Josh Allen will play against Lions on TNF (Getty Images)
That’s how you score 36 points,” Allen said after Buffalo’s season-opening win. He completed 20 of 29 passes for 334 yards, threw two touchdowns, added two more rushing scores, and posted five completions of at least 30 yards. Detroit’s most recent victory at Buffalo came on December 22, 1991, a 17-14 overtime win. That is 35 years without a road win in this building.
The Lions have not won in Buffalo in a very long time. Since that game, the Bills have hosted the Lions four times and won all four. “We love chunk plays. He backed that statement up immediately. That last number was the most in a single regular-season game of his career.
Josh Allen came out of last week’s 36-point performance against Houston with something worth monitoring. He accounted for 357 yards of offense and four touchdowns against a Houston defense that allowed the fewest yards and second-fewest points in the entire NFL last season, a unit that returned largely intact in 2026, featuring five Pro Bowlers from a year ago. Allen is 3-0 against Detroit. His first win against the Lions was a 14-13 result as a rookie in 2018. Then came the Thanksgiving game where Tyler Bass hit a 45-yard field goal with two seconds left. Then the 48-42 shootout at Ford Field last December, where Allen threw for 362 yards and ran for two more touchdowns.
During a fourth-quarter pass in the season opener, Allen appeared to shake and flex his right hand after the ball was deflected, though he stayed in the game and did not receive medical attention on the field. No injury was officially listed. He has been a full participant in practice this week, and all signs point toward him being under center tonight. But with a Lions defense that has real pass-rush teeth, it is a situation worth keeping an eye on. Yes. There is no indication Josh Allen is in any danger of missing this game. The Bills’ official injury designations heading into Thursday list safety Cole Bishop, running back Ty Johnson, and defensive lineman T.J. Sanders as questionable. Allen’s name does not appear anywhere on that report. Allen did appear to shake and flex his right hand after a deflected pass late in the fourth quarter against Houston, but he remained in the game without any medical attention on the field, and the Bills did not announce an injury. What actually demands more attention is what Allen did last Sunday when fully healthy. If that defense could not slow him down, Detroit’s battered secondary faces a genuine problem. There is a layer of historical weight sitting underneath this matchup that often gets overlooked. Thursday night gives him a chance to make it four.
The Buffalo Bills host the Detroit Lions on Thursday Night Football at the brand-new Highmark Stadium, and the biggest name on the field carries a few more questions than usual.
“If you can keep Josh clean, it affords him opportunities across the field,” Brady said while discussing the Detroit matchup. Bills head coach Joe Brady did not shy away from explaining what makes Allen so hard to plan against. That puts enormous pressure on Aidan Hutchinson and Detroit’s defensive front to disrupt the pocket early and often. If they cannot, the Lions’ struggling secondary will be left to cover on an island against DJ Moore, Dalton Kincaid, Khalil Shakir, and Joshua Palmer.