Buffalo Bills

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For the American bison hunter, see Buffalo Bill. For other uses, see Buffalo Bills (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Buffalo Bulls, the collegiate team of the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Buffalo Bills
Current season
Established October 28, 1959; 59 years ago (October 28, 1959)[1]
First season: 1960
Play in and headquartered in New Era Field
Orchard Park, New York[2]
Buffalo Bills logo
Buffalo Bills wordmark
LogoWordmark
League/conference affiliations

American Football League (1960–1969)

  • Eastern Division (1960–1969)

National Football League (1970–present)

Current uniform
AFCE-Uniform-BUF-V3.png
Team colorsRoyal blue, red, white, navy blue[3][4]
                   
Fight song"Shout"
MascotBilly Buffalo
Personnel
Head coachSean McDermott
Team history
  • Buffalo Bills (1960–present)
Championships
League championships (2)
Conference championships (4)
Division championships (11)
Playoff appearances (18)
Home fields

The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team plays their home games at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York. The Bills are the only NFL team that plays its home games in the state of New York.[5] The Bills conduct summer training camp at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York, an eastern suburb of Rochester.[6]

The Bills began play as an original franchise of the American Football League (AFL) in 1960. The club joined the NFL as a result of the AFL–NFL merger for the 1970 season. The 1964 and 1965 Bills were the only teams representing Buffalo that won major league professional sports championships ("back-to-back" American Football League Championships). The Bills are the only team to win four consecutive conference championships and are the only NFL team to lose four consecutive Super Bowl games. The team was owned by Ralph Wilson from the team's founding in 1960, until his death in 2014 at the age of 95. After his death, Wilson's estate reached an agreement to sell the team to Terry and Kim Pegula, which was approved by the other NFL team owners on October 8, 2014.[7] The Bills formerly possessed the longest active playoff drought in any of the four major professional sports in North America: they did not qualify to play in the NFL playoffs from 1999 until 2017 and were the last NFL team (and last team in the major North American professional sports leagues overall) to compete in the playoffs in the 21st century.[8][9]

History[edit]

Main articles: History of the Buffalo Bills and List of Buffalo Bills seasons

The Bills began competitive play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League led by head coach Buster Ramsey and joined the NFL as part of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970.[10] The Bills won two consecutive American Football League titles in 1964 and 1965, but the club has yet to win a league championship since.

Once the AFL–NFL merger took effect, the Bills became the second NFL team to represent the city; they followed the Buffalo All-Americans, a charter member of the league. Buffalo had been left out of the league since the All-Americans (by that point renamed the Bisons) folded in 1929; the Bills were no less than the third professional non-NFL team to compete in the city before the merger, following the Indians/Tigers of the early 1940s and an earlier team named the Bills, originally the Bisons, in the late 1940s in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC).

In 1947 a contest was held to rename the Bisons, which was owned by James Breuil of the Frontier Oil Company. The winning entry suggested Bills, reflecting on the famous western frontiersman, Buffalo Bill Cody. Carrying the "frontier" theme further, the winning contestant offered the team was being supported by Frontier Oil and was "opening a new frontier in sports in Western New York." When Buffalo joined the new American Football League in 1960, the name of the city's earlier pro football entry was adopted.[11]

After being pushed to the brink of failure in the mid-1980s, the collapse of the United States Football League and a series of high draft picks allowed the Bills to rebuild into a perennial contender in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, a period in which the team won four consecutive AFC Championships; the team nevertheless lost all four subsequent Super Bowls, records in both categories that still stand.

The rise of the division rival New England Patriots under Tom Brady, along with numerous failed attempts at rebuilding in the 2000s and 2010s, prevented the Bills from reaching the playoffs in seventeen consecutive seasons between 2000 and 2016, a 17-year drought that was the longest active playoff drought in all major professional sports at the time. It was broken when the Bills secured a wild-card berth on December 31, 2017. On October 8, 2014, Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula received unanimous approval to acquire the Bills during the NFL owners' meetings, becoming the second ownership group of the team after team founder Ralph Wilson.[7]

Logos and uniforms[edit]

Bills logo, 1962–1973

The Bills' uniforms in its first two seasons were based on those of the Detroit Lions at the time.[12][13]

The team's original colors were Honolulu blue, silver and white, and the helmets were silver with no striping. There was no logo on the helmet, which displayed the players' numbers on each side.

