DaQuan Jones and Rodger Saffold are going to feel a little different than anyone else in the Buffalo Bills locker room ahead of facing the Tennessee Titans.
On Monday, Buffalo welcomes their former team to Orchard Park.
Both of them are handing their feelings in different ways.
Saffold feels a bit more personal about it.
Not only did he sign with the Bills after spending the past three years with the Titans, the way the first two weeks of the schedule lined up–how could he feel any different?
Tennessee is the team he earned his Pro Bowl status with. The Los Angles Rams is the team that draft him. That’s how his Buffalo career begins.
“Kind of like–(the schedule) was almost built for me. Back-to-back like that,” Saffold told the Bills radio show.
Also signing in Buffalo this spring, Jones spent 2021 with the Carolina Panthers. But from 2014 to 2020, he was in Tennessee.
Despite that, Jones is trying to be on the opposite end of the spectrum.
“I’m not really a sentimental guy,” told the team’s website. “My wife brings it up to me all the time just about Tennessee. I’m like, ‘Hey! Don’t overthink it. It’s not that big of a deal.’ So, people let me know what kind of game it is, and what kind of game it’s gonna be. But I’m just a mental guy… In my mind, I’m going to do what I’ve been doing.”
While perhaps not the flashiest of players on Buffalo’s roster, both Jones and Saffold will play key parts against the Titans.
Jones will anchor the middle of a defensive front that’s trying to slow down All-Pro running back Derrick Henry.
Saffold will be part of an offensive line attempting to contain defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons.
Plus, because both know the Titans on a very close level, they’re all too familiar what their opponents are capable of. Regardless of what their own feelings are, this pair will be taking Buffalo’s upcoming opponent seriously.
“Because I have so much respect for those guys, because I know the identity of the other team, because I know how these guys play, that’s all the motivation I need,” Saffold said.
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