NFL players will tell you that what is said on TV about them doesn’t matter. They insist that they don’t hear “the noise” from social media, fans, and pundits. While that may be true for the players, it could not be more wrong for fanbases. We know that #BillsMafia is tough to tame- especially on social media. Evident by how seriously they take their competitions; doing whatever it takes to win “best fanbase” polls that occasionally pop up online. With the Bills increased success since Sean McDermott arrived in 2017 fans have been critical of the lack of national attention and credit that was given to the Bills. Fans can remember waking up last year after Thanksgiving and turning on ESPN and NFL Network just to find the discussion was geared towards what was wrong with the Cowboys, rather than crediting the Bills for a dominating win. Fast forward a year and it seems that the Bills have finally gotten the attention of the national media. Playing for a national audience four weeks in a row will do that to you, especially if you are playing well.
This has been a fun week for Bills fans looking for credit and attention on airwaves. After defeating the AFC’s number one seed (prior to this game) Pittsburgh, a team that started the season 11-0, on Sunday Night Football, the national media cannot stop gushing about the Bills.
On Monday morning’s episode of Get Up on ESPN, Dan Orlovsky made sure that everyone knew just how strongly he felt about the Bills, especially Josh Allen. Going as far as to say that aside from Patrick Mahomes, there was no AFC quarterback he wants in the 4th quarter other than Josh Allen. He claimed the Bills have a top-5 quarterback and a top-5 coaching staff, saying that they are the only team with a chance to beat the Chiefs this year. Ryan Clark said he wasn’t surprised with the result – “They [Steelers] were supposed to lose, they played the better football team at this point in the season.”
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Pro Football Talk Live included a 20-minute discussion on the Bills. Mike Florio said Buffalo is “stepping up, they are reaching a new level…taking out 25 years of frustration on anyone who is opposing them.” He went on to put the Bills in the top 3 teams in the league, along with the Chiefs and Packers. Chris Simms noted that since the Bills lost to the Titans and Chiefs they have been playing “really damn good football.” The former quarterback described Josh Allen as “elite” and believes that the Bills are a major player in the league, proclaiming, “I don’t expect them to fall off, they are going to make some waves and noise in the AFC playoffs.”
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Finally, someone who has not been kind to the Bills over the years is Colin Cowherd. His takes can be pretty off base at times, but Bills fans will love this one. In his weekly power rankings Colin Cowherd lists the Bills as the best team in the National Football League. You read that right. Give it a listen and hear him defend his choice.
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The Bills knew that if they could handle their business in these primetime games, then the respect would come. And as you saw above, it has. As long as the Bills continue to do that we can expect to hear much more of this hype over the next few weeks and into the playoffs.
Enjoy this Bills fans, this is new territory for us, territory that we longed for. Enjoy it, because we know all to well what it feels like to be on the other side.
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