Josh Allen arrived at the new Highmark Stadium on Thursday night looking like Josh Allen. What came before kickoff, though, was a different story.
On Amazon’s Thursday Night Football set, analyst Richard Sherman said Allen’s pregame routine was far from routine at all. Sherman revealed that the Bills quarterback was shivering in the team’s hot tub and needed an IV before Buffalo faced the Detroit Lions. Then Allen went out and did what he’s done so often: took over.
Allen threw and ran his way to five touchdowns in Buffalo’s 41-31 win, a performance that felt even bigger after the pregame details came out. The Bills rolled up 446 total yards, converted 9 of 12 third downs and got another huge night from James Cook, who ran for 135 yards and scored Buffalo’s other touchdown.
Buffalo’s offense came out hunting from the start. After winning the coin toss, the Bills took the ball first, a shift from the old approach under former coach Sean McDermott, who usually deferred and let the defense start the game. That aggressive choice paid off immediately: Buffalo scored touchdowns on its first four possessions and jumped to a 14-0 lead before the first quarter was over.
Left tackle Dion Dawkins said the new mindset under coach Joe Brady has changed the feel of the offense.
“We have a head coach that’s like, we want the ball first,” Dawkins said. “We just don’t pick plays that we have in the playbook. We look at personnels, and we’re like, all right, cool, whatever the defense wants to give us, we’re going to take it, and we’re going to remix it, and we’re gonna capitalize off what they’re giving us.”
Dawkins also said the team’s energy has been different.
“I’m having the most fun playing football I’ve ever had playing ball,” Dawkins said. “It’s no thumb down to McDermott, but McDermott is a defensive coach. So we tip our caps to those guys, but now it’s in offensive hands.”
Brady, who has spent the past two and a half seasons calling plays from the coaches’ box, has liked what he’s seen from Allen on the sideline. After Buffalo’s road win at Houston last Sunday, he challenged his team to empty the tank against Detroit.
“You watch how (Josh) plays, and it’s like, how does everyone else not feel like they need to empty it out,” Brady said. “Because he literally gave everything he had out there. He put the team on his back in a lot of those situations.”
As Brady was still talking through Allen’s night, the quarterback walked into the interview room. Brady stopped and laughed.
“I mean, golly. Can I get a sec,” Brady said jokingly to Allen off to the side.
“I can’t talk about him now. ... Any time the ball’s in his hands, good things happen.
Love that guy.”
The Bills did take a hit when No. 1 wide receiver D.J. Moore left with a shoulder injury in the second quarter, but Keon Coleman filled in well with six catches for 63 yards and came through on key third-down plays.
Detroit kept hanging around, cutting Buffalo’s lead to 10 early in the third quarter. Allen answered with a 15-play, 75-yard march that lasted 8:22 and ended with a two-yard rushing touchdown, a back-breaking response that put Buffalo back in control.
Afterward, Allen said he felt the game slowing down for him.
“(I’m) Seeing it really well right now,” Allen said. “Still a couple times, maybe trying to do too much and put the ball in harm’s way.
So I gotta keep just again letting the game come to me. And our guys doing such a great job in man and zone, finding windows and catching the ball.
So just keep doing that.”
Allen has now accounted for five passing touchdowns and four rushing touchdowns in his first two games this season. The feat has only happened four times over a two-game stretch in NFL history, and Allen has done it three times, including Week 13/14 2024 and Week 14/15 2024. Eric Hipple did it in 1981.
Asked how he managed such a strong outing while dealing with the flu, Allen kept it simple.
“My job is the coolest thing in the world,” Allen said. “Everything that I’ve ever wanted to be is the quarterback of an NFL franchise, and I’m just very fortunate that I ended up here in Buffalo and got to be the first quarterback to open this stadium, which is a special spot.”
In Other News...
Josh Allen Had Bills Fans Doing A Double Take On The Sideline
The Bills first regular-season game at the new Highmark Stadium already had the feel of an event, with Buffalo coming in at 1-0 after its win over the Texans and welcoming the Lions to the teams fresh home. But one sideline moment quickly drew attention when Josh Allen was spotted using smelling salts, a sight that sent fans doing a double take during an otherwise high-profile night for the franchise.
Allen later shed a little light on his game-day habits, describing a pregame routine that includes vomiting, listening to music, and drinking water. It is a reminder that even the most accomplished quarterbacks can have rituals that are anything but ordinary, and in Buffalo, every small detail around Allen tends to get magnified when the spotlight is this bright. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Passing Game Takes A Hit With DJ Moore Suddenly Out
A promising afternoon for Buffalos passing game took a sharp turn late in the second quarter when DJ Moore went down with a shoulder injury while trying to haul in a diving catch against the Detroit Lions. He was taken to the locker room for X-rays, and the Bills initially listed him as questionable before ruling him out after halftime.
For a team that had been leaning on Moore as part of its aerial rhythm, the timing could hardly have been worse. His status leaves Buffalo waiting for answers on how serious the injury is, and the bigger concern now is how the passing game will adjust if he has to miss more time. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Allen Was Furious Over How Bills Teammates Family Tragedy Went Public
The Bills spent the summer trying to navigate one of the hardest kinds of news an NFL locker room can face, with Ed Oliver mourning the death of his two-year-old son after the child was found unresponsive in a swimming pool near Houston in June. The Harris County Sheriff's Office investigated the incident, found no criminal findings and closed the case in August, while Buffalo publicly offered condolences and tried to keep the focus on support rather than details.
Josh Allen still made clear how upset he was with the way the tragedy became public. Speaking to the media, the Bills quarterback thanked the people who respected the familys privacy and criticized those who leaked the information before the family had a chance to process it. For a team that has had to rally around Oliver, the episode served as another reminder of how quickly personal grief can spill into the spotlight. [Read more 🡒]