Dion Dawkins

[Ann]

 

(Starts after 45 seconds of commercials) Link to podcast segment
 

Cliff notes from me:
 

● Trust the process!
● October stretch - trusting in what the coaches were preaching. The young guys need to know we do not need to go undefeated to win a super bowl or a conference.
We need to zone in on what we did, and learn from our mistakes. We need to keep growing.

● Josh Allen - after his grandmother passed away, it shows Josh is a warrior. He has a team to lead, he went out and did his thing. I cannot be more proud of the kid, and I am proud to be his left tackle.

● Josh is a caring person. He calls, sends memes, video games. I look at him as my younger brother, and I would die for him. I want to keep my QB clean, and give him the best position he can be in to succeed.

● His new contract meant the world to him. He is still learning. And with the organization, I would do anything for. They take care of family, and this is a family-like organization. Mafia for life!

● He is motivated even more with this new contract. He wants to be great, and one of "the" greats. The doubters motivated him.

● His started as a kid shoveling snow in NJ to make a dollar.  Plug for his shnowgear.com stuff Part of the proceeds go to the punt foundation

●  LOL then a small segment on a GQ war between him and Cody Ford.

 

[Nanker]

Must have been talking about Tre and his new contract. 
 

[edit] Wasn’t following. His contract. Love the Shnow line of DD merchandise. 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Nanker

[Ann]

 

I get the feeling Dion Dawkins really loves the Buffalo Bills fans:
 

</snip>
 

Hottest club in Buffalo? It’s my DMs.
 

I’m getting “thank you, Shnowman” letters. I’m getting notes of encouragement. I’m getting pictures of y’all showing off your jerseys. I’m getting videos of y’all at home watching the games. I’m getting Mafia stories. I’m getting life stories. I’m getting a bunch of wild-ass memes.
 

People truly have no idea, the amount and the quality of DMs I’ve been receiving from Bills fans this season.

True story: The other day, I got a DM from this one guy, and it’s two photos of him back-to-back. In the first photo, he’s a little kid, and the Bills have just won the AFC East. It’s 1995. And then in the second photo, he’s a grown man, and the Bills have just won the AFC East again. It’s 2020.
 

That one really hit me hard.
 

That one was just, like……. DAMN. I hear you. I feel you.
 

I get what this means.
 

Anyway — I wanted to give a quick shout-out to everyone who’s been sending me all these messages. It’s been awful, for real, to not have the #Mafia at our games..... but connecting on IG and whatnot has managed to make things a little less awful. So, thank you.
 

(And keep ’em coming!!)
 

</snip>

He's written this as Josh for MVP, but to me this is more about the turning point.
 

</snip>
 

Actually — let’s talk about this. Here’s my “Josh for MVP” case.

Everyone knows the stats. Everyone knows the record. Everyone knows the talent. I’m going to let that stuff speak for itself. But the case for Josh as MVP, in my opinion — it comes down to about a 15-day stretch around the end of November. As a matter of fact, I’ll narrow it down even further for you.

It comes down to two plays.
 

Play #1: Kyler to D-Hop, Hail Mary, six points, ballgame, goodnight.

Play #2: Josh’s personal foul against the Chargers.
 

Those aren’t typos — you read that right: a Hail Mary against us, and a personal foul. Now stay with me and I’ll explain.
 

First play, the Hail Mary, what that represents to me is just rock bottom. A few minutes earlier was one of our great plays of the season, Josh throwing a touchdown pass to Stefon to take the lead late against Arizona. Then Arizona gets the ball back and, you know, it’s what it is. They’re making some plays, moving the ball. They’re fairly close. But I’m telling you: on our sideline, as we’re watching it, nobody is thinking they’re going to score.
 

And then I’ll never forget that play.
 

D-line surges through for the almost sack..….. Kyler flushes out to his left, with Mario so close right in front of him…... Kyler freaking CHUCKS it..…. and we’re just looking at this BALL, man..…. this BALL..…. and it’s going up, and up, and up, and up..…. it’s up for so long..... like I literally remember having time to think, “Nah. There’s NO WAY he’s about to catch that......”
 

You know the rest.
 

Ooof.
 

But then after that?? Honestly — the craziest thing happened.
 

It was like it was this fork in the road, I think.
 

We saw Arizona celebrating on the field, after the Hail Mary. And it was just something about it, man. It was the way they were running around, hooting and hollering, like they’d won the damn Super Bowl. It was something about that. I think for whatever reason, that just struck this chord with us. Not because we were annoyed with them or anything. They won, they can celebrate how they want. Nah. It was more like: We looked at them. And then we looked at us. And I think we just had this moment of, Alright — hold up. If they’re fired up like they won the Super Bowl….. why aren’t we upset like we lost the Super Bowl?
 

