PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen was reminded how much additional scrutiny the Buffalo Bills are under this summer upon reaching the interview tent and noticing the HBO series “Hard Knocks” camera crew ready to start filming.
“You guys are everywhere,” the quarterback said with a smile as the Bills opened training camp in at St. John Fisher University on Wednesday.
No stranger to the spotlight, the reigning NFL MVP, who married Hollywood star Hailee Steinfeld in May and signed one of the league’s richest contracts in March, joked being mindful of his language while being mic’d up during the 90-minute practice.
“Yeah, I tried not to cuss as much,” Allen said. “Just making sure that anything that I say my mom would be OK with.”
Allen’s trying to keep things rated PG.
And the Bills are welcoming the opportunity to pull back the curtain and reveal whatever the cameras might capture — warts and all — as insight into what’s allowed the franchise to flourish entering its ninth season under coach Sean McDermott and GM Brandon Beane.
“We have nothing to hide. We are who we are,” said McDermott, who ended the team’s 17-season playoff drought in his first year in 2017, and guided Buffalo to six consecutive playoff appearances and win five straight AFC East titles.
Just don’t call the Bills’ five-week “Hard Knocks” series run opening on Aug. 5 a distraction.
“The increased noise, if you will, is maybe in some ways good practice for us to really hone in and get our focus where it needs to be,” McDermott said.
The series trailer HBO released Wednesday shows a confident, determined team with a clip of Allen saying: “We’re going to do whatever we can do bring a Lombardi back here to western New York.”