The 2026 season is life or death for the Bills, according to star offensive tackle Dion Dawkins.
The longtime Bill joined “Good Morning Football” on Thursday to talk about next season, comparing it to the climax of a movie.
“It’s time. I’m telling you, man, it’s kill or be killed, and we’re not playing around,” Dawkins said. “We are not playing around with nobody.”
Dawkins will play under a new head coach for the first time since he joined the Bills in 2017.
Sean McDermott was previously at the helm in Buffalo, but was fired after the team lost to the Broncos in the playoffs.
Under McDermott, the Bills were always close, making the AFC Championship twice, but were unable to reach a Super Bowl.
“It honestly feels like if you’re watching a movie, you’re getting to the climax of a movie, right?” Dawkins said. “The movie starts off one way, and then all of a sudden, something happens, a drastic thing happens where the castle kinda gets a little shaky.
“Now we’ve got a new guy that’s holding that torch, and we all just have to say, ‘Ahoo, ahoo,’ just like the ‘300’ soldiers, right?”
In the analogy, Joe Brady is the new torch holder after he signed a five-year deal with the Bills to be their next head coach.
Brady previously worked as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator, after he was promoted because of a promising showing as interim offensive coordinator in the final nine games of the 2023 season.
He was hired as the Bills quarterbacks coach in 2022, overseeing the development of Josh Allen.
On Allen, Dawkins said he doesn’t have any expectations because he doesn’t want to put any added pressure on him.
“He understands what the mindset is and what we all expect, just like we know what Josh expects from us, as well, to help him get there,” Dawkins said.
“When it comes down to it, Josh is Josh, and he’s gonna be Josh. He’s No. 1 for a reason, so I don’t think that we need any more expectations than we already have.”
The offensive lineman added that he thinks the pieces around Allen, including himself, have to improve this year.