And I think that’s when it hit us. It hit us that things are different now.
 

It hit us that this team, our team, these Buffalo Bills — we’ve moved on to a different place. Like, with all due respect to the Cardinals: I think they're in a similar spot now to where we were these last few seasons. Just trying to claw and make the playoffs with an up-and-coming roster. Whereas, for us? It’s not like that now. We’re taking the long view. Every game isn’t the Super Bowl for our team.
 

The Super Bowl is the Super Bowl for our team.
 

Or at least that’s what we’re working toward.
 

And like I said, it was this crazy outcome, this crazy thing that happened. But after we saw their celebration, I think we just kind of took a deep breath, and found some perspective about it. Like, Alright, ha — we’ll give them this one. Time to take our Bye now, and hit reset, and come back strong to fry some bigger fish. And I absolutely love that about our team. It’s like, that whole week, everyone on the outside was yappin’ in the media about this “collapse” of ours, and how we “blew” our “big chance,” and “it’s more bad luck for the Bills,” and “the AFC East is up for grabs.” Meanwhile..... we’d moved on!! We were just tuning it all out, and getting right.
 

And then the next game, we played the Chargers, and Josh f*cking sonned them by spinning the ball in their faces.
 

</snip>

[BuffaloHokie13]

Just finished reading this and was going to share. Great letter and great insight into this incredible team!

[Uncle Joe]

I did not realize he was from Rahway, New Jersey until this year. Being born in NJ myself it made me connect to the shnowman a little bit more.
IIRC, they had batting cages in Rahway in the 60s where my parents took me in my Little league days.
 

yea I know there is a state prison there as well

Edited January 5, 2021 by Uncle Joe

[Alaska Darin]

My favorite Dion Dawkins play of this season happened in the *Patriots' game.   First drive of the 3rd quarter, swing/screen pass to Diggs.   Dawkins has to run like 15 yards from his stance to try to block #31.   He can't quite get there but throws out a paw and swats him like a bear going at a bee hive.  31 looked like he had an epileptic seizure (I think Dawkins probably caught at least the bottom of his face mask).  Diggs goes for 10+ and a first down.

 

Thanks for sharing the article.  I love that level of insight and it's rare we get it.

[Koko]

What a fantastic article he wrote.

[TakeYouToTasker 2.0]

2 hours ago, Ann said:

 

I get the feeling Dion Dawkins really loves the Buffalo Bills fans:
 

</snip>
 

Hottest club in Buffalo? It’s my DMs.
 

I’m getting “thank you, Shnowman” letters. I’m getting notes of encouragement. I’m getting pictures of y’all showing off your jerseys. I’m getting videos of y’all at home watching the games. I’m getting Mafia stories. I’m getting life stories. I’m getting a bunch of wild-ass memes.
 

People truly have no idea, the amount and the quality of DMs I’ve been receiving from Bills fans this season.

True story: The other day, I got a DM from this one guy, and it’s two photos of him back-to-back. In the first photo, he’s a little kid, and the Bills have just won the AFC East. It’s 1995. And then in the second photo, he’s a grown man, and the Bills have just won the AFC East again. It’s 2020.
 

That one really hit me hard.
 

That one was just, like……. DAMN. I hear you. I feel you.
 

I get what this means.
 

Anyway — I wanted to give a quick shout-out to everyone who’s been sending me all these messages. It’s been awful, for real, to not have the #Mafia at our games..... but connecting on IG and whatnot has managed to make things a little less awful. So, thank you.
 

(And keep ’em coming!!)
 

</snip>

He's written this as Josh for MVP, but to me this is more about the turning point.
 

</snip>
 

Actually — let’s talk about this. Here’s my “Josh for MVP” case.

Everyone knows the stats. Everyone knows the record. Everyone knows the talent. I’m going to let that stuff speak for itself. But the case for Josh as MVP, in my opinion — it comes down to about a 15-day stretch around the end of November. As a matter of fact, I’ll narrow it down even further for you.

It comes down to two plays.
 

Play #1: Kyler to D-Hop, Hail Mary, six points, ballgame, goodnight.

Play #2: Josh’s personal foul against the Chargers.
 

Those aren’t typos — you read that right: a Hail Mary against us, and a personal foul. Now stay with me and I’ll explain.
 

First play, the Hail Mary, what that represents to me is just rock bottom. A few minutes earlier was one of our great plays of the season, Josh throwing a touchdown pass to Stefon to take the lead late against Arizona. Then Arizona gets the ball back and, you know, it’s what it is. They’re making some plays, moving the ball. They’re fairly close. But I’m telling you: on our sideline, as we’re watching it, nobody is thinking they’re going to score.
 

