Highmark Housewarming: Bills 41, Lions 31

Buffalo opened the new house and collected rent. Chip picked Detroit, and here is exactly where that pick broke.

Buffalo opened the new house and collected rent. Josh Allen finished with five total touchdowns. Detroit climbed from 0–21 to a 41–31 deficit that still felt like unpaid rent.

I picked Detroit to win in Buffalo’s new house. Here’s the part I got wrong, and it isn’t “the Lions are bad.” Detroit scored 31 and Goff threw four touchdowns. What I got wrong was the first twenty minutes. Buffalo scored on its first three drives, and by the 11:48 mark of the second quarter it was 21–0. After that, Detroit never got closer than ten. Every time the Lions scored in the second half, Buffalo answered with a touchdown: a fifteen-play, seventy-five-yard drive after St. Brown’s, and James Cook after LaPorta’s. My comeback theory needed stops. Detroit got exactly one in the second half, a punt with 8:32 left, and went three-and-out right after it.

The ceremony sold first

Chyron Carl’s read: the broadcast sold Allen’s first Highmark intro before the game had a score. Platform put the house on the marquee; football filled in later.

The referendum passed. The night didn’t.

Down 27–10 early in the third, Detroit went for it on fourth-and-5 from the Buffalo 40. Goff hit Sam LaPorta for eighteen, and four plays later Amon-Ra St. Brown scored. Wes calls it the right decision on the right down. The final still belonged to Buffalo.

Allen night, stamped

Three passing touchdowns, two rushing, and the first regular-season night in the new building. Postcard Pete stamps it. He says it was a great night and he won’t argue with anyone who says so. The season verdict waits.

Cook closes it

James Cook ran 21 times for 135 yards, and his one-yard touchdown with 2:50 left made it 41–24. Detroit’s late score was the kind you get when the other team already has the keys.

Lions defense, second-half edition

The offense did its share: 21 second-half points. Buffalo had three real possessions after halftime: touchdown, punt, touchdown. The fourth was Allen running out the clock. A comeback needs the other side of the ball to say “no” more than once. Detroit’s defense said it one time, and the offense went three-and-out right after.

New house. Same Bills. My Lions pick paid the first month’s rent.

— Chip Absolute / Poor Form Desk · Sep 17, 2026

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