The Buffalo Bills made NFL history Thursday with their 24-10 win over the New England Patriots. With the win, the Bills accomplished TWO feats that had never been done before.
First, the win over the Patriots gave the Bills three wins on Thursday this season, which is the most in NFL history. Here’s a quick look at how the Bills have fared on Thursday nights this season:
- Week 1: Bills 31-10 on Rams. The Bills were considered Super Bowl favorites this offseason and they showed why in this game. Josh Allen threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns as the Bills rode to a win over the Rams.
- Week 12: Lions Bills 28-25. It was the only of their Thursday wins that was actually close. With the game tied at 25 with just 23 seconds left, Allen drove the Bills downfield and Tyler Bass ended up hitting the game-winner from 45 yards.
- Week 13: Patriots Bills 24-10. The Bills absolutely dominated this game from start to finish. The Patriots couldn’t move the ball on the Bills’ defense and Buffalo’s offense did just enough to make sure this game didn’t end on the wire.
Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, only four teams have played three Thursday games in a season. Other teams lucky enough to win three Thursday games were the 2000 Lions, 2019 Bears and 2021 Cowboys.
Of those three teams, the Lions are actually the closest to going 3-0. Detroit won its first two games Thursday before falling to the Vikings 24-17. As for the Bears, they also went 2-1, but they lost their Thursday night opener to the Packers, so they never had a chance to go 3-0. For the Cowboys, they went 1-2, which included Thursday night’s opener loss to the Buccaneers, 31-29.
As for the other record the Bills broke, they became the first team in NFL history to beat four former Super Bowl-winning head coaches on the road in a single season (via OptaStats). Not only did they beat six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick on Thursday, they also beat the Rams (Sean McVay), Ravens (John Harbaugh) and Chiefs (Andy Reid) this season.
Many teams have been lucky enough to set this record, but none have been able to do so. The Broncos will also have a chance to tie the record, but it seems unlikely they can pull it off. Denver has already beaten a Super Bowl-winning coach on the road (Doug Pederson) this season and they still have road games left against Harbaugh (Week 13), McVay (Week 16) and Reid (Week 17).
The Raiders also had a chance to beat four Super Bowl-winning coaches on the road this year, but they’re only 1-2 with a game to play against a Super Bowl-winning coach.