And then I’ll never forget that play.
 

D-line surges through for the almost sack..….. Kyler flushes out to his left, with Mario so close right in front of him…... Kyler freaking CHUCKS it..…. and we’re just looking at this BALL, man..…. this BALL..…. and it’s going up, and up, and up, and up..…. it’s up for so long..... like I literally remember having time to think, “Nah. There’s NO WAY he’s about to catch that......”
 

You know the rest.
 

Ooof.
 

But then after that?? Honestly — the craziest thing happened.
 

It was like it was this fork in the road, I think.
 

We saw Arizona celebrating on the field, after the Hail Mary. And it was just something about it, man. It was the way they were running around, hooting and hollering, like they’d won the damn Super Bowl. It was something about that. I think for whatever reason, that just struck this chord with us. Not because we were annoyed with them or anything. They won, they can celebrate how they want. Nah. It was more like: We looked at them. And then we looked at us. And I think we just had this moment of, Alright — hold up. If they’re fired up like they won the Super Bowl….. why aren’t we upset like we lost the Super Bowl?
 

And I think that’s when it hit us. It hit us that things are different now.
 

It hit us that this team, our team, these Buffalo Bills — we’ve moved on to a different place. Like, with all due respect to the Cardinals: I think they're in a similar spot now to where we were these last few seasons. Just trying to claw and make the playoffs with an up-and-coming roster. Whereas, for us? It’s not like that now. We’re taking the long view. Every game isn’t the Super Bowl for our team.
 

The Super Bowl is the Super Bowl for our team.
 

Or at least that’s what we’re working toward.
 

And like I said, it was this crazy outcome, this crazy thing that happened. But after we saw their celebration, I think we just kind of took a deep breath, and found some perspective about it. Like, Alright, ha — we’ll give them this one. Time to take our Bye now, and hit reset, and come back strong to fry some bigger fish. And I absolutely love that about our team. It’s like, that whole week, everyone on the outside was yappin’ in the media about this “collapse” of ours, and how we “blew” our “big chance,” and “it’s more bad luck for the Bills,” and “the AFC East is up for grabs.” Meanwhile..... we’d moved on!! We were just tuning it all out, and getting right.
 

And then the next game, we played the Chargers, and Josh f*cking sonned them by spinning the ball in their faces.
 

</snip>

This is absolute must read.

[Chandemonium]

2 hours ago, Ann said:

 

I get the feeling Dion Dawkins really loves the Buffalo Bills fans:
 

</snip>
 

Hottest club in Buffalo? It’s my DMs.
 

I’m getting “thank you, Shnowman” letters. I’m getting notes of encouragement. I’m getting pictures of y’all showing off your jerseys. I’m getting videos of y’all at home watching the games. I’m getting Mafia stories. I’m getting life stories. I’m getting a bunch of wild-ass memes.
 

People truly have no idea, the amount and the quality of DMs I’ve been receiving from Bills fans this season.

True story: The other day, I got a DM from this one guy, and it’s two photos of him back-to-back. In the first photo, he’s a little kid, and the Bills have just won the AFC East. It’s 1995. And then in the second photo, he’s a grown man, and the Bills have just won the AFC East again. It’s 2020.
 

That one really hit me hard.
 

That one was just, like……. DAMN. I hear you. I feel you.
 

I get what this means.
 

Anyway — I wanted to give a quick shout-out to everyone who’s been sending me all these messages. It’s been awful, for real, to not have the #Mafia at our games..... but connecting on IG and whatnot has managed to make things a little less awful. So, thank you.
 

(And keep ’em coming!!)
 

</snip>

He's written this as Josh for MVP, but to me this is more about the turning point.
 

</snip>
 

Actually — let’s talk about this. Here’s my “Josh for MVP” case.

Everyone knows the stats. Everyone knows the record. Everyone knows the talent. I’m going to let that stuff speak for itself. But the case for Josh as MVP, in my opinion — it comes down to about a 15-day stretch around the end of November. As a matter of fact, I’ll narrow it down even further for you.

It comes down to two plays.
 

Play #1: Kyler to D-Hop, Hail Mary, six points, ballgame, goodnight.

Play #2: Josh’s personal foul against the Chargers.
 

Those aren’t typos — you read that right: a Hail Mary against us, and a personal foul. Now stay with me and I’ll explain.
 

