It’s the moment of truth for the Bills today as they step out onto Arrowhead Field to square off against the Chiefs and September 11 is the perfect day to show people what they can do as a team.
While today marks a day of great tragedy, it is also represents a day of great rebuilding and triumph. Those are two things the Bills have been focusing on since last season.
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick says he and the rest of the team are really excited about the season opener. “It’s hard not to be [excited] for the beginning of the season. Right now there’s so much optimism and so much hope. We really think we have a good team. We think we improved a lot from last year. We’re looking forward to showing everybody that we’re a better team this year.”
Being the un-questioned starter going into the season is a big deal to Fitzpatrick but he doesn’t view today’s game any different than the starts he had last year. On winning tomorrow he says, “I think there might be a little added incentive because of the history there, not necessarily because of the game last year but a lot of our coaches being familiar with them and being over in Kansas City.”
Head Coach Chan Gailey says, “I want to win them all. When you’ve been somewhere and they’ve fired you, if you said it didn’t mean a little bit more then you’d be lying. I want to win them all. This is just one of 16. I want to be 1-0 when this is over.”
That’s something Nick Barnett believes is in the cards. “Really we only have one thing to prove and that is to prove it to ourselves. We have to prove to ourselves that we can stop the run and we can be a good defense and team. Once we prove to ourselves then all of you guys can jump on board too. I know you guys are a little scared to jump on board or on this train but I had a coach once that said if you don’t jump on this train then you are going to get left behind and that’s what our plan is, we are going to take off regardless of who believes in us or not as long as we believe in ourselves the train is going to take off.”
While Buffalo is coming off four consecutive losing seasons, they have won three of the last four meetings with Kansas City.
In honor of September 11, pre-game will feature a fly over by Air Force A-10s and halftime will have a fly over by Marine F-18s. The game is hosted by Kansas City and kickoff is at 1pm.
