Sports News Today: Josh Allen Christens Buffalo’s New Stadium, Dodgers Clinch NL West, Jets Suspend Hellebuyck

Friday, September 18, 2026 · Pro Sports Roundup

Welcome to your Friday edition of sports news today, where we pull together the stories that mattered most across the professional leagues over the past 24 hours. It was a big night: Josh Allen threw a five-touchdown party to open Buffalo’s brand-new stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up yet another division crown, and one of hockey’s best goaltenders was suspended by his own team on the first day of training camp. Grab a coffee — here is everything you need to know, with the numbers behind each story.

Sports News Today, Story No. 1: Josh Allen Opens New Highmark Stadium With Five Touchdowns

The Buffalo Bills could not have scripted a better housewarming. In the first official game at New Highmark Stadium, Allen accounted for five touchdowns — three through the air and two on the ground — as the Bills beat the Detroit Lions 41–31 on Thursday Night Football. Allen finished 20-of-31 for 248 passing yards and added 69 rushing yards, and according to NFL.com’s game breakdown, it was his fourth career game with three or more passing touchdowns and two or more rushing scores, a club previously occupied only by Kordell Stewart.

The tone was set immediately. Buffalo marched 85 yards on its opening possession, with Allen sneaking in from a yard out, and the Bills piled up 299 net yards in the first half to lead 27–7 at the break. Running back James Cook was over 100 yards before halftime and finished with 135 rushing yards and a touchdown. Detroit’s night started badly — Jared Goff was sacked early and fumbled twice on the Lions’ first two drives — and Jahmyr Gibbs was held to 52 yards on 16 carries, though he did catch an 11-yard scoring pass from Goff. Buffalo improves to 2–0; Detroit falls to 1–1. NBC News has the full recap.

Why it matters beyond Buffalo: the NFL’s early-season conversation has been dominated by whether television numbers are softening, a debate Sportico recently filed under “early overreactions.” A prime-time stadium opener featuring two Super Bowl contenders and a franchise quarterback at his peak is exactly the sort of night the league’s broadcast partners are paying for.

Dodgers Clinch a Fifth Straight NL West Title — and Tie a Record

The next stop in our sports news today tour is Cincinnati, where the Dodgers beat the Reds 8–2 on Thursday to clinch the National League West. Kyle Tucker did most of the damage with four hits and three RBIs, falling only a triple short of the cycle, while Justin Wrobleski opened the bullpen game with three perfect innings. Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Josue De Paula and Miguel Rojas all crossed the plate, per MLB.com.

The clinch is loaded with history. It is Los Angeles’ fifth consecutive division title, its 13th in the last 14 seasons (only the 2021 Giants interrupted the run), and its 24th division crown overall, the most in baseball since divisional play began in 1969. Most notably, it is the franchise’s 14th straight postseason appearance, tying the 1991–2005 Atlanta Braves for the longest streak in MLB history, as Yahoo Sports notes in its playoff picture. Los Angeles sits at 92–60 with nine games to play and holds a four-game lead over Atlanta for the No. 2 seed in the NL, which would bring a first-round bye and five days of rest before the Division Series. Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages are expected back before October.

The playoff picture heading into the final stretch

With the Brewers (95–57) and Dodgers now both clinched in the NL, the intrigue shifts to the wild cards. In the National League the Cubs, Phillies and Padres currently hold the three spots, with Arizona lurking 3.5 games back. In the American League, CBS Sports calls the chase for the final spot “the most muddled race in baseball”: the White Sox (77–75) are hanging on with a one-game cushion over Texas, Toronto is 1.5 back, and Cleveland leads Chicago by just half a game in the AL Central while Houston and Texas are tied atop the AL West.

Jets Suspend Connor Hellebuyck as NHL Camps Open

Hockey supplied the drama in Thursday’s sports news today. The Winnipeg Jets suspended goaltender Connor Hellebuyck after he failed to report to training camp, roughly a month after his trade request became public. The 33-year-old is coming off a 2025 season in which he swept the Hart, Vezina and William M. Jennings trophies and added an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in February. He is signed through 2030–31 at an $8.5 million cap hit under the eight-year extension he inked in October 2023, per TSN.

General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff told reporters the resolution “will be his choice,” while insisting the club will only move him for a package that reflects an elite goaltender with years of term remaining, according to league-wide camp notes and CTV News. Stuart Skinner, acquired in July, is expected to carry the net in the meantime. Hellebuyck was not the only star making news on day one: Detroit captain Dylan Larkin reported to camp despite his own trade request but cannot skate because of an upper-body injury, Minnesota’s Quinn Hughes said he feels no urgency to extend before the season, and several prominent restricted free agents — Columbus’s Adam Fantilli, Detroit’s Simon Edvinsson and Carolina’s Alexander Nikishin among them — remain unsigned.

Also in the headlines

Bill Belichick’s college experiment lost another senior figure on Thursday. Steve Belichick resigned as North Carolina’s defensive coordinator after a university investigation concluded that “certain actions demonstrated a disregard for Carolina’s values and standards of conduct,” per CBS Sports. The resignation follows general manager Michael Lombardi’s departure earlier this month; brother Brian Belichick keeps the defensive play-calling duties he assumed in August, and the 2–0 Tar Heels play on. Elsewhere in the NFL, ProFootballTalk reports the Bengals are monitoring Joe Burrow’s back ahead of Week 2, and Chicago’s Caleb Williams is one touchdown pass away from becoming just the third quarterback ever with 50 career touchdowns and fewer than 15 interceptions.

What to Watch This Weekend

The AL wild-card race gets three must-watch games right away — Kansas City at Houston, Detroit at the White Sox, and Boston at Texas — before a full weekend slate that could decide the AL Central and AL West. The NFL’s Week 2 Sunday card follows, and the NHL preseason begins in earnest. We will have the fallout from all of it in Monday’s sports news today roundup. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the games.