What Stefon Diggs said about viral photo of him side-eying Josh Allen
"I was staring at him in the moment because it was like, ‘Damn, that was my brother.'"
There’s a photo of Stefon Diggs from last year, looking at Josh Allen out of the side of his eye.
The Patriots tweeted an edited version of it on their official X account after New England’s 23-20 upset win over the Bills Sunday night. He’s wearing a Patriots uniform in that version, but he’s wearing a Houston Texans jersey in the actual photo. As of Monday morning, the Patriots’ post of the photo had 2.1 million views and 104,000 likes.
Fans had been posting the photo leading up to the game, using the look on Diggs’s face to foreshadow a potential revenge game from the star receiver against his former team. He appears to be staring at Allen aggressively in the photo.
Diggs doesn’t look at the picture that way, though, he said at the podium after the win.
“They had that picture, right? Of me side-eyeing him,” Diggs said. “They just caught it at the wrong time and I’ve always wanted to speak on that photo because I was staring at him in the moment because it was like, ‘Damn, that was my brother.’ We won in Houston, but that’s my brother.”
“I do [have] a lot of love and respect for him. It kinda looked like a little side-eye, but that’s not what it was. I was staring at him for a second while he was walking away like, ‘Damn, that was my guy.”
Houston beat Buffalo last October by the exact same score, 23-20, as the Patriots did on Sunday night. Diggs was the leading receiver in both games.
Diggs said he still has love for Allen, who helped him put together four of his best seasons in the NFL during their time together with the Bills.
“That’s my dog, man,” Diggs said. “Obviously things happen, the business happens, but I spent a lot of time here and I’ve got a lot of love and respect for that young man.
“He’s a tremendous player. He’s one of the boys. Obviously things happen and I’m not here no more, but I consider myself a real one. I’m never going to [be like] if I’m not on your team no more, we’re not cool no more. We built a special bond. That was my guy. I’m not going to switch up or act like I don’t have a lot of love and respect for that young man. So when I see him, I try to give him that reminder.”
Diggs’s 146 receiving yards were the most he has had since 2022, when he was a member of the Bills.
“It was lit. prime time,” Diggs said. “I played here before, I’ve been on the other side. It was just electrifying. And I knew that it was going to be a test for us, like, obviously, with the guys that we got.”
“We’re all new to each other, I think nine new starters compared to 11 on offense,” he added. “So going into a hostile environment, the biggest thing is just the fundamentals and being violent. Be the aggressor is going to be hostile there. It’s a great football team, so trying to take the fight to them.”
After four years playing for Buffalo, Diggs returned and helped the Patriots knock off his former team.
“I was excited. Felt a little nostalgic doing the drive in, came in a different entrance this time,” Diggs said. “But, you know, I was happy about it. And I just was happy to be back playing football. It’s easy to get kind of lost in the moment while you’re out there, but just try to remain focused the whole time and be there for my teammates.”
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