Tag: Diggs

What the Bills said about facing Texans WR Stefon Diggs

What the Bills said about facing Texans WR Stefon Diggs

The Buffalo Bills are preparing to face the Houston Texans in Week 5 on Sunday.

The Bills will have their hands full with a budding Texans team. They have a young up-and-coming quarterback in CJ Stroud, a rock-solid defense, and a plethora of weapons on offense to be wary of.

One of those weapons is Stefon Diggs, who is preparing to face the Bills for the first time since he was traded from Buffalo to Houston in April. He was traded along with a couple of late picks for a 2025 second-round draft pick.

Diggs spent four seasons in Buffalo from 2020-2023, and they were the best seasons of his career. In his first year with the Bills in 2020, he took the league by storm. That year, he led the league in both receptions (127) and receiving yards (1,535). He was named First Team All-Pro that year, and he made the Pro Bowl each year he was in Buffalo.

Members of the Bills sounded appreciative of the time they spent with Diggs when asked about it this week. And, Diggs showed love for his former squad and his time in Buffalo as well:

“We had some good years and some real good runs,” Diggs said this week. “Played at a very high level and built a bond with a good group of guys. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Bills head coach Sean McDermott and Diggs butted heads at times over the last few years. McDermott was quoted as saying he was “very concerned” when Diggs didn’t show for minicamp during the 2023 offseason. But, this week, McDermott chose to remember the good times and praised Diggs for his level of play:

“We’ll have our work cut out for us,” McDermott said via press conference. “Stef is playing at a high level. He was a really good player here as you guys know and he’s competitive. We respect Stef. We love Stef.”

The love-fest continued when quarterback Josh Allen spoke to the media. The Buffalo signal caller says he appreciates what Diggs did for him early in his career.

“I got a lot of love for him and I still do,” Allen said. “The things he did for me and my career and the things he did in a Buffalo Bill uniform won’t be forgotten anytime soon, especially from me.”

Through four games with the Texans, Diggs has amassed 25 catches for 233 yards and three total touchdowns. He’s shown he has more left in the tank and he fits in perfectly to form a dangerous attack in Houston’s offense.

So, the Bills aren’t very concerned with the idea of facing an old friend. What they are concerned with is preventing him and the Texans offense from getting rolling.

Bills nickel cornerback Taron Johnson is on pace to make his return from injury this week. According to PFF, Diggs has been in the slot for 126 snaps and out wide for 100 snaps. So, Johnson will see plenty of work on Diggs if he is active.

When asked what it is going to be like going against his former teammate, Johnson said, “I don’t think it’s gonna be too different. I used to go up against him every day in practice, and training camp. I treat training camp like it’s a game so it won’t be too different.”

Bills linebacker and team captain Terrel Bernard had good things to say when it was his turn to answer questions about Diggs.

“He was a really good vet,” Bernard said this week. “He never held back information of how he saw the game or how he approached the game. It was cool to be able to learn from him and be in the same locker room as him for a couple years. We’re excited to see him.”

The Bills are saying all the right things in the media this week ahead of their matchup with Diggs and the Texans. And it does seem genuine. But, when the ball is kicked off Sunday the Bills will only focus on one thing: getting back in the win column.

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Bills QB Josh Allen gives an honest answer when asked if he misses Stefon Diggs

New Texans WR Stefon Diggs was an essential part of the Buffalo Bills’ success, but Josh Allen does not miss him entering 2024.

For four seasons, new Houston Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs served as a security blanket for Josh Allen while as the Buffalo Bills’ top target.

En route to four playoff appearances and four Pro Bowl honors, Diggs averaged 111 catches for 1,343 yards and 9.25 touchdowns over 17 games per year.

That type of production is what enticed Houston to trade away valuable draft capital to acquire Diggs this offseason. It’s also an incredible amount of production Buffalo must replace if it hopes to remain an AFC contender.

While the Bills added in receivers like Curtis Samuel and Florida State’s Keon Coleman, Allen must find a way to survive a season without Mr. Consistency in Orchard Park. But when asked by reporters Wednesday if he missed Diggs any point during this summer, the Pro Bowl quarterback politely declined.

“I think Stef’s a great player, and what he brought to this team was special,” Allen said. “So, ‘miss’ is, I don’t know if I’d say ‘miss’ — he was a guy that was reliable, you could look to.”

Before fans start freaking out about Allen downplaying his relationship with Diggs, he also praised him and wished him well as the new top target for C.J. Stroud.

“He’s going to have the juice each and every day — I’m sure he’s bringing it over there in Houston,” Allen said. “So definitely, you can’t say that you don’t miss that.”

While one of the top duos in the NFL over the past four years, Allen and Diggs had dicey moments together during their final season with the AFC East champions. After a Week 1 overtime loss to the New York Jets following a season-ending injury to Aaron Rodgers, Allen reportedly yelled at Diggs for his postgame comments.

