The blowout Buffalo Bills are back.
After starting out the season with two big wins, the Bills had a tough couple of weeks… but on Sunday, they got back to total domination.
After stomping the Pittsburgh Steelers 38-3 in Week 5 with a first half that saw Josh Allen throw for over 300-yards and Buffalo put up 31-points, the team was asked how they were able to stay focused and keep their foot on the gas.
“That’s all we talk about is mindset,” Bills linebacker, Von Miller, told the media after the game. “Not blinking. You can’t blink in a fight. When we’re down by 17-points, don’t blink. Lets build brick by brick to get back into the game. If we’re up 21-points, lets not blink. Lets keep this lead and keep pushing.”
While it’s easy to say those things retrospectively, Miller explained the Bills took some inspiration from one of the greatest to ever do it in another sport.
“We like to go fast,” Miller continued. “We like to do what we do on defense. Josh does what he does on offense and I feel like mindset is really what separates good teams from other good teams. And we came into this mindset with a killer instinct… the mindset of domination. Talk about domination, we watch Kobe and we saw his mindset about domination, starting games off, and that’s all we try to do. Try to take it one play at a time and have that mindset of domination.”
The defense was certainly dominate at times, holding Pittsburgh to only three points, sacking Steelers’ quarterback Kenny Pickett three times and taking the ball away once on an interception… as is often the case in today’s NFL, the offense took center stage.
Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who finished the day with eight catches for 102-yards and a touchdown, discussed staying on trade.
“Ya, like as far as offensively,” Diggs said during his postgame press conference. “Defensively, Von does a great job of keeping those guys going, like that don’t blink mentality. Like, we don’t stop good, bad or indifferent, we just gonna keep going. And attributed to the offense, damn sure some carryover, especially with our guys trying to preach positive energy and pushing that into the Universe. When good things happen, we’re happy. When bad things happen we’re like, ‘alright, we’ll figure it out. We’ll make a way.'”
While keeping your eye on the prize sounds like something a coaching staff might be responsible for Bills head coach Sean McDermott clarified it starts with the guys on the field.
“100% player driven. Ya, 100% player driven,” McDermott said during his postgame availability. “It’s gotta start with the leaders in the locker room. In Von and the players I’ve mentioned. Josh, our captain group and many more doing a really good job of leading that. So I think that’s a good thread in our DNA.”
After today’s win, the Bills are now 4-1 and alone atop the division going into an epic showdown with their recent rivals in the Kansas City Chiefs.
While 4-1 is a record that most teams would be proud of, more importantly the team has showed they can win in a variety of ways. Coming from behind or holding onto a big lead.
If you can manage to do that long-term throughout a season, you will be awfully hard to stop.
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