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Ryan Fitzpatrick Compared Vibe in Buffalo to a 'Funeral' After Bills' Loss to Chiefs
The Buffalo Bills' most recent hunt for a Lombardi Trophy once again ended prematurely following a narrow loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last Sunday. And per former Bills quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, the fan base and city of Buffalo are taking it pretty hard.
"Texting with one of my buddies who lives in Buffalo this morning, and just the anxiety before the game and during the game and everything, but going to work today, he said it's just silence," Fitzpatrick notes of presumably the Monday after the loss. "Because this isn't a game to these people in Buffalo. This isn't just for fun. Like this is their life.
"And so to be so close, to feel that to have [quarterback Josh Allen] have that opportunity to go down and win the game and all the hope and excitement and for it not to happen ... It's like a funeral or a wake right now, you know, in Buffalo, and it's not gonna be gone anytime soon."
Watch that moment, clipped from his podcast with Andrew Whitworth, below:
“This isn’t just a game, this is their life”
— Fitz & Whit (@fitzandwhit) January 28, 2025
Fitz shares how Bills Mafia is taking another loss to the Chiefs pic.twitter.com/qzrDDmL0fe
Earlier in the episode, Fitz admits he actually had trouble sleeping after the game.
"I haven't had this feeling since I was a player. ... A lot of times for me, when I lost the game or had some things happen that didn't go my way, couldn't sleep. I'd wake up at 1 a.m. in a cold sweat, wake up at 2 a.m. and just be staring at the ceiling. And it happened to me last night. And i don't think it's happened to me since I stopped playing. But for Bills fans, it's the heartbreak again."
With Sunday's loss, the Chiefs have officially eliminated the Bills from the postseason four times in the last five years. As the Allen-led squad is hunting for the city's first Super Bowl trophy, it's clear the Chiefs are perhaps the only thing standing in their way.
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Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.