In 1962, the standing red bison was designated as the logo and took its place on a white helmet.[12] In 1962, the team's colors also changed to red, white, and blue. The team switched to blue jerseys with red and white "LSU" stripes on the shoulders. the helmets were white with a red center stripe.[12] The jerseys again saw a change in 1964 when the shoulder stripes were replaced by a distinctive stripe pattern on the sleeves consisting of four stripes, two thicker inner stripes and two thinner outer stripes all bordered by red piping. By 1965, red and blue center stripes were put on the helmets.[14]

The Bills introduced blue pants worn with the white jerseys in 1973, the last year of the standing buffalo helmet. The blue pants remained through 1985.[15] The face mask on the helmet was blue from 1974 through 1986 before changing to white.

The standing bison logo was replaced by a blue charging one with a red slanting stripe streaming from its horn. The newer emblem, which is still the primary one used by the franchise, was designed by aerospace designer Stevens Wright in 1974.[16][17]

In 1984, the helmet's shell color was changed from white to red, primarily to help Bills quarterback Joe Ferguson distinguish them more readily from three of their division rivals at that time, the Baltimore Colts, the Miami Dolphins, and the New England Patriots, who all also wore white helmets at that point. Ferguson said "Everyone we played had white helmets at that time. Our new head coach Kay Stephenson just wanted to get more of a contrast on the field that may help spot a receiver down the field."[18] (The Patriots now use a silver helmet, the Colts have since been realigned to the AFC South, and the New York Jets, who switched to green helmets after the 1977 season, have since switched back to white helmets.)

In 2002, under the direction of general manager Tom Donahoe, the Bills' uniforms went through radical changes. A darker shade of blue was introduced as the main jersey color, and nickel gray was introduced as an accent color. Both the blue and white jerseys featured red side panels. The white jerseys included a dark blue shoulder yoke and royal blue numbers. The helmet remained primarily red with one navy blue, two nickel, two royal blue, two white stripes, and white face mask. A new logo, a stylized "B" consisting of two bullets and a more detailed buffalo head on top, was proposed and had been released (it can be seen on a few baseball caps that were released for sale), but fan backlash led to the team retaining the running bison logo. The helmet logo adopted in 1974—a charging royal blue bison, with a red streak, white horn and eyeball—remained unchanged.

In 2005, the Bills revived the standing bison helmet and uniform of the mid-1960s as a throwback uniform.

The Bills usually wore the all-blue combination at home and the all-white combination on the road when not wearing the throwback uniforms. They stopped wearing blue-on-white after 2006, while the white-on-blue was not worn after 2007.

For the 2011 season, the Bills unveiled a new uniform design, an updated rendition of the 1975–83 design. This change includes a return to the white helmets with "charging buffalo" logo, and a return to royal blue instead of navy.[4][19]

Buffalo sporadically wore white at home in the 1980s, but stopped doing so before their Super Bowl years. On November 6, 2011, against the New York Jets, the Bills wore white at home for the first time since 1986. Since 2011, the Bills have worn white for a home game either with their primary uniform or a throwback set.

The Bills' uniform received minor alterations as part of the league's new uniform contract with Nike. The new Nike uniform was unveiled on April 3, 2012.[20]

On November 12, 2015, the Bills and the New York Jets became the first two teams to participate in the NFL's Color Rush uniform initiative, with Buffalo wearing an all-red combination for the first time in team history.[21]

A notable use of the Bills' uniforms outside of football was in the 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, when the United States men's national junior ice hockey team wore Bills-inspired uniforms in their outdoor game against Team Canada on December 29, 2017.[22]

Rivalries[edit]

The Bills have rivalries with their three AFC East opponents, and also have had occasional or historical rivalries with other teams such as the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts (a former divisional rival), Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, and Dallas Cowboys.[23] They also play an annual preseason game against the Detroit Lions.

Divisional rivalries[edit]

Miami Dolphins[edit]

Main article: Bills–Dolphins rivalry

This is often considered Buffalo's most famous rivalry. Though the Bills and Dolphins both originated in the American Football League, the Dolphins did not start playing until 1966 as an expansion team while the Bills were one of the original eight teams. The rivalry first gained prominence when the Dolphins won every match-up against the Bills in the 1970s for an NFL-record 20 straight wins against a single opponent. Fortunes changed in the following decades with the rise of Jim Kelly as Buffalo's franchise quarterback, and though Kelly and Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino shared a competitive rivalry in the 1980s and 1990s, the Bills became dominant in the 1990s. Things have since cooled down after the retirements of Kelly and Marino and the rise of the Belichick/Brady-led Patriots, but Miami remains a fierce rival of the Bills, coming in second place in a recent poll of Buffalo's primary rival,[24] and the two teams have typically been close to each other in win-loss records. Miami leads the overall series 60-47-1 as of 2017, but Buffalo has the advantage in the playoffs at 3-1, including a win in the 1992 AFC Championship Game.[25]

