Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins is not lacking confidence as his team enters training camp.
For him, this year’s training camp is different. No, not just because of all the changes via the safety precautions being taken due to the coronavirus pandemic. Dawkins said during a video interview from camp on Tuesday that teams around the NFL are gunning for the Bills, exclaiming there’s a big ol’ target on the back of his team.
“Honestly, we all know that this will be our hardest year yet because because there’s a giant target on us. It is what it is,” Dawkins said.
A “giant target” might be a bit of overkill from Dawkins. The Bills have made the postseason in recent seasons, yes, but the team is still in search of a playoff win. But Dawkins certainly does have reason to be confident.
Naturally the shockwave heard around the NFL world was Tom Brady leaving the Patriots. That gave the Bills the leg up in the division. Buffalo was tabbed the AFC East favorite. But since then it’s been a back-and-forth battle between these two sides throughout the offseason in terms of who’s the favorite. Events such as the draft, Cam Newton signing with the Pats and all their opting-out players have shifted things.
We’ll see on opening day who really has the edge between the Bills and Patriots in the AFC East, but the first head-to-head battle between Buffalo and New England is still a ways away. That’ll be in Week 8.
Still, Dawkins kept things into context. That’s all talk, nothing more. The Bills have plenty of people to still prove wrong and he knows that.
“We have a swagger, but we still have that underdog mentality [this season]. We honestly don’t care about any of that hype. We know what we have to do, day in and day out,” Dawkins said.
That underdog, hard working mentality that Dawkins mentioned sounds awfully familiar as well. That’s the one the Bills have touted since head coach Sean McDermott took over in 2017. The same message was sent by Bills quarterback Josh Allen on Monday, too. Success will only come if the work is put in.
“We got guys coming in ready to work. We understand that there’s going to be a lot of different obstacles this year that teams have likely never faced, but I feel confident with the guys we got in the locker and our coaching staff that we’re going to be led in the right direction and we’re going to do things the right way on and off the field,” Allen said.
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