Inside The Bills

Dareus: Week 1 vs. Pats is tone setting game

Bills DT Marcell Dareus like a lot of his teammates can’t wait for kickoff at 1 pm today. What’s different this time around is the coaching staff and the players have worked diligently to change their identity as a team. The first true test to back up all their efforts to do that is with results in the opener against New England.

As Dareus sees it they’ll know where they stand rather quickly.

“Everybody knows this is kind of a set the tone game, see where we’re at,” he said. “I look at the first five minutes of the game as a gut check, to see where we’re at, what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do this season. Just go to chop at the wood and try to finish creating our identity as a team and as a unit.”

Dareus said he and his teammates aren’t so concerned about who their playing, they’re more focused on how they themselves are playing. A sound game with no mistakes is their focus.