The relationship between Stefon Diggs and the Buffalo Bills has been an on-and-off hot topic around Western New York for some time.
Monday's prime-time loss to the Denver Broncos brought its focus back into the forefront.
Diggs was held to three catches on just five targets for 34 yards that night. The following day, the Bills fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, who will be replaced by in the interim by assistant Joe Brady.
Diggs was asked Thursday about this week's changes, and he had complimentary things to say about both men.
"Joe Brady is a hell of a guy," Diggs told reporters. "Got a lot of respect for Ken Dorsey… Gotta flip the page."
But much of his Thursday media session involved Diggs being dragged into a conversation he didn't start.
Following the Bills' loss on Monday, posts from Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs, Stefon's younger brother, had social media abuzz. The younger Diggs (formerly Twitter): "Man 14 Gotta get up outta there."
Later, Trevon Diggs appeared to call out Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
Asked about his brother's posts on Thursday, Stefon Diggs said he can't be responsible for what other people say about him publicly, even family members.
"I'm not responsible for how other people feel," Diggs told reporters. "Anybody in this room for that matter. A reporter, a player, even my own brother. I love my brother, and the space my brother is coming from is my family. You want to know how he feels, you gotta take it up with him.
"Putting me in a position -- or me having a conversation with my brother, that's in-house family rules. But for me, I can't combat or answer all the questions as to why. … That's something you're going to have to ask my brother."
Diggs added that he hasn't talked to his brother -- who is out for the season after suffering a torn ACL in practice back in September -- about his social media, but Diggs did say on Thursday that just because his brother plays in the ąú˛úÍâÁ÷Ířand knows how the game works doesn't mean he's privy to the inner working of the Buffalo Bills.
"I can't (answer) the questions as to why he feels (that way)," Diggs said. "I haven't had the personal conversation with him.
"Obviously, he's coming from more of a fan perspective (watching from home). But that is my family, so I handle my family with the utmost respect, and I hope that people treat it that way. So when people speak on my family, (I hope they) have a level of integrity as well. … Tread lightly when you're talking about my family."
Diggs currently leads the ąú˛úÍâÁ÷Ířin receptions with 73 and has logged 868 yards and seven TD receptions – production similar to his past two seasons in Buffalo, but shy of his record-breaking 2020 campaign.
The Bills also aren't dramatically off their season yardage and scoring marks in 2023, relative to recent seasons, but the production has dipped noticeably during the team's cold spell as they've lost four of their past six games. They scored 37-plus points and topped the 400-yard mark twice in the season's first four games but have not scored more than 25 in a game since and only have surpassed 400 yards of offense once in those six games.
There were some questions about whether Diggs and the Bills were on the same page as recently as June following his sideline behavior during the Bills' Divisional Round loss in January to the Bengals. But Diggs reaffirmed his commitment to the team since, and on Thursday he appeared annoyed at the continued questions on his status in Buffalo.
"It's like I've repeatedly had to say the same things twice to multiple people," Diggs said. "... I feel like I addressed it in training camp. I addressed it prior to that. But I really sat down with everyone (with the team) around training camp and felt like I nipped it in the bud as to how I felt or what I was feeling.
"But here we are again revisiting the topic about how I feel. I play with confidence, I go home with confidence. I prepare each and every week. I've always been a professional. I've never really said anything about being unhappy. So when you draw conclusions as to stuff I've never said, that's what kind of troubles me because it kind of throws a wrench in it. It creates chaos where I haven't created chaos. ...
"I've said the same words over and over and over. But when you draw conclusions in how I feel in my foreseeable future here. I've never said anything but I'm a Buffalo Bill. I give it everything I got. I'm a professional and I treat this game as such."
So what exactly does Diggs believe has been wrong with Buffalo's offense?
"Just execution," he said. "As far as with the wideouts, not being on the same page all the time, (but) we've had some balls on the ground, too."
Diggs added that their execution isn't "what we're used to" but offered up a more optimistic view of how things can improve under Brady's watch.
"Tighten up the screws, iron out the wrinkles -- we can hope for a change," he said. "But more so, getting out on the practice field and communicating and working through it. …
"A lot of people like to say the house is on fire, but for us, I feel like we do a lot of good things and we're right there. The margin for error is small in the NFL. … If we can -- not necessarily right the ship -- but tighten up those loose things on those loose screws maybe we can have the tide turn."
Diggs added:
"We're 5-5. We've done some good things, we've done some bad things. Kind of like to that point I said previously, we're right there. Small margin of error, those things that we had mishaps on. We need to capitalize more on offense. We need to score more points. I can point out the obvious for anybody. It's just very small in the things we need to correct because we do a lot of good things."
But in Diggs' mind, if the Bills are going to rally from 5-5 to into the postseason for the fifth straight season and sixth time in seven years, it will have less to do with coaching changes and more with the players self-regulating better.
"It's that player-driven leadership right now that's going to drive the boat," Diggs said. "For me, it's glass half full. I'm always a glass half full kind of guy."
