PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen was reminded how much additional scrutiny the Buffalo Bills are under this summer upon reaching the interview tent and noticing the HBO series “Hard Knocks” camera crew ready to start filming.
“You guys are everywhere,” the quarterback said with a smile as the Bills opened training camp in suburban Rochester, New York, on Wednesday.
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An NFL Films Hard Knocks cameraman films the Buffalo Bills during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills running back James Cook (4) catches a ball during practice at the team’s NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills defensive end Joey Bosa (97) warms up during practice at the team’s NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott, left, and team owner Terry Pegula watch practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) walks to the field before practice at the team’s NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
No stranger to the spotlight, the reigning NFL MVP, who married Hollywood star Hailee Steinfeld in May and signed one of the league’s richest contracts in March, joked being mindful of his language while being mic’d up during the 90-minute practice.
“Yeah, I tried not to cuss as much,” Allen said. “Just making sure that anything that I say my mom would be OK with.”
Allen’s trying to keep things rated PG.
And the Bills are welcoming the opportunity to pull back the curtain and reveal whatever the cameras might capture — warts and all — as insight into what's allowed the franchise to flourish entering its ninth season under coach Sean McDermott and GM Brandon Beane.
“We have nothing to hide. We are who we are,” said McDermott, who ended the team’s 17-season playoff drought in his first year in 2017, and guided Buffalo to six consecutive playoff appearances and win five straight AFC East titles.
Just don’t call the Bills’ five-week “Hard Knocks” series run opening on Aug. 5 a distraction.
“The increased noise, if you will, is maybe in some ways good practice for us to really hone in and get our focus where it needs to be,” McDermott said.
The series trailer HBO released Wednesday shows a confident, determined team with a clip of Allen saying: “We're going to do whatever we can do bring a Lombardi back here to western New York.”
Successful as the Bills have been in posting double-digit wins in each of their past six seasons, they’ve come up short in the playoffs and usually against the Chiefs. Four of Buffalo’s past five playoff losses have been against Kansas City, including a 32-29 loss in the AFC championship game in January.
“Ultimately, you got to go out and do it,” Beane said, before noting how Allen and other Bills veterans can build on their experiences. “I’m a firm believer that you keep swinging the sword, you keep fighting, you do not give in, you work harder and you use that frustration.”
Though once again favored to win the AFC East, the Bills enter camp with several subplots beginning with starting running back James Cook’s desire to land a contract extension while entering the final year of his deal.
After skipping the Bills voluntary spring sessions, Cook explained his reasoning for participating in the team’s mandatory sessions last month by saying: “I like my money. That’s why I’m here.”
Beane on Wednesday provided no update on contract talks, reiterated how he doesn’t have the salary cap space to fit Cook’s asking price of $15 million per season, and credited the player for reporting for camp.
“James is a competitive dude. He’s a stud. He is a great teammate. He wants to be here,” Beane said of the NFL’s co-leader last season with 16 touchdowns rushing. “James fits Buffalo. But sometimes you can’t get on the same page.”
On the injury front, defensive end Joey Bosa resumed practicing after the off-injured free-agent addition missed the spring sessions with a calf issue.
The 30-year-old is coming off three injury-shortened seasons, in which he combined for 14 of his 72 sacks over 28 games with the Chargers. Buffalo signed Bosa to a one-year $12.6 million contract in March in a bid to fill the pass-rushing role after Von Miller was cut.
Meantime, the Bills opened camp with tight end Dawson Knox (hamstring) on the non-football injury list and starting right tackle Spencer Brown (back) on the physically unable to perform list. Beane didn’t provide a timeline in saying both should be cleared for practice sooner than later.
While the Bills offense returns mostly intact, the defense has been retooled. Aside from Bosa, Buffalo revamped its defensive front with the free-agent signings of Larry Ogunjobi and Michael Hoecht — both expected to miss the first six games serving suspensions for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drugs policy. Cornerback Tre’Davious White is back for an eighth season in Buffalo after splitting last year between the Rams and Ravens.
And the Bills will rely on several rookies to make immediate contributions from a draft class that included cornerback Maxwell Hairston, defensive tackle T.J. Sanders and defensive end Landon Jackson.
Long snapper Reid Ferguson is Buffalo's lone active player to precede McDermott, having signed in 2016 during Rex Ryan’s second and final season.
Reflecting back, Ferguson laughed at how different a “Hard Knocks” series might have been during Ryan’s tenure when the colorful coach once munched on dog biscuits during a promotional appearance at camp. Things are different under McDermott, Ferguson said.
“We’re not actively trying to not give them drama, not that there’s a ton that goes on in the first place,” Ferguson said. “We’re trying to use it as a way to show the Bills in a positive light that I think people have seen us in for the last handful of years.”
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An NFL Films Hard Knocks cameraman films the Buffalo Bills during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills running back James Cook (4) catches a ball during practice at the team’s NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills defensive end Joey Bosa (97) warms up during practice at the team’s NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott, left, and team owner Terry Pegula watch practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) walks to the field before practice at the team’s NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Pittsford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
HAVANA (AP) — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.
Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.
The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.
State television also showed images of what it said were more than a dozen wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. A man identified in state media as Col. Pedro Domínguez attended Thursday's ceremony in a wheelchair.
He said it was a “disproportionate attack” that killed 11 colleagues around him as they slept. Domínguez said he was committed to doing “whatever it takes to defend this people and to remain united in the face of threats from the United States.”
Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.
Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.
“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Álvarez said.
The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.
Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.
“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gómez said. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”
The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.
“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.
In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.
In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.
The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.
“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”
The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.
Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.
But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington's efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.
“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”
Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”
Rodríguez, the Cuban foreign minister, said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”
Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
People line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the remains are on display of the Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, as it sprinkles rain in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, are on display in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