First play, the Hail Mary, what that represents to me is just rock bottom. A few minutes earlier was one of our great plays of the season, Josh throwing a touchdown pass to Stefon to take the lead late against Arizona. Then Arizona gets the ball back and, you know, it’s what it is. They’re making some plays, moving the ball. They’re fairly close. But I’m telling you: on our sideline, as we’re watching it, nobody is thinking they’re going to score.
 

And then I’ll never forget that play.
 

D-line surges through for the almost sack..….. Kyler flushes out to his left, with Mario so close right in front of him…... Kyler freaking CHUCKS it..…. and we’re just looking at this BALL, man..…. this BALL..…. and it’s going up, and up, and up, and up..…. it’s up for so long..... like I literally remember having time to think, “Nah. There’s NO WAY he’s about to catch that......”
 

You know the rest.
 

Ooof.
 

But then after that?? Honestly — the craziest thing happened.
 

It was like it was this fork in the road, I think.
 

We saw Arizona celebrating on the field, after the Hail Mary. And it was just something about it, man. It was the way they were running around, hooting and hollering, like they’d won the damn Super Bowl. It was something about that. I think for whatever reason, that just struck this chord with us. Not because we were annoyed with them or anything. They won, they can celebrate how they want. Nah. It was more like: We looked at them. And then we looked at us. And I think we just had this moment of, Alright — hold up. If they’re fired up like they won the Super Bowl….. why aren’t we upset like we lost the Super Bowl?
 

And I think that’s when it hit us. It hit us that things are different now.
 

It hit us that this team, our team, these Buffalo Bills — we’ve moved on to a different place. Like, with all due respect to the Cardinals: I think they're in a similar spot now to where we were these last few seasons. Just trying to claw and make the playoffs with an up-and-coming roster. Whereas, for us? It’s not like that now. We’re taking the long view. Every game isn’t the Super Bowl for our team.
 

The Super Bowl is the Super Bowl for our team.
 

Or at least that’s what we’re working toward.
 

And like I said, it was this crazy outcome, this crazy thing that happened. But after we saw their celebration, I think we just kind of took a deep breath, and found some perspective about it. Like, Alright, ha — we’ll give them this one. Time to take our Bye now, and hit reset, and come back strong to fry some bigger fish. And I absolutely love that about our team. It’s like, that whole week, everyone on the outside was yappin’ in the media about this “collapse” of ours, and how we “blew” our “big chance,” and “it’s more bad luck for the Bills,” and “the AFC East is up for grabs.” Meanwhile..... we’d moved on!! We were just tuning it all out, and getting right.
 

And then the next game, we played the Chargers, and Josh f*cking sonned them by spinning the ball in their faces.
 

</snip>

I’ve seen two different interviews/press conferences with Micah Hyde in the last two weeks where he was asked about the Arizona game, and both times without missing a beat he said he was glad it happened because it made them a better team.  

[Ann]

 

 

https://twitter.com/ProFootballTalk/status/1383793186124951572

[Ann]

 

 

https://twitter.com/BuffaloBills/status/1397632377589960706


 

https://twitter.com/gmfb/status/1397583315675217920

[Ann]

 

https://twitter.com/JeffSkversky/status/1406390336021094404

 

[Uncle Joe]

1 hour ago, Ann said:

 

https://twitter.com/JeffSkversky/status/1406390336021094404

 

Before or after the Philly remark?

 

[SackMan518]

Dion is the man, I love his speeches and how Beane has managed to keep the most important guys around.

[B-Man]

 

 

 

[Ann]

 

https://twitter.com/NFLPA/status/1423661657717358598

[Ann]

 

 

Buffalo
 

I needed a few weeks before I could do this. I hope you all understand.  
 

It was just too raw at first. Too sad, too much to process in real time. I’d be lying if I tried to sit here and tell you guys that I wasn’t shook by what happened. That I just powered through and stayed tough. 
 

I didn’t.
 

From the moment I learned about the horrible tragedy that took place over on the East Side, I was completely devastated. I was absolutely torn up inside. 

And I know I wasn’t alone in feeling that way. 
 

</snip>
 

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

On 11/14/2020 at 10:04 AM, Ann said:

● October stretch - trusting in what the coaches were preaching. The young guys need to know we do not need to go undefeated to win a super bowl or a conference.
 

 

No, but apparently if you go undefeated, you get to brag about it for ever after even if you lose the Superbowl.

[Ann]

Photos that go with the story

 

 

 

 

[Ann]

Presser after Day 4 Training camp:

Dion Dawkins: “It’s Just Football” | Buffalo Bills

Bills Offensive Tackle Dion Dawkins meets with the media Wednesday at Bills Training Camp. Topics Include: Working with a new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, going up against Von Miller in practice, and starting this training camp healthy.