Game recap

Lions @ Bills

2026 Wk 2 · BUF 41, DET 31

This stat line needs a quarterback who is both the primary passer and the goal line runner, and almost no offense is built that way. Buffalo's is. Allen accounted for 5 of the Bills' 6 touchdowns, which is why a defense that holds James Cook out of the end zone until the final three minutes can still give up 41.

FanIQ Research · September 20, 2026 · 7 facts, every one from the play-by-play

A quarterback has thrown 3 touchdowns and run for 2 in the same regular season game 13 times since 1999. Josh Allen owns 4 of them.

Rare

Every regular season game of 3+ passing TDs and 2+ rushing TDs since 1999

Season	Week	Player	Team	Opp	Pass TD	Rush TD	Pass yds	Rush yds
2003	14	Jeff Garcia	SF	ARI	4	2	252	32
2007	8	Tom Brady	NE	WAS	3	2	306	14
2010	10	Mike Vick	PHI	WAS	4	2	333	80
2011	4	Aaron Rodgers	GB	DEN	4	2	408	36
2018	3	Drew Brees	NO	ATL	3	2	396	7
2018	17	Josh Allen	BUF	MIA	3	2	224	95
2020	15	Ryan Tannehill	TEN	DET	3	2	273	21
2023	12	Jalen Hurts	PHI	BUF	3	2	200	65
2024	14	Josh Allen	BUF	LA	3	3	342	82
2024	18	Bryce Young	CAR	ATL	3	2	251	24
2025	11	Josh Allen	BUF	TB	3	3	317	40
2025	17	Brock Purdy	SF	CHI	3	2	303	28
2026	2	Josh Allen	BUF	DET	3	2	248	69

Ten quarterbacks are on the list and nine of them appear once. Allen went 20 of 31 for 248 yards with touchdown passes to Josh Palmer, Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid, then added 14 carries for 69 yards and scores of 1 and 2 yards. Three of his four entries have come since week 14 of the 2024 season.

Why it matters. This stat line needs a quarterback who is both the primary passer and the goal line runner, and almost no offense is built that way. Buffalo's is. Allen accounted for 5 of the Bills' 6 touchdowns, which is why a defense that holds James Cook out of the end zone until the final three minutes can still give up 41.

Jared Goff is 9-2 when he throws 4 or more touchdowns without an interception. Both losses were to Buffalo.

Rare

Every Jared Goff regular season game with 4+ passing TDs and 0 interceptions

Season	Week	Team	Opp	Comp/Att	Yards	TD	Result
2017	9	LA	NYG	14 of 22	311	4	W 51-17
2017	16	LA	TEN	22 of 38	301	4	W 27-23
2018	4	LA	MIN	26 of 33	465	5	W 38-31
2018	11	LA	KC	31 of 49	413	4	W 54-51
2018	17	LA	SF	15 of 26	199	4	W 48-32
2022	2	DET	WAS	20 of 34	256	4	W 36-27
2023	15	DET	DEN	24 of 34	278	5	W 42-17
2024	11	DET	JAX	24 of 29	412	4	W 52-6
2024	15	DET	BUF	38 of 59	494	5	L 42-48
2025	2	DET	CHI	23 of 28	334	5	W 52-21
2026	2	DET	BUF	26 of 38	327	4	L 31-41

Goff went 26 of 38 for 327 yards and 4 touchdowns with no interceptions and lost by 10. His teams averaged 44.4 points across the nine wins on this list. Across the league since 1999, a quarterback with this stat line lost 43 of 406 regular season games, so the line itself wins about nine times in ten. Goff's only two exceptions are his last two meetings with the Bills.

Why it matters. A clean 4 touchdown day normally settles a game, which is what makes the two exceptions informative. In both Buffalo losses Detroit's offense did its part and the defense gave up 41 or more. Against this opponent the Lions have needed a stop rather than another score, and they have not found one in either meeting.

After the first quarter Detroit outscored Buffalo 31 to 27. The first quarter was 14 to 0.

Split

Score at the end of each quarter

Quarter	BUF	DET
1	14	0
2	27	10
3	34	17
4	41	31

Offense by quarter, pass and run plays

Team	Quarter	Plays	Yards	EPA/play
BUF	1	21	169	0.615
BUF	2	15	130	0.533
BUF	3	15	73	0.373
BUF	4	15	77	0.146
DET	1	7	10	-0.758
DET	2	23	145	0.366
DET	3	13	108	0.661
DET	4	19	92	0.142

Detroit's first quarter was 7 plays for 10 yards with two Greg Rousseau sacks, and its first first down came after it already trailed 14-0. Over the final three quarters the Lions outgained the Bills 345 yards to 280 and outscored them by 4. Buffalo ran 21 plays for 169 yards in the opening quarter alone.

Why it matters. The game was decided in the 15 minutes when only one offense was on the field. Detroit's 7 first quarter plays are a small sample, but the cost was not: a 14 point hole against an offense that finished the night at plus 0.435 EPA per play. From the second quarter on, the two offenses were close to even, which means the Lions spent three quarters trading scores they could not afford to trade.

Detroit cut a 21 point deficit to 10 three separate times and never got closer.

