaged 11.7 yards per reception. The Bills have more weapons than the Saints as they can get receivers DJ Moore, Khalil Shakir and Josh Palmer involved downfield, as well as tight end Dalton Kincaid who is coming off a monster 130-yard game, the most yards by a Bills tight end in a single game since 1967.
Who wins? Bills 37, Lions 30
This should be an electric night in Orchard Park as the Bills - after a few soft openings at their new stadium - turn on the lights for real in primetime. Hopefully, the new field that was just laid down a couple weeks ago holds up, but that might be the least of Detroit’s worries if Buffalo’s offense is as efficient as it was against a great Houston defense.
The Bills had two scoring drives of 96 yards, becoming one of only five teams to have two of at least 93 yards in the same game, and rather incredibly, one took just three plays and the other only seven. The Lions’ defense isn’t nearly as good as the Texans, and even if the Bills’ defense continues to struggle, Buffalo should have enough firepower to win a shootout.
What time does the Buffalo Bills vs Detroit Lions game start?
Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. at Highmark Stadium.
Who is favored to win Bills vs Lions?
The Bills have opened as a 3.5-point favorite for the game. The money line is Bills minus-190 (bet $190 to win $100) and Lions plus-160 (bet $100 to win $160). The over-under is 53.5.
How to watch Buffalo Bills vs Detroit Lions game on TV
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.
Watch Bills vs Lions on Amazon Prime
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).
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: Bills, Lions look ready to light up Highmark Stadium in shootout
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