Dion Dawkins didn’t shy away from fueling the AFC East rivalry ahead of Week 6‘s Monday Night Football matchup between the Bills and Jets.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Can’t we all just get along?
Not if you’re from the New York Jets, according to the Buffalo Bills left tackle, Dion Dawkins.
Dawkins hasn’t been shy about expressing his feelings toward the Jets, a rivalry that has fanned the flames in the past.
The plan, at least from Dawkins’ perspective, is to keep the rivalry going when the AFC East rivals meet in New Jersey on “Monday Night Football” (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN Deportes).
The Bills’ starting left tackle was asked Thursday where that mentality comes from against the Jets. While he first noted that sharing a division made battles more intense, he also explained why the Jets create so much fire.
“The guys talk, we talk and we’re entertainers and I’m certainly an entertainer. So I’m going to entertain him. And why not? I like the tension and that’s what I do,” Dawkins said. “Showman is going to cause some tension because that’s what it is. Who wants to play when, when everyone’s friends? Let’s try hard.
“Let’s see what it’s like when it’s a rivalry, so when we’re done playing, the world will talk about this forever. Since the Jets never liked the Bills and the Bills never liked the Jets, it was a great matchup. That’s all, create the narrative that we want and that I want and go after it, we will come out strong, I’m sure we will manage to do it.”
Dawkins said he wanted the linebacker Jermaine Johnsonwho is on injured reserve, will play for “great competition,” as he likes to say, and he prayed for his speedy recovery.
Since Sean McDermott became Buffalo’s head coach in 2017, the Bills have gone 9-5 against the Jets. The teams have split the season series the past two years, including the Jets’ Week 1 victory on “Monday Night Football” last year with a punt return in overtime, the same game in which the quarterback Aaron Rodgers He suffered a torn Achilles tendon that ended his season.
The Bills have lost the last two games at MetLife Stadium. In the games that the quarterback Josh Allen has started, the Bills are 7-4 against the Jets.
“I would say over the years of playing the Jets over and over again, twice a year, as I mentioned, the tension is extremely high,” Dawkins noted.
The eight-year veteran has talked about the Jets before. In February, Dawkins specifically mentioned Jets defensive tackle Michael Clemons during an appearance on VladTV, where he expressed his disdain for their AFC East rival.
“I hate y’all, bro… When it comes to sports, there are people who play sports because they love it. And then there are people who play sports just to try to be cool,” Dawkins said. “I feel like they play this sport to try to be cool. They’re a bunch of guys who just want to take pictures on Instagram. That’s crazy.”
He noted that he liked the defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.
He also called Jets players “very disrespectful” after a postgame altercation following the Bills’ win at Orchard Park last season.
There will be a lot at stake. The Jets (2-3) will play their first game since head coach Robert Saleh was fired, while the Bills (3-2) will look to avoid the team’s first three-game losing streak since 2018.