During the divisional round of the 2022 playoffs, Diggs was seen talking back to Allen on the sideline after a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Diggs was also unhappy with his role down the stretch in 2023 after starting off posting career numbers with Allen under former coordinator Ken Dorsey.

Sometimes, divorces need to happen. The issues between Allen and Diggs reached an unhealthy level inside Buffalo’s locker room.

Diggs, who has been Stroud’s No. 1 receiver throughout the early stages of training camp, looks to help the young gun flourish the same way he helped Allen become one of the league’s top passers.

He’s moved on with life and closed the chapter of his Bills era, but he’ll always remain a fan of Allen.

“Josh was and still is my guy,” Diggs said earlier this offseason. “People don’t really understand what it’s like to be out there. He really embraced me. He kind of had that Southern hospitality. We spent a lot of time together, and I probably wouldn’t be right here if it wasn’t for him. I got a lot of love for that boy.”

Allen and the Bills travel to NRG Stadium to face Diggs and the Texans on Oct. 6.

Stefon Diggs is once again ‘Mr. Reliable’ in Bills win over Chiefs

Stefon Diggs is once again ‘Mr. Reliable’ in #Bills win over #Chiefs:

The Buffalo Bills walked out of Kansas City on Sunday with a 24-20 win vs. their AFC rivals, the Chiefs. Buffalo enters their bye week with a 5-1 record, good for first in the conference.

While guys like Josh Allen, Gabe Davis and Von Miller received a lot of the attention for the knocking off the Chiefs, one reliable star showed up for the Bills down the stretch, yet again… wide receiver Stefon Diggs.

Diggs finished the day with 10 catches for 148 yards and a touchdown. More importantly when Allen needed a reliable target on the game-winning drive, Diggs, as he often is, was there.

“Yeah, just trusting him,” Allen told the media during his postgame press conference. “Just trying to move him around and get him in different spots. They were doing a good job on defense on switching up their calls… they switched it up on us quite a bit. They brought some good pressures tonight and they got home a couple times, so stuff to clean up for sure, but when you get into that point of a game you gotta trust the guys that you rock with and he is who he is for a reason, you know? And he works his tail off and does all the right things. We love him for that.”

Diggs himself asked if there is any sort of additional pressure that comes with being “the guy” in those big moments.

“I put a lot of time in as far as like my craft and what I’m trying to do, not only for my team but for myself, Diggs said after the win. “Pushing myself and challenging myself and in those moments you want the game to be on you. You want your quarterback to trust you. So it actually gives me a level of comfort and puts you… in a different space mentally that I’m out here for a purpose, I’m out here for a reason, you know what I’m saying? That he’s counting on you. And as you can see, Josh has that energy that makes you want to play, makes you want to play harder. Makes you want to get open and catch the ball for him. So it’s the opposite of feeling pressure. Because pressure is something that you’re not really ready for… Some people call it ‘good pressure,’ but for me it put me in the right mental state of he’s counting on me and I’m ready.”

While this time around the Bills came out on the right end of the big moment, it hasn’t always been the case vs. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. It’s hard to ignore that some of these games start to feel like a movie that gets replayed over and over to the horror of many Bills fans.

“Yeah, it’s crazy cause we’ve been there before,” Diggs continued. “And in those moments it seems like, not even deja vu. It’s seems like something brand new, but on the other side. Like, we’re prepared, we’ve been here before. We’ve battled through the storm multiple times, good and bad. You know sometimes it didn’t really go our way, so as far as us having the poise and having that, I guess, like energy of ‘we’ve got it.'”

While this is only the regular season and as we saw last year, that only means so much… Sunday showed, sometimes there’s a different ending to a familiar story.

A mindset that will help the Bills come playoff time when inevitably they meet their familiar foes once again. And having a guy like  Diggs there to help re-write the narrative, is all any team, quarterback and fan base can ask for.

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Notre Dame welcomes top running back target for virtual visit

Notre Dame has had tough luck recruiting the running back position in 2021 but are said to have had a productive virtual vist on Thursday.

Notre Dame has added some nice recruiting pieces in their 2021 class but are yet to land a commitment from a running back.

Logan Diggs is rated as a three-star running back from Metairie, Louisiana and currently holds 25 scholarship offers.  On Thursday he visited virtually with Notre Dame.

No commitment was made but the visit must have gone well considering Diggs decided to go with the ALL CAPS while typing “great”.

In all seriousness, it’s at least a step in the right direction.  For whatever it’s worth, 247Sports doesn’t seem to have Notre Dame as a real contender for Diggs as Arizona State, Arkansas, Michigan State, Oklahoma State and USC all receive the “warm” status in regards to his recruitment while Notre Dame gets hit with “cool”.  The Irish were later to the party than others, only having offered Diggs a scholarship on May 5.

Diggs is listed at 6-0, 195 pounds and ran for 924 yards on 165 carries at Archbishop Rummel in Louisiana last year, helping guide his team to a 13-0 record and a Louisiana Division I state championship.