After back-to-back AFC East titles and an offseason that saw them add Von Miller to a deep and talented roster, the Bills have been installed as the betting favorites for Super Bowl LVII.
That means expectations will be high when they take the field in the fall and the very first game of the year will be used as a measuring stick by some. The Bills will be in Los Angeles to face the Rams in the first game of the regular season and a win would do little to deter those who are predicting big things for the Bills this fall.
According to tight end Dawson Knox, few of those people will be inside the Bills locker room. Knox was asked about the high bar the Bills have set for themselves during an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio and said the team is keeping its focus on the short term rather than the big picture.
“This time of year, everyone’s always making predictions, and trying to predict records, and who’s going to make the Super Bowl, and who might make the playoffs, and we always try to stay away from all that,” Knox said. “We always just want to focus on what’s ahead of us, and right now, it’s just getting everyone to camp healthy. Then, just starting to build that chemistry and that teamwork that comes with camp. . . . The old cliché of taking it one game at a time and not focusing on what might be five or six games down the road. Everyone’s talking about, I think, our first six or seven games are supposed to be pretty tough, but we’ve got the mentality of, ‘they have to come play us, they’ve got to deal with the Bills on their schedule.’ That’s the kind of mentality we’re taking into the season. We’re taking it one game at a time and not think too much about the opponent, and just control what we can control.”
Setting this season up as Super Bowl or bust may be overstating things a bit for a team that looks like it should remain strong for several years to come, but there’s no doubt that some will see anything short of a conference championship as a disappointment for the Bills this season.