Joe Brady's Decision Allows Bills' Players Important Stadium Opportunity before TNF Opener

The Buffalo Bills practiced on Tuesday where they'll play on Thursday.

With the Bills set to host the Detroit Lions for the inaugural Highmark Stadium game on September 17, the players had the chance to test out the newly-placed sod in the $2.2 billion venue.

Rather than a day's work on the Orchard Park practice fields or inside the training center, Buffalo held a light stadium practice two days prior to the highly-anticipated Thursday Night Football affair.

"We're just walking and stuff like that and not getting a full practice, but I thought it was just good for the guys to get in here one more time," said Bills' first-year head coach Joe Brady. "There's some guys that haven't been in the stadium before that. There's guys that, Greg Dortch, we played him last week, he's never been in here."

The Bills played their August 27 preseason finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the stadium, but that was before both Dortch and the new grass arrived.

Bills' decision to re-sod

The organization installed custom-grown Kentucky blue grass turf nearly one year ago, but the thinner cut apparently never truly took hold.

With a number of internal and external experts examining the field around that aforementioned exhibition game, the Bills determined that a replacement was needed in time for the Week 2 regular season home opener against the Detroit Lions.

"It was playable, it was safe, it passed inspection, but you can still change it because you want something better," said Bills' Chief Business Officer Pete Guelli.

Highmark Stadium grass — A clump of grass dug up after a play in the second half gets tamped down by an employee during a break in the play at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park on Aug. 27, 2026.Field | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Being that Buffalo will host three games in three consecutive weeks, it was important to upgrade the grass as quickly as possible. Crews installed a thicker cut of new Kentucky blue grass on and around September 5.

"There'll be no concerns come Thursday, and our guys are excited just to be on grass," said Brady.

Franchise quarterback Josh Allen, who has previously stated his preference of playing on a natural surface, sounded pleased when addressing reporters on Tuesday after practice.

"I'm very happy and fortunate that our team, our ownership went out there and made it as good as possible and did the switch for us," said Allen.

Bills' players react to new grass

It's the one new stadium element that all players seem to universally agree on. A natural grass playing surface is superior to and safer than the alternatives.

We wrote about starting right tackle Spencer Brown's opinion on the issue more than one year ago.

As for the new grass, Allen gives the change a thumbs up.

"The footing seemed better. It seemed more stable, more solid," said Allen.

Inside linebacker Dorian Williams also provided a positive assessment from what he experienced on Tuesday.

"It felt great when we was out there today. It felt great, looked great. I think we'll be alright," said Williams.

Veteran edge rusher Bradley Chubb chose to test out his game cleats ahead of time.

"It felt good. It felt real good. Footing was good. Wore the cleats I was gonna wear in the game out there and didn't have any problems. I'm excited to get to it on Thursday," said Chubb.

Shifty wide receiver Khalil Shakir weighed in with a summary of the issue that opened the Bills' organization up to criticism two weeks ago.

"They did an awesome job," said Shakir. "I'm not a grass person, so I don't know what they did to make it better, but it felt great. it's just seems a little more set. Felt good planting and cutting on it and running around on it. Obviously, the last one, there was issues in itself with that one, but this one, I think we're good."

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