ORCHARD PARK – On a picture perfect summer Saturday afternoon, the Buffalo Bills inaugurated Highmark Stadium and the Joe Brady coaching era with a solid 29-14 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
The new-look defense could not have gotten off to a better start as it dominated the Panthers, while Josh Allen and the offense looked like it was in midseason form in the preseason opener.
Yeah, it was a good day to be Joe Brady, the youngest head coach in the NFL, checking off his first victory box.
“I was pleased how the guys offensively came out and went down the field and got points,” Brady said. “But I’d like for us to be able to finish on some of those red zone opportunities. Defense coming out with three straight three and outs was a lot of fun to see so I was pleased with that.”
We know the Buffalo offense is going to be dynamic; how could it not be with Allen at the controls, a nice upgrade at receiver with the addition of DJ Moore, and the return of NFL rushing champ James Cook.
It’s the defense that has us all wondering, but at first glance Saturday, it was impressive. For the first three defensive series, both teams had their starters on the field and all three of Carolina’s possessions went three-and-out, meaning a total of just nine plays. Jim Leonhard’s troops, working in his odd-man front, allowed Panthers quarterback Bryce Young to produce just 17 net yards of offense.
“Nothing drives me more crazy when people are like, ‘Well, it was the preseason,’” Brady said. “Like no, we’re going to compete in everything we do, the standard is the standard, and I was pleased with how those guys played.”
It would be quite a bit premature to make any sweeping judgments, but it was certainly an encouraging performance given that it’s a new scheme and everyone is still trying to figure out their roles and assignments.
As for the Buffalo offense, it was all systems go for Allen who played the first two series, completed 6 of 8 passes for 111 yards and put up two scores, his nine-yard TD pass to Keon Coleman and a 33-yard Tyler Bass field goal.
By the time the second-string units took over the game, Carolina began its fourth possession with 3:15 left in the first half trailing 13-0, having been outgained 246-17, without a first down.
It would have been four straight three-and-outs for the Buffalo defense, but a facemask penalty on safety Geno Stone gave the Panthers their initial first down, and backup QB Kenny Pickett ended up leading an 83-yard drive that ended with his six-yard TD pass to Ja’seem Reed 29 seconds before halftime.
Here are a few observations from the game:
DJ Moore was limping but is probably OK
The Allen to Moore connection, which has been cooking in practice and creating lots of excitement, looked great on the two series they played. The duo hooked up three times for 61 yards, the first of those being a 32-yard gain when Moore was wide open over the middle on a crossing route as the Panthers somehow lost track of him.
“I’m going to go out and make an assumption that it’s going to be awesome to do that every single game, to get him the ball early and often,” Allen said. “Teams are going to obviously know that, but we feel like we have other guys that we feel comfortable with. You see Khalil have the first catch today (for 21 yards), handing it off to Jimbo, with Dalton and Dawson, Keon making plays. When everything is firing, we can be two-dimensional, that’s when we feel like we’re in a good spot.”
On Moore’s last reception, an 18-yarder on the left sideline at the Panthers’ 9, Moore came down awkwardly on his right leg while being tackled by Zakee Wheatley and he limped over to the Bills bench.
“He was going to come out after that play right after that so that was the last drive for him,” Brady said. “With the medicals, I know I’m pretty vague with it in the preseason and in training camp, but when I talked to him, he said he was good to go. So we’ll see what tomorrow looks like.”
Deone Walker was a beast
The Bills’ second-year defensive tackle enjoyed a standout rookie season and he picked up where he left off as he was in on three tackles and made a sack on just nine snaps.
On the first defensive snap of the game he smothered Jonathan Brooks for no gain. On the second series, the Panthers had second-and-1 but Walker and Bradley Chubb stuffed Brooks for a loss of one yard. And on the third series, Walker’s six-yard sack of Young completed Buffalo’s third straight three-and-out.
“I felt like he was an emerging stud last year,” Brady said. “Going back and obviously watching the tape with it, he’s so mature, his size and his length and his versatility up front and in a limited role today, you felt him out on the football field.
“And then what that does for Ed Oliver, what that does for the other guys, that’s huge. Like I say all the time, we got to be able to stop the run and a guy with his size and length and the versatility with it helps that.”
Tyler Bass was fine, but he had one miss
The kicker missed all of 2025 because of sports hernia surgery, but the Bills decided not to bring in any competition in the offseason program or training camp.
He made his first field goal attempt from 33 yards in the first quarter, and he made the extra point following the Coleman touchdown. But on Buffalo’s third possession with Kyle Allen at quarterback, it died at the 26 and Bass was wide right from 44 yards.
He did make amends for that by drilling a 46-yarder later in the second quarter to give the Bills a 13-0 lead, a 29-yarder in the third to up the lead to 16-7, and he made one other extra point.
“It was good,” Brady said. “He’s going to want the one kick back, but I’ve said this before, you’re never going to see me go up to him and have to say anything. And next time we go out there, I knew he was going to make it. I was pleased to see him out on the football field kicking with us and having some confidence with it.”
The Bills have repeatedly expressed confidence in Bass and his job is not in danger, but after his replacement, Matt Prater, made 23 of 25 field goals counting the postseason last year, there’s a little bit of an expectation on Bass to be that good.
Mike Danna, Jordan Hancock stood out
Both players are battling for backup roles, Danna as an outside linebacker and Hancock as a nickel/safety, and both made strong cases.
Danna has a real fight on his hands at a position that also includes Greg Rousseau, Bradley Chubb, Michael Hoecht, TJ Parker and Javon Solomon. He began getting significant snaps in the second half and he made a pair of sacks on Pickett, the second coming on a fourth-and-7 play from the Buffalo 41 early in the fourth quarter.
Among Hancock’s four tackles were two for lost yardage. In the first half, near the Buffalo goal line, he slashed through from the slot to upend Trevor Etienne for a loss of four yards. And in the third quarter, he read a pass in the flat to Etienne perfectly and dumped him for another loss of four yards.
“When he’s on the football field, you notice him,” Brady said of Hancock. “He flies around, he makes plays. He looks like he has fun playing football, and he’s a chess piece for us. It was tough for him in the spring, he was out the entire spring and didn’t get to participate, and that’s hard to come in here and then be a part of the scheme without getting any reps. But he plays football the way you want football to be played, and it was fun to see him make some of those plays today.”
Backup QBs played competently
Signed to be Josh Allen’s backup after the departure of Mitch Trubisky, Kyle Allen hasn’t looked great in practice and it has felt like three-year practice squader Shane Buechele is neck and neck with him in the battle.
But against the Panthers, Kyle was sharp as he completed 14 of 16 passes for 108 yards. He took over for Josh early in the second quarter and directed an 11-play, 50-yard drive to Bass’ second field goal for a 13-0 lead.
Carolina possessed the ball for the first 8:23 of the third quarter before the Bills’ defense rose up to stop the drive on a fourth-down play, but that long possession might have cost Kyle some playing time.
Buechele played the rest of the game and he was 6 of 9 for 50 yards and produced three scoring drives – a Bass field goal and the others ending on TD runs by Ian Wheeler and Frank Gore Jr. which was set up by an interception by rookie Kani Walker.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills, Joe Brady have a great game on a picture-perfect day
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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By Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | USA TODAY Network
