"Time for something new" | Bills players are eager for Highmark Stadium
It's impossible to avoid the sights of Highmark Stadium off Abbott Road in Orchard Park. If you've blinked over the last few months, it's almost feels as if the stadium has gone up overnight. As construction comes to a close and the Bills open their new home, players are getting excited about what's to come and remembering what they had.
"I think in my mind, my eyes are more attracted to the other one," Josh Allen said. "I see that a little bit more. Obviously, a lot of memories in the old one. I'm not too much of a sentimental guy. This (new) place has got grass and it's going to be pretty cool in there. I've been in there a few times, and I think the fans are going to be very pleased when we get that place rocking."
Someone who has also been over to the new stadium a few times is left tackle Dion Dawkins. The O-lineman loves it so much, he wants to visit every day.
"The new stadium is amazing," Dawkins said. "It's literally like a brand-new Tesla truck in a desert. It's almost like it's not supposed to be here, but it's here…To be able to go in there and just admire it, but also knowing all of the blood, sweat, and tears put into it…It's time for something new…I'm here for it. The locker room is crazy, it's so nice. I can't wait. I just can't wait."
Defensive tackle Ed Oliver hasn't gotten a chance to check out the new stadium yet but is making sure to pay the old stadium respects as it comes down.
"I haven't gone in the new one, but I watched the old one slowly and in the most dramatic way fall down," Oliver said. "They start with one side and are just slowly tearing down everything I know about football. And I see this brand-new stadium that almost looks out of place, it's so beautiful and new. It almost looks out of place."
While Oliver is looking forward to the new stadium, he's viewing former Highmark Stadium as a metaphor for the change he's experienced since last season ended.
"The stadium that I knew football in is slowly falling down, and not just falling down at one time, it's just slowly being tore down," Oliver said. "That's weird but seems like everything I know about football is changing, including the stadium, including my teammates. I'm the oldest guy on defense. Guys that I've been playing with for years are now gone."
"My football life, so to speak, has happened in that stadium, and then just to see it knocked down. I just (think about) some of the good times that were in that stadium. When they played Mr. Brightside at the end of games, just the joy I felt in that stadium."