A new season means new chances to rewrite the record books. And Week 1 is as good a place as any to get started. So, sharpen your pencils, find your erasers, and let’s get ready to mark up the books.
Each week, we’ll open the Buffalo Record Book to four chapters: Sure Things, A Good Bet, Not Impossible, and Superhuman. Some weeks, we will have an entry in every chapter. Other weeks, we may be more selective. Either way, we’ll know which numbers to watch as this version of the Buffalo Bills writes its story.
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WEEK 1 – September 13, 2026
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Chapter 1: Sure Things
We have just one entry here
• Josh Allen’s consecutive-start streak: Allen has started 122 straight regular-season games. When he takes the field Sunday, he will have 123. I know, I impressed you with my math skills there.
But here’s why that number matters. Allen already owns the league’s longest streak among active starting quarterbacks. Joe Flacco, who is now serving as Joe Burrow’s understudy, has 122 straight regular season starts (a streak that ended in 2015 due to a knee injury).
Number 123 will move Allen into sole possession of eighth place among NFL quarterbacks. Ever.
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Chapter 2: A Good Bet
Nothing here this week. It’s too early in the season for me to call something a good bet, watch your parlay fall apart, and find myself at the center of a Bills Mafia witch hunt by Sunday night.
We’ll fill this chapter when the numbers earn it.
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Chapter 3: Not Impossible
• Dawson Knox receptions: Knox needs just three catches to go from 229 to 232 (again, I’m good at math). That higher number would move him past wide receiver Cole Beasley on the Bills’ all-time receptions list and slide the tight end into 15th place Sunday.
• Dawson Knox touchdown catches: Our next entry is Knox again. Should Allen find him in the end zone Sunday, the Buffalo tight end would tie fan-favorite former wide receiver Stevie Johnson with 28 touchdown catches. If he were to snag a second touchdown catch, his 29th, he would find himself tied with Jerry Butler at seventh all-time on the Bills’ list of touchdown catches. But that’s not so serious.
• Khalil Shakir receptions: Next up is the human pinball wizard himself: Khalil Shakir. The Bills wide receiver has bounced, bopped, and weaved his way down the football field for four years, so, obviously, we should expect to find his name scattered throughout the record book.
This entry could move him into 17th place in franchise history. Shakir enters the season with 197 catches. Eight more—that’s 205 for those of you keeping up with my math skills—and he would pass Robert Woods and Jay Riemersma.
• Josh Allen’s dual-threat record: Allen’s entry comes with a wink because the record is already his. He’s just trying to put it out of reach for every other human.
It’s his dual-threat record. The Buffalo quarterback has scored both a passing and a rushing touchdown in the same game 50 times, the most in NFL history. Week after week, he’ll have another chance to add to that number.
Or so we hope.
• Joe Brady’s Bills debut: We’re putting this one under Not Impossible because calling it anything stronger feels like a good way to upset the football gods. With a win in his regular-season debut, Joe Brady would become the fourth head coach in franchise history to win his first game with the Bills. He would join Marv Levy, Rex Ryan, and Sean McDermott.
• Josh Allen keeps chasing running backs: Two rushing touchdowns would bring Allen’s career total to 81 and move him into a tie with Frank Gore and Ottis Anderson for 20th on the NFL’s all-time list. Which is, obviously, a completely normal place to find a quarterback.
• Bradley Chubb’s road to 50: Chubb arrives in Buffalo with 48 career sacks. Two against Houston would get the new Bills captain to 50—and give him a pretty memorable way to introduce himself in his first regular-season game wearing red, white, and blue.
• Josh Allen on opening day: Allen again. Get used to it. With 300 passing yards Sunday, he would record his third 300-yard season opener and tie Jim Kelly for the most in Bills history. He would also become the first Buffalo quarterback to throw for at least 300 yards in consecutive season-opening games.
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Chapter 4: Superhuman
• James Cook rushing yards: James Cook opens the season sixth on the Bills’ all-time rushing list with 4,259 yards. He would need 187 against Houston to pass Joe Cribbs’ 4,445 and break into the top five.
That earns Cook a spot in our Superhuman chapter. Except he ran for 216 yards in a game last season, so, apparently, superhuman is something James Cook has already done.
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For now, all of these numbers stay in pencil. Sunday will tell us which ones earn ink in the Buffalo Record Book, which ones move to a different chapter, and which ones stay right where they are.
Then, when we reopen the book next week, we’ll do the math. Again.
