Going into the Bills nationally televised opening season game vs. the Rams, expectations could not have been higher.
The nearly unanimous Super Bowl favorites took the moment in stride, throttling the Rams, 31-10 in their own house.
Following the win, the Bills were asked if a blowout victory in week 1 would only add to the pressure surrounding the team moving forward.
No, we needed to win a game,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen told the media. “We needed to put our best foot forward and try to execute the way we know we can execute and just try to win a game, that’s all. 1-0 each week is our mindset. Playoff caliber. That’s what we’re trying to do, that’s what Coach McDermott preaches. That’s what our mindset and mentality is every time we step in our facility is, ‘what can we do to allow ourselves the opportunity to go 1-0 this week?'”
Bills head coach Sean McDermott was asked if the team felt they needed to make a statement opening night vs. the defending Super Bowl champs given what is expected of his squad this season.
“No I just think… yes, I think they are a good team. Well coached and good players,” McDermott said during his post-game press conference. “Like I heard Josh’s comments in the hallway there, it’s just about winning one game and that’s what it was. We came together in the second half, played good complimentary football starting with the opening kickoff of the second half and there’s still some things we need to work on in terms of taking care of the football.”
While both Buffalo’s QB and coach said all the right things regarding keeping calm, cool and collected, one of the newest (and flashiest) additions to the Bills roster was a bit more transparent with his takeaway from the Week 1 victory.
“For one, we gonna make the plane do backflips on the way home tonight,” Bills linebacker Von Miller told reporters after the game. “We gonna celebrate this win, yes, we gonna do that. Cause like I said, it’s a humbling league. You have to celebrate wins, you just have to do it. Then you gotta go back to the lab tomorrow, scratch this up and look at all the things we did well and all the things we didn’t do well and then move forward.”
Being one of the players on the Bills roster to actually have a Super Bowl ring, Miller spoke from experience on how to stay focused after big wins even when pressure is mounting.
“You know, we got great leadership in this locker room,” Miller continued. “We got great coaches. We’re not gonna let the success of this game… let our guard down or whatever that may be. We got a great group of guys. We enjoy winning and we enjoy working. We’re gonna celebrate tonight… I said that about five times. We gonna celebrate tonight and have fun on the plane ride home and then gonna digest this game and then we gonna move forward to a great Tennessee Titans team on Monday night.”
While the Bills have to feel good about their game one performance, Von Miller is dead on in acknowledging the Bills will have a big test coming up right away in Week 2. The Bills have struggled the last couple of seasons vs. the Titans in primetime and a Monday night showdown in Orchard Park provides no opportunity to take their foot off the pedal.
If the Bills do manage to win and improve to 2-0, you can bet questions about expectations and pressure will continue… but if Thursday night was any indication, the Bills appear more than ready to embrace it.
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