Bills Central

Bills Mafia did something Sean McDermott has never seen before in Week 8 win

Bills Mafia turned out particularly well for the Buffalo Bills' Week 8 clash with the Seattle Seahawks.

Kyle Silagyi

Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
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Buffalo Bills fans creating a discernible advantage for their club is not a new or particularly unique phenomenon, as the group does so whenever the Bills host a bout at Highmark Stadium. They even occasionally do so when Buffalo plays an away game in a tourist-friendly destination, with Bills Mafia takeovers of Nashville’s Nissan Stadium and Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium being relatively frequent occurrences. Overshadowing Seattle Seahawks fans inside Lumen Field is a bit more challenging of a feat, however, as the ‘12th Man’ is widely regarded as one of the NFL’s strongest fanbases; they aren’t a group to let a rival supporter base walk into their home with their shoes on and put their feet up on a table.

But Bills Mafia did just that in Buffalo’s Week 8 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, overshadowing Seattle fans throughout the entire contest. Bills-centric chants were oft-audible throughout the dominant 31-10 win, shifting the atmospheric pendulum in a fashion not generally seen inside Lumen Field. The takeover was often noted on the broadcast, and Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith even complimented the Buffalo faithful’s strong showing during his postgame media availability.

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Bills head coach Sean McDermott spoke about the attendance of his team’s fanbase after the victory, with the veteran sideline boss—who has been in the NFL for over two decades—telling reporters that he’s never seen an opposing fanbase dominate Lumen Field in such a manner before. 

“Did you hear them out there?” McDermott said. “I’ve never heard this place like that, in all my years in the NFL. Been out here a number of years, I’ve never heard that. That’s a testament to the Bills, testament to the Bills fans, and the organization, really, for the tradition that they’ve built over the years.”

The most a team can generally ask of its fanbase while playing an away game is to level the playing field and mitigate home-field advantage; making it feel like a home game is almost always out of the question. Buffalo fans did just that in Week 8, however, and this was reflected in the box score, as the Bills dominated the Seahawks in first downs (29 to 17), total yards (445 to 233), and time of possession (38:03 to 21:57). The Buffalo faithful won’t have to travel all that much for the now 6-2 Bills’ next contest, as Buffalo returns home next week to host the moribund Miami Dolphins in a divisional clash.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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