There's a big lesson Bills WR Stefon Diggs needs to learn from Nuggets guard Jamal Murray
The Buffalo Bills are a legitimate contender to win the Super Bowl this coming season, but they'll need wide receiver Stefon Diggs to change his mindset for it to happen. Diggs, a three-time Pro-Bowler, is one of the best players in the NFL. The former Maryland standout has caught over 100 passes in each of […]
The Buffalo Bills are a legitimate contender to win the Super Bowl this coming season, but they'll need wide receiver Stefon Diggs to change his mindset for it to happen.
Diggs, a three-time Pro-Bowler, is one of the best players in the NFL. The former Maryland standout has caught over 100 passes in each of his three seasons with the Bills. He also has 29 touchdown receptions over the last three seasons.
Despite the great numbers over the last few seasons, Diggs has reportedly been unhappy this offseason with his role in Buffalo's offense.
The Boston Globe's Ben Volin reported last month that Diggs, according to league sources, is unhappy with "his role in the offense and his voice in play-calling".
If the Bills' offense is going to be at its best in 2023, then this can't be the mindset that Diggs enters the season with.
The only thing that matters is winning. And Diggs has to understand that sometimes that might mean he needs to catch 12 passes for 200 yards and a couple of touchdowns. Other games, it might mean that Diggs catches two passes for 25 yards and no touchdowns and the Bills win a tight low-scoring game.
Every game is its own story and plays out a different way. The great teams can win games in a variety of ways.
The Denver Nuggets, this year's NBA Finals champions, are a great example of this.
Denver won in the NBA playoffs in several different ways. Some games, guard Jamal Murray took over the game and carried his team. Other games (or during parts of games), it was Nikola Jokić, or other Denver players, that had to lead the offense.
In game three of the NBA finals, Murray scored 20 points in the first half. He then scored just two points in the third quarter.
After the game, Murray explained that in the third quarter, the flow of the game dictated that he didn't need to score.
"I think it's just a feel and a trust that we're going to figure it out," said Murray after Denver's game three NBA Finals win against the Miami Heat. "A lot of unselfishness, like I keep bringing that up, it's free-flowing. If something's there, we go. If it's not, we don't force it."
That kind of mindset is what it takes to win a championship. It's a team game. The stats shouldn't matter at the end of the day. All that matters is winning and finding a way to get past tough teams like the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals.
If Diggs enters the season more worried about his role in play-calling than whether or not the Bills are winning games, then Buffalo won't be at their best. And they likely won't be bringing a championship back to New York.
And that's not to say that Diggs doesn't care about winning — clearly he does. But that has to be the priority over how many balls he catches or touchdowns he scores.
If Diggs wants to win a championship, he should look to Murray and the Nuggets for inspiration. They laid out the blueprint for every pro team in sports when it comes to what it takes to win a natty.
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