Bills 29, Panthers 14: Allen's Two Series Open Highmark

August 15, 2026 - Orchard Park - New stadium. New coach. Same Josh Allen.

The Buffalo Bills opened Highmark Stadium with a 29-14 win over the Carolina Panthers. Allen needed two series: 6-of-8, 111 yards, a 9-yard touchdown to Keon Coleman. Bryce Young and Carolina's first unit went three-and-out three times. Final quarter line: Carolina 0-7-0-7, Buffalo 10-3-3-13.

Joe Brady's first home night as head coach did not ask Allen to stay late. It asked him to look like Allen for a half hour. He did.

Allen, Shakir, Moore, Coleman

First snap from scrimmage: play-action, 21 yards to Khalil Shakir. The drive ended with Tyler Bass from 33. 3-0.

Second series, DJ Moore kept it alive. Third-and-15, 18 yards along the sideline. Allen scrambled, threw across his body, found Coleman open in the middle of the end zone. 10-0 after the kick. Allen was done.

Moore finished with three catches for 61 yards, then came up limping after a catch. Trainers checked his right foot and lower leg. He put the shoe back on, but the starters were finished anyway. Brady said Moore told him on the sideline he was "good to go." Moore spent the second half in shorts and running shoes and did not talk to reporters.

"I'm going to go out and make an assumption that it's going to be awesome to do that every single game, is getting him the ball early and often," Allen said of Moore. Shakir called the third-and-15 conversion "football art."

Young stalls, Pickett and Trask score late

Young sat out Carolina's Hall of Fame win over Arizona. Saturday was his first look of the summer, and it was short. Three series, 11 yards combined, three three-and-outs. Line: 3-of-5, 18 yards. Both projected starting tackles (Ickey Ekwonu, knee; Taylor Moton, blood clot/lung) were out. Starting guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis sat too.

"Obviously not the start we wanted, not the drives we wanted," Young said. "A lot of moving parts."

Kenny Pickett closed the half with a 6-yard touchdown to Ja'Seem Reed and finished 16-of-19 for 92 yards across three drives spanning the break. Kyle Trask hit John Metchie from 9 yards in the final minute. Buffalo's other touchdowns were fourth-quarter runs from Ian Wheeler and Frank Gore Jr., four minutes apart. Bass was 3-of-4 on the night after missing from 45.

AthX Engine, if this were a regular-season card

Apply the AthX Engine NFL scoring table to the box, not a live weekly leaderboard.

Allen's 111 pass yards and touchdown is about 15 quarterback fantasy points. Coleman's 9-yard scoring catch alone is about 9 receiver points before the rest of his night. Moore's 61 yards on three catches is about 17 without a TD. Preseason lines are not live weekly boards yet. Fantasy points are not share prices.

Track Allen, Shakir, Moore, and the Bills on the marketplace.

*Sources: ESPN recap. Information only; not financial advice.*