ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — In opening the Buffalo Bills' new stadium, rookie coach Joe Brady was more interested in seeing his team put on a clinic rather than a show.
Turns out, Brady got to see both in a 41-31 victory over the Detroit Lions on Thursday night in the Bills' first regular-season game at Highmark Stadium.
Fireworks. Two national anthems. A packed house. And a win.
“The atmosphere was incredible,” Brady said. “It was the game Buffalo deserved.”
The 41 points were the third-most by a team in its regular-season stadium debut, behind only Dallas, which scored 44 in its first game at Texas Stadium in 1971, and Miami scoring 42 in its first outing at Joe Robbie Stadium in 1987.
Josh Allen accounted for five touchdowns, including the first one, by scoring on a 1-yard run six minutes in. A sell-out crowd arrived early, and about 1,000 fans still lingered long after the final horn in cheering on Allen and left tackle Dion Dawkins as they were being interviewed at the Prime TV booth along the sideline.
Among those on hand was former Bills quarterback-turned-broadcaster Ryan Fitzpatrick. He opened the day by throwing passes across the international border — from one boat to another on the Niagara River — to former Bills receiver Stevie Johnson.
And the Bills honored their cross-border fanbase by having both the U.S. and Canadian anthems performed with both country’s flags displayed on the field.
The Toronto musical group Barenaked Ladies was greeted by a loud cheer before singing “O, Canada.” They were followed by Hawaiian-born actress and singer Auli’i Cravalho performing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” U.S. pop group OneRepublic also performed at halftime, while set up on a platform in the stands at the north end of the field.
“It was crazy. I don’t really get starstruck, but there was a few times I looked up like, this is crazy,” defensive tackle Deone Walker said.
The festivities began with an elaborate light show with fans wearing bracelets that blinked, followed by a fireworks display as the Bills offensive starters were introduced, with Allen greeted by a roar and chants of “M-V-P! M-V-P!”
And the Bills even rolled out a new green grass carpet, by choosing to resod the entire field ahead of schedule following their preseason finale against Pittsburgh on Aug. 27. They did so after the original turf, which had been laid down in October, showed signs of wear and tear, and with large divots having to be replaced during two preseason games and two practices.
Bills players indicated after practicing in the stadium on Tuesday that the grass felt firmer, and noticed a larger infill of sand. That was evident in pregame warmups when clumps of sand came up when players made hard cuts on the field.
During the opening drive, an on-field official was spotted having to tamp down a clump of grass that came up at the 30.
Otherwise, there were few other noticeable issues.
“I thought it held up extremely well tonight,” Allen said.
The only other apparent hiccup occurred when the teams lined up prematurely for the opening kickoff, and then stayed in formation for several minutes during a commercial break.
The field was painted for the first time, with the word “BILLS” in large white block letters featured prominently in both end zones over red-painted grass. The team’s charging Buffalo logo was also added at midfield.
The new stadium has a capacity of just over 60,000, about 12,000 less than the old facility which now lies in rubble across the street.
What’s different is the layout, with the new facility’s seating structure built more vertically in placing viewers more on top of the action. The new building also features a canopy, which helps project crowd noise directly on to field.
“It was great. It was beautiful. Everything was awesome,” edge-rusher Greg Rousseau said, before crediting the team’s owner Terry Pegula. “Shout out Pegula for an amazing stadium.”
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