Stefon Diggs didn’t shy away from the significance that returning to Buffalo for the first time was going to have for him.
Diggs spent the four best seasons of his career with the Bills, making four Pro Bowls and a pair of All-Pro teams from 2020-23. But it ended poorly, with the Bills so eager to trade him away last April that they were willing to take on a historically large dead cap hit to do so.
Despite the ending, Diggs said he figured the return would be “sentimental” and “emotional.”
After Sunday night’s 23-20 win over his former team, he can add another word: Dominant.
Diggs turned back the clock and looked like the superstar that he was during his Bills days, catching 10 passes (on 12 targets) for 146 yards. He had 100 more receiving yards than any other Patriot, and no other New England pass-catcher registered more than three receptions.
In the immediate wake of the upset victory, Diggs was asked if this game was personal.
“100 percent,” Diggs told NBC’s Melissa Stark. “Obviously, I love those guys. Still got a good relationship with those guys. Got a lot of respect for ’em. But I love the game of football more. And every time I go out here, I’m trying to prove it — not only to them, but to myself.”
According to quarterback Drake Maye — who had a dynamite performance in the best win of his young career — the veteran receiver showed a little something extra all week long.
“It’s storybook,” Maye said. “Coming back here, first game, prime time. You could see it all week. He just loves football. He loves the game, and he’s got a lot in the tank left. So it’s good that he’s a Patriot.”
Diggs delivered a fiery pregame speech for his teammates, and he was locked in for a pregame interview with Stark. Diggs then walked through the back of the end zone, gazing out into the sea of white in the stands, taking an extra beat to soak in the moment. Mere minutes later, Diggs was making a catch on the first play of the game — a gain of 15, which Diggs said was his biggest of the night.
The 31-year-old knew what to expect from the vocal crowd that filled Highmark Stadium, but he claimed that roar often works to his advantage.
“It’s everything. That’s everything to me,” Diggs said. “I love football, you know, and when it gets loud, I mean, it kind of gets quiet for me. … I think when it gets super loud, just trying to hone in my details.
“I want to win every rep. It doesn’t bother me too much. They love you one day, they hate you the next, they’re gonna love you again. I spent a lot of time here. I respect the dynamic: I used to be here, I’m not here no more, but I guess I miss you too.”
While Diggs worked through several emotions for this game, he did go out of his way to address the viral meme from last season that seemed to show him glaring at his former quarterback, Josh Allen. Diggs and Allen shared some love after the game on the field, and Diggs said last year’s still shot got taken out of context.
“That’s my dog,” Diggs said of Allen. “Like, obviously, things happen, the business happens. But I spent a lot of time here, and I got a lot of love and respect for that young man. He’s a tremendous player. He’s one of the boys.
“I always wanted to speak on that photo,” Diggs continued, “because I was staring at him in a moment, because it was like, ‘Damn, that was my brother.’ … I do got a lot of love and respect for him. It kind of looked like a little side-eye, but that’s not what it was.”
Diggs helped elevate Allen to an elite level of NFL quarterbacking, and though that on-field relationship is over, he looks to be in the process of trying to do the same for Maye.
With the first prime-time opportunity to show the world — and the Buffalo organization — what he has left, Diggs made an emphatic statement on what this next chapter can look like in New England.
