ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills gave their brand-new home a signature opening night, riding five total touchdowns from Josh Allen to a 41-31 win over the Detroit Lions in the first regular-season game at the $2.2 billion Highmark Stadium.

Both teams entered Thursday night unbeaten at 1-0, but Buffalo pulled away behind Allen, who completed 20 of 31 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns while adding two more scores on the ground for 317 total yards of offense, according to a recap of the game. Buffalo jumped out to a 14-0 lead on Allen's 1-yard touchdown run and a 43-yard scoring strike to Josh Palmer, setting the tone in front of a raucous sellout crowd.

A stadium built to be loud

Highmark Stadium, designed by Populous, opened this year on a site adjacent to Erie Community College's south campus, across the street from where Ralph Wilson Stadium stood for more than five decades. Its vertical seating bowl and canopy structure were engineered specifically to trap and amplify crowd noise — a design Lions coach Dan Campbell had called a "raucous environment" to prepare for. At 60,108 seats, it's the smallest capacity venue in the NFL, but Thursday's atmosphere suggested the intimacy is by design, not compromise.

THE LIONS WERE THE FIRST TEAM TO LOSE THERE

Detroit's Jared Goff kept the Lions competitive for stretches, but Buffalo's defense made enough stops down the stretch to secure the finish, sending the Lions home as the first regular-season visitor to lose in the building.

What's next

The win pushes Buffalo to 2-0 as the Bills continue their pursuit of a return trip to the AFC Championship picture, while Detroit drops to 1-1 and heads home to regroup. Highmark Stadium's second home date arrives in two weeks, giving Buffalo another chance to prove Thursday's electric debut was the new normal rather than a one-night show.