Trend

Every score after Buffalo led 21-0

Clock	Scoring play	BUF	DET	Margin
Q2 5:07	Gibbs 11 yard catch	21	7	14
Q2 2:56	Kincaid 16 yard catch, extra point missed	27	7	20
Q2 0:01	Bates 31 yard field goal	27	10	17
Q3 9:31	St. Brown 2 yard catch	27	17	10
Q3 1:13	Allen 2 yard run	34	17	17
Q4 10:57	LaPorta 1 yard catch	34	24	10
Q4 2:53	Cook 1 yard run	41	24	17
Q4 1:48	St. Brown 27 yard catch	41	31	10

Buffalo's two touchdown drives with the lead at 10

Start	Plays	Yards	Runs	Third downs	Result
Q3 9:31, own 25	15	75	9	4 of 4	Allen 2 yard TD run
Q4 7:36, own 39	8	61	5	1 of 1	Cook 1 yard TD run

The first answer was Buffalo's only possession of the third quarter: 15 plays, all four third downs converted, and more than eight minutes off the clock. The second time Detroit got within 10, the Bills punted and the Lions took over at their own 10 with 8:25 left. They threw two incompletions around a run for no gain and punted it back. Buffalo's win probability in the play data never fell below 86.4 percent after the score reached 21-0.

Why it matters. A 10 point margin means the trailing team needs two scores and a stop, and Detroit never got the stop when it counted. The 15 play drive is the clearest example: it took the third quarter away from an offense that was averaging plus 0.661 EPA per play in that quarter. The three and out midway through the fourth quarter was the one moment Detroit held the ball with the game in reach, and it lasted three plays.

Buffalo converted 9 of 11 third downs. Since 1999 it has had one better day on 10 or more attempts.

Comparison

Third down conversion, this game versus 2025 regular season

Team	This game	Rate	2025 season	2025 rate
BUF	9 of 11	81.8%	95 of 205	46.3%
DET	4 of 11	36.4%	83 of 213	39.0%

Bills' best third down games since 1999, minimum 10 attempts

Season	Week	Opp	Converted	Rate
2022	1	LA	9 of 10	90.0%
2026	2	DET	9 of 11	81.8%
1999	15	ARI	12 of 15	80.0%
2020	5	TEN	13 of 17	76.5%
2002	14	NE	10 of 14	71.4%

Buffalo ran on third down five times and converted all five, four of them by Josh Allen. It faced only four third downs in the entire first half while scoring 27 points, then went 6 of 7 after halftime. Detroit's defense ranked 9th in the league on third down in 2025, allowing 37.3 percent. It allowed more than double that here.

Why it matters. The Bills already converted 46.3 percent a year ago, so this is a good third down offense having an extreme night rather than a bad one getting lucky. The mechanism is Allen as a short yardage runner: four of the nine conversions were his carries, three of them with 1 yard to go. For Detroit the concern is the opponent adjusted baseline, because this was a top 10 third down defense last season and 11 attempts is enough that one play does not explain the gap.

The most efficient rushing offense of 2025 ran for plus 0.413 EPA per carry, more than three times its own league leading rate.

Anomaly

Rushing EPA per carry, 2025 regular season, league top 6

Rank	Team	Carries	Yards	Yds/carry	EPA/carry
1	BUF	522	2741	5.25	0.110
2	BAL	490	2681	5.47	0.100
3	IND	431	2021	4.69	0.094
4	CHI	496	2472	4.98	0.079
5	NYG	503	2204	4.38	0.036
6	KC	417	1825	4.38	0.027

This game, rushing excluding kneel downs

Team	Carries	Yards	Yds/carry	EPA/carry	Success%
BUF	33	206	6.24	0.413	63.6%
DET	20	66	3.30	-0.208	30.0%

The league average run in 2025 was worth minus 0.006 EPA, so most rushing attempts are a small loss in expected points. Buffalo's were not. James Cook carried 21 times for 135 yards with runs of 35, 22 and 20, and Allen's five scrambles gained 49 yards with every one graded a success. Detroit's run defense was 18th by the same measure a year ago at minus 0.015 per carry.

Why it matters. Buffalo split its calls evenly, 33 runs and 33 dropbacks, and the run half was nearly as productive per play as the pass half at plus 0.456. That balance is what kept Detroit's defense from sitting on the pass. The gap between the two run games, 206 yards to 66, also explains the possession math: the Lions threw on 42 of their 62 plays because the ground game gave them nothing.

Buffalo has won six straight over Detroit, and the last three meetings produced 53, 90 and 72 points.

Milestone

Every Bills versus Lions game since 1999

Season	Week	Site	Result	Combined pts
2002	8	BUF	BUF 24, DET 17	41
2006	6	DET	DET 20, BUF 17	37
2010	10	BUF	BUF 14, DET 12	26
2014	5	DET	BUF 17, DET 14	31
2018	15	BUF	BUF 14, DET 13	27
2022	12	DET	BUF 28, DET 25	53
2024	15	DET	BUF 48, DET 42	90
2026	2	BUF	BUF 41, DET 31	72

Buffalo is 7-1 in the eight meetings in the database, and Detroit's only win came in 2006. The first five games topped out at 41 combined points and four of them were decided by 3 or fewer. The three most recent are the three highest scoring, and the two played since 2024 are the only ones where either team reached 30.

Why it matters. These teams meet once every two to four years, so each game is a snapshot of two rosters rather than a rivalry with memory. The snapshots have changed: the 2010 and 2018 games were decided 14-12 and 14-13, and the last two meetings have produced 162 points. The streak itself is mostly narrow wins: this 10 point margin is the widest of the six, and the widest of all eight games.

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