ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – Right from the coin toss, the Buffalo Bills owned the night.
In opening the new Highmark Stadium on Thursday night, the Bills scored touchdowns on each of their first four possessions. Talk about setting a tone. The place was already raucous and loud before the action began.
Then it became like some rolling thunder.
Heads or tails?
One coin flip, like one play, is not supposed to make that much of a difference over the course of a football game. But try telling that to Joe Brady, the Bills’ rookie coach.
He’s adamant about this. Take the football first. Never mind what the analytics suggest and what we see play out so often in the NFL when teams win the toss and defer to take the football first in the second half.
No, Brady wants
the ball in Josh Allen’s hands first. Then they’ll go from there.
Well, that philosophy sure worked to a T in this case. Poor Detroit. It seemed like Buffalo, in opening its new $2.2 billion palace, had dibs on the script because striking first was such an essential part to the plan.
“I said all along, I thought it was important,” Brady said after a 41-31 victory against the Lions that didn’t seem so close because the Bills streaked to a 21-0 lead in the game’s first 19 minutes. “I wanted us to take the ball in this environment and kind of set the tone.”
Done. They went 85 yards in 10 plays after the opening kickoff. Then did something similar on the next two drives as Allen – who accounted for five touchdowns – shredded the Lions defense with his arm and legs.
Surely, the Bills want to establish something special at their new digs, built across the street from the old Highmark. They undoubtedly seek a true homefield advantage, which can come with winning and loud, rabid fans. So, they were setting the tone in more ways than one on Thursday night.
And the people loved it. The new stadium, with 60,644 in attendance for the regular-season christening, is smaller than the old one. But it sounds so much bigger.
“It was drastically louder,” Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins told USA TODAY Sports.
The gregarious lineman was serious about his comparison.
“Insanely louder,” he added. “Like scary loud. It was vibrating in there. That’s a real thing. Scary. This is the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in.”
Home, sweet home. Before Thursday night, Dawkins would have told you that Lumen Field in Seattle is the NFL’s loudest venue. Well, just like that stadium in the Pacific Northwest, there’s apparently something about the acoustics at the Bills new home that make a difference.
“Buffalo has definitely topped it,” Dawkins said. “We now have the loudest stadium in the NFL.”
It is certainly loud enough that Brady made it a point to address the vibe in the days leading up to the opener. His theme: The environment can change with the ebb and flow of the game, yet the performance needs to be consistent.
“Stay the same,” Dawkins reiterated. “Humble and hungry.”
Of course, another theme resonates when it comes to striking first.
“Joe Brady wants the ball,” Dawkins said. “He wants the offense to start the game off, to put our energy to the point where we control everything.”
The Lions, as productive as they can be with their offense, just couldn’t keep up after the Bills forced them to play catch-up. By halftime, Allen had already thrown for three TDs and James Cook had rushed for 101 yards.
Maybe the dominance didn’t exactly start with the coin toss, but once the Bills (2-0) got going early, it provided the cushion that carried the night.
“It’s awesome to set the tone, whether we get the ball first or not,” Allen said. “But that makes end-of-half huge. Getting points and holding onto the football and not allowing the other team to double dip. Yeah, we’ve got to be better in that situation.”
The Lions made it game, 27-17, by scoring 10 consecutive points to end the first half and open the second half. But the Bills responded with a 15-play touchdown march that Allen said was the most important drive of the game. It consumed 8 minutes and 22 seconds, and when Allen ended it with a 2-yard run, only 67 seconds remained in the third quarter.
Starting fast was one thing. But finishing strong is a tone, too.
Take the ball now or defer?
“What we’ve learned is that the beautiful thing about being a Buffalo Bill is that the percentages are always against us,” Dawkins said. “We are always against the odds. So, we might as well take the ball and let’s control the narrative.
“It’s simple. We’ve got 17,” he added, referring to Allen, No. 17. “And different things happen with 17.”
Which is some kind of tone.
Follow Bell on X: @JarrettBell
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Bills took the ball to open their new stadium. Then they took over | Opinion
