Week 1 of any NFL season is a long time coming.
Meaningful football hasn鈥檛 been played since February, giving fans, coaches and players more than enough time 鈥 too much, even 鈥 to prepare for the following season opener.
For the Buffalo Bills, those have not gone particularly well recently.
The team is 5-3 under head coach Sean McDermott in Week 1, but just 2-2 over the past four years. Considering the team is 48-19 overall in the regular season over that time, their relative lack of success in Week 1 is a bit of a head-scratcher.
Quarterback Josh Allen and the Bills were able to get by the Cardinals in Week 1 last season, but it was far from a dominant performance.
鈥淚 think they鈥檙e all different,鈥 McDermott said Wednesday as the team opened its practice week. 鈥淚 know this: The season isn鈥檛 decided in Week 1, so whether you win those or you come out on the short end, I think it鈥檚 how you handle that Week 1 performance, good or bad, and what you do as a team going forward and how the team comes together. That鈥檚, to me, a sign of a good team is a team that gets better through the year 鈥 whether you win Week 1 or you don鈥檛.鈥
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The Bills held on for a 34-28 victory in the season opener last year at Highmark Stadium. In 2023, the team lost an ugly, 22-16 game against the Jets at MetLife Stadium 鈥 to backup quarterback Zach Wilson. The Bills鈥 best performance in a season opener came in 2022, when they went on the road to destroy the defending Super Bowl-champion Los Angeles Rams, 31-10. The year prior to that, however, the Bills dropped a dud, 23-16, against Pittsburgh at Highmark Stadium.
鈥淚 think the first and foremost thing is trying to do too much,鈥 quarterback Josh Allen said of those uneven efforts. 鈥淭rying to play hero ball, maybe, too early. Over the years, just finding out: Let the game come to us. Especially myself. Throwing check downs early and moving the sticks, just worrying about the play at hand and not the entire drive.鈥
Allen chalked some of it up to natural adrenaline that comes from Week 1.
鈥淭here is always an added extra bit of juice every first game of the year. I鈥檒l be the first one to admit it, it doesn鈥檛 matter who we鈥檙e playing, that first game 鈥 there鈥檚 something special about it,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the emotion that鈥檚 in the entire stadium.鈥
Take that normal level of emotion and multiply it by, oh, 100 on Sunday. The final home opener in the current Highmark Stadium against a Baltimore Ravens team expected to compete with the Bills for AFC playoff positioning guarantees it. And, oh yeah, it鈥檚 a Sunday Night Football game, giving Bills Mafia plenty of time to start the tailgates early.
鈥淚 think fans are going to feel that and give us the juice that we need to try to perform the best that we can,鈥 Allen said.
Part of what makes Sunday鈥檚 game even more compelling 鈥 beyond the strength of both teams 鈥 is the fact the Ravens鈥 last game came on the same field in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know every year when you open, the unknowns, what plays they put in and what plays maybe we put in and personnel has changed a little bit, although I would say they鈥檙e a strong team,鈥 McDermott said. 鈥淭hey seem to add every year to their core, which has been very talented and full of playmakers and guys who create issues. They鈥檝e done a good job with their draft year to year and added some help in free agency from a veteran standpoint.鈥
In an expected close game, special teams sometimes can be a separator. That鈥檚 one area of the game the Bills have struggled in recent season openers. In 2021, the Steelers returned a blocked punt for a touchdown. In 2023, the Jets returned a punt for a touchdown in overtime to win. Last year, the Cardinals returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
鈥淚 think what Sean talks about a lot is these first four games are really decided by fundamentals and execution, taking the ball away and taking care of the ball,鈥 middle linebacker Terrel Bernard said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really been our focus and our mindset. This is the first time that we鈥檙e going to be out there for a full 60 minutes together in Highmark Stadium with the fans, with the crowd noise, with all that stuff. So communication is going to be of the utmost importance.鈥
The Bills took a conservative approach to playing their starters in the preseason. Allen did not take a single snap in any of the three games, while the rest of the team鈥檚 projected starters played sparingly, if at all. It remains to be seen if that approach will lead to an improved performance in the season opener, or if there is rust to be knocked off.
鈥淵ou have to know it鈥檚 a journey,鈥 McDermott said. 鈥淚 know, just overall, you can never get too high or get too low. It鈥檚 about how you start a season and how that team, over the course of time, comes together through the highs and lows of the journey that are going to happen.鈥
That is true. A win Sunday night would certainly be a high. The Bills鈥 ultimate goal in the regular season should be to secure the No. 1 playoff seed, something they鈥檝e never done under McDermott.
A head-to-head win over the Ravens, giving the Bills that tiebreaker, would be a great first step in that direction.
