A lot has happened since January 4 in the world. That goes without saying due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic still hitting the United States. But Buffalo Bills safety Jordan Poyer hasn’t forget much about that date.
That was the day his team lost to the Houston Texans in the postseason, 22-19, in overtime. Poyer chatted with reporters on Monday as the team’s training camp slowly gets underway. COVID-19 safety precautions are still being introduced to NFL teams and it’s going to be some time before Poyer and his teammates get in full-blown practices.
But even before they do, Poyer said motivation is not something his team will be in search of. While so much has changed since that Texans loss, the safety said the Bills haven’t lost track of that feeling upon losing that game.
“It’s a matter of us continuing to build off of what we’ve built the last two, three, years here,” Poyer told reporters.” We obviously still have that bad taste in our mouth from the Houston game and that should be enough to fuel us coming into this season and understanding what we need to do to get over that hump.”
From the sounds of it, Poyer is echoing exactly what his higher ups have said just a day prior. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane both held their training camp opening press conference on Sunday and the two had at least one similar mindset: No excuses.
“I think at the end of the day, we still have to hold ourselves to a high standard. Sean and I are not going to sit here and say, ‘Oh, it was the COVID year, we didn’t make the playoffs, so be it.’ Nothing’s changed here,” Beane said. “It’s our job to get this roster ready to go when we open up against the Jets.”
As we hear from more players throughout training camp via video interviews for safety reasons, expect to hear that same mantra over and over. McDermott’s done one thing perhaps better than almost anything during his tenure as the Bills head coach, he’s built a strong team comradery, otherwise known as a culture. And to the coach’s credit, having exactly that might be twice as important with a pandemic going on which has changed everyone’s life inside One Bills Drive.
Along with the mindset Poyer discussed, he also knows the reality of the roster he’s on. It’s the third season for the team leaders on his squad. Big things are usually expected from that year in a player’s career, even more so if you’re a quarterback selected in the first round of a draft, like Josh Allen.
Poyer mentioned that along with this fuel from Houston the Bills have pushing them, expectations of big seasons from the likes of Allen and even linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, will also be factors that push Buffalo over the edge in 2020, as compared to last year when the Bills lost quickly in the postseason.
“For one, this year is… a lot of us have been together for multiple years now. Josh (Allen) going into his third year, Mane (Tremaine Edmunds) going into his third year, just guys have been in this system for a little while now.They know the expectations Sean puts on us,” Poyer said.
Knowing expectations and exceeding them are certainly two different things. But to Poyer’s point, on paper, the Bills haven’t had the stars align like they are for the team prior to a season in a long, long time.
[lawrence-related id=67473,67490,67431,67408]