Bills starter argues team is being counted out this season

The Buffalo Bills lost some pretty significant members of their team this offseason when Stefon Diggs, Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde either left in free agency or were traded.

While that certainly puts a dent in their roster, they should still have enough talent and key pieces in place — including the most important piece — to be one of the best teams in the AFC.

But if there is one thing professional athletes love doing, it is painting themselves into an "us against the world" corner for that extra added layer of motivation, even if they have to manufacture it themselves.

That is kind of what starting tackle Dion Dawkins did on Thursday when he made the claim on NFL Network that the team is being overlooked going into the season.

"Everybody is counting us out, which I'm cool with," Dawkins said. "We can fly underneath that radar and hit everybody with uppercuts. I'm perfectly fine with it, but I'm gonna support those guys from a distance. It's definitely different, and I'm still adjusting to it. I'm trying to answer it, but I'm just adjusting to it every day, because it is different, man. It really is."

Even though the Bills have some key players to replace, there is nothing about them that is under the radar, and they remain betting favorites to win the AFC East again with most sportsbooks.

They have won at least 10 games five years in a row, won the division four years in a row and, no matter what they lost this offseason, they have the single most important position secured that should guarantee them being a Super Bowl contender: quarterback.

Not only is their quarterback spot secured, they have one of the best players in the league in Josh Allen manning that spot.

The reality is that as long as your team has a player like Allen as the focal point of its offense, you are never, ever going to be overlooked or counted out. If you have the quarterback, you are a contender, and everybody knows about you.

The Bills have the quarterback. Everything else falls into place around that.