As the 2020 postseason begins, the Bills are preparing for a matchup against the Colts on Saturday in what will be the team's first home playoff game since 1996. The Bills achieved a lot this season, but that's all behind them with the playoffs starting and it's now win or go home. With fans allowed for the game, Coach Sean McDermott knows that the team has to remain focused on the task at hand and give the fans something to cheer about.
McDermott said on WGR 550 Wednesday morning, "At the end of the day, you got to coach well, you got to play well and that's what it really comes down to … we have to stay focused on the job that we've got to do and hopefully give the fans something to cheer about."
"We know how much this means to the city of Buffalo"
Josh Allen has had a lot of time to reflect upon what happened in the 2019 Wild Card game against the Texans. He has used that to fuel him throughout this season and he has grown and matured so much as a person and a player in the past year. Allen explains how they got to this point and how the team was able to make a big leap from 2019 to 2020.
"I think it's just the guys we've brought in and how hard everybody's working," Allen said. "How much we care about our team, our brothers on the team, and our families off the field. We're not trying to let anybody down and we're here, we have a purpose and I think coach McDermott has been doing a good job of preaching that purpose to us when we're on the field. We know how much this means to the city of Buffalo and the fans here and the alum that have played here. It's a special place to play football but at the end of the day we're on the field just playing for each other."
"It all starts with trying to win our first opportunity"
Stefon Diggs brings over some postseason experience from his time in Minnesota and he knows that it's all about getting the win. This Bills team is battle-tested and has continued to overcome adversity throughout the season. Now that the team is in the playoffs, Diggs pointed out that they just have to take advantage of their opportunities and it starts this weekend.
"You get a new season, a new opportunity that we earned as a team," Diggs stated. "Throughout this season we had our ups, and we had our downs. It seemed like we grew throughout this year, we got better throughout this year, especially through our downs and with our losses. We are learning a lot from them and we're growing from them. I feel like we can carry that into the postseason as we are here now blessed with the opportunity to do something special. And it all starts with trying to win our first opportunity. The Colts have a great team, one of the more balanced teams in the NFL kind of similar to us. So, definitely gonna be a challenge for us and something that we look forward to."
"We understand this is win or go home now"
In the postseason, all the teams that made it in have a clean slate and a shot at the Lombardi Trophy. The players on the Bills roster understand that and they know that to win games they have to play complementary football. Micah Hyde touched on that and explained why they have to continue to play at a high level at all three phases.
"Oh, it's very important for all three phases," Hyde said. "Now we understand this is win or go home, so you want to be playing your best ball, but at the same time you don't want to overdo it. You don't want to stress, you know, just do what got us here, and go about your routine. If you have to watch some extra film or whatnot then possibly do that but, there should be no stress."
"They got a nice appetizer of Bills Mafia, but Saturday is going to be the real deal"
Bills rookies and first year players have not had the chance to see the roaring crowds at Bills Stadium on gameday. They got a taste of it at the airport after they won the division in Week 15, but on Saturday they are going to be able to experience a portion of the real thing. Jerry Hughes talked about what Bills Mafia means to the players and how excited he is to see them in the stands.
"They haven't got a chance to experience them in the stadium," Hughes said. "But once we won the east, we came back home, and they got a nice appetizer of Bills Mafia. The way that they greeted us once we walked off the plane, a lot of guys were saying who had been on Super Bowl teams or who had won their division that they had never experienced anything like that. We were telling them, that's our fan base, that's what they do, they bring that energy. They make you feel like you're 18-years old running off the field, getting ready to play some high school football. That's what you want to feel when you're playing a child's game, so I think these guys got a small little appetizer, but they know come Saturday is going to be the real deal."
