Episode 1 of is officially in the books.
The hit series returned to HBO on Tuesday night, kicking off its 25th season with another behind-the-scenes tour of the ups and downs of an NFL training camp.
The Bills, coming off their second consecutive playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs—and an MVP season from Josh Allen—have been tasked with taking center stage as they set the foundation for what they hope to be their first Super Bowl appearance since 1994.
Here are five takeaways from Episode 1:
Training Camp Is Done a Bit Differently in Upstate New York
As relayed by narrator Liev Schreiber, the Bills are only one of five teams across the NFL that still use a college for training camp—traveling 75 miles east of Buffalo to Rochester, N.Y.'s St. John Fisher University.
"Camp's one of my favorite times of the year," said quarterback Josh Allen. "This is really where you build the camaraderie of your team and get to know each other on a personal and deeper level. We spend every waking second with everybody on the team and I think that's just such a cool thing here—and I know there's a few teams that do it around the league—but I'm glad we do it here."
It truly has a back-to-school feel, as seen in cutaways with the likes of Dawson Knox, K.J. Hamler, and Damar Hamlin as they unpacked their bags.
The Bills Know Exactly How Important Josh Allen Is to Their Success
Not that it's much of a secret, but the Bills organization—from the front office, to their coaching staff, to the team—knows exactly how important having a guy like Josh Allen at the helm is to their success moving forward:
"Here comes in a young man who has the weight of an organization on his shoulders," said head coach Sean McDermott. "And then to come back this year and pick up where he left off from a leadership standpoint and a consistent standpoint, I think that's a little bit uncommon. But that's Josh Allen."
"He deserves so much credit for where we're at," added general manager Brandon Beane. "And the stability that we've had the last five years in winning the division."
"He went from a kid to a grown man," Allen's left tackle Dion Dawkins relayed with a chuckle. "Simple as that. He just elevates every single year."
Allen Is Determined to Get In-Sync With Josh Palmer
The Bills added former Chargers wide receiver Josh Palmer to their receiving arsenal this offseason, giving him a three-year contract. Quarterback Josh Allen's first order of business? Getting on the same page with the 25-year-old.
As you can see in the video below shared by NFL Films, Buffalo's new duo took it upon themselves to get some work in after practice—and not quitting until it was perfect:
"The best thing you can do between a quarterback and receivers [is] have that open line of communication," said Allen. "Understanding each other's expectations of when I'm thinking of releasing a ball or where he's expecting that ball to be, and then going out there and trying to marry them up."
Dion Dawkins: Ultimate Dad
In a heartwarming segment, taking the focus away from football, cameras caught left tackle Dion Dawkins' off-day of camp.
How'd he spend it? By being a dad, of course. The father of two girls and a boy brought his three children drifting with him—at their request.
"We're kind of like a little drifting family now," said Dawkins. "All these little troopers here, they're all chaos. Just like daddy."
"Girl dad to the fullest," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after the segment aired.
The Bills' New Stadium Has Some Sweet Science Behind It
In an exclusive look at the Bills' new stadium being built in Orchard Park, team owner Terry Pegula revealed that their new home was designed with plenty of science in mind.
"As far as the wind goes," he explained. "All the science has been done, like we're protected more on the southwest side, which is is the prevailing wind direction—it comes from that direction. And then we have the perforations set up. If we didn't do that, when the wind went over the stadium, it would get sucked into the stadium and swirl. So we scienced that out."
Josh Allen, who also took the trip to the new digs, asked how much wind they can expect on game day.
"Very little," revealed a worker on the site. "We've been here where the wind is howling outside and then you come stand down here and it feels like this."
The stadium will also feature all of the same amenities that the team has at their practice facility, including a hot tub, cold tub, hydrotherapy, a sauna, a steam room, and more.
Episode 2 of will air next Tuesday, Aug. 12.