New England Patriots[edit]

Main article: Bills–Patriots rivalry

The rivalry with the New England Patriots first started when both teams were original franchises in the American Football League prior to the NFL-AFL merger. After the rise of head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady in New England, the Patriots have dominated the AFC East, including the Bills. The Bills-Patriots rivalry in particular has become lopsided as the Patriots are 29-5 against the Bills since Belichick became head coach. This has led many fans and players in the 2000s and beyond to replace the Dolphins with the Patriots as Buffalo's most hated rival.[24][26] Overall, the Patriots lead the series 72-43-1 as of 2017.[27]

The rivalry is also notable as numerous players, including Drew Bledsoe, Doug Flutie, Lawyer Milloy, Brandon Spikes, Scott Chandler, Chris Hogan, Mike Gillislee and Stephon Gilmore have played for both teams at some point in their careers.

New York Jets[edit]

Main article: Bills–Jets rivalry

The Bills and Jets both represent the state of New York, though the Jets actually play their games in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The series started as the Bills and Jets were both original teams in the AFL. Though the rivalry represents the differences between New York City and Upstate New York, it is not as intense as the Bills' rivalries with the Dolphins and Patriots, and the teams' fanbases either have begrudging respect or low-key annoyance for each other when not playing one another. Often times the rivalry has become characterized by ugly games and shared mediocrity, but it has had a handful of competitive moments and briefly heated up when former Jets head coach Rex Ryan became head coach of the Bills for two seasons. Buffalo leads the series 61-54 as of 2017, including a playoff win in 1981.[28]

Other rivalries[edit]

Kansas City Chiefs[edit]

The Bills and Chiefs were also original teams in the AFL and have had a long history against each other, despite never being in the same division. This rivalry heated up recently as the Bills and Chiefs met in consecutive years from 2008 to 2015, and again in 2017.[29] The teams have played three playoff games against each other, including the AFL Championship game that determined the AFL's (later AFC) representative in the first Super Bowl, with Kansas City winning and going on to face the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl. Buffalo currently leads the series 26-21-1.[30]

Tennessee Titans[edit]

See also: The Comeback (American football) and Music City Miracle

The Tennessee Titans, formerly the Houston Oilers, were another fellow rival from the AFL, sharing extended history with the Bills as well. The Oilers were a divisional rival before the NFL-AFL merger as part of the AFL East Division. Matchups were intense in the 1990s with quarterback Warren Moon leading the Oilers against Jim Kelly's Bills.[31] Memorable playoff moments between the teams include The Comeback, in which the Frank Reich-led Bills overcame a 35-3 deficit to stun the Oilers 41-38 in 1992,[31] and the Music City Miracle, in which the now-Titans scored on a near-last-minute kickoff return with a controversial lateral pass to stun the Bills 22-16 in 1999.[32] The Music City Miracle was notable for being Buffalo's last playoff appearance until 2017.[33] The Titans currently lead the series 28-18.[34]

Cleveland Browns[edit]

Though the two teams are in different divisions and did not start playing each other until after 1972, match-ups between the Bills and the Cleveland Browns occasionally get heated up due to the proximity and similarity between the cities of Buffalo and Cleveland. Like the Bills-Jets rivalry, the Bills and Browns often share bad luck and have had their share of ugly games, including a 6-3 Browns win in which the winning quarterback only completed 2 of 17 passes.[35] However, there have been other occasions when both teams have been competitive such as in the 1980s and most recently in 2007 and 2014.[36] The rivalry also gained heat when former Bills safety Donte Whitner was with the Browns.[37] The Browns currently lead the series 12-9, including a playoff win in 1990, though the Bills have outscored the Browns in the series.[38]

The Browns shared a rivalry with the Bills' predecessors in the All-America Football Conference, playing them twice in the AAFC playoffs before becoming one of three AAFC teams to join the NFL. The Bills were not selected to join the NFL and folded with the rest of the AAFC, leaving Buffalo without professional football until the current Bills were formed in 1959.[36]

Playoffs[edit]

Notable players[edit]

Retired numbers[edit]

The Buffalo Bills have retired three numbers in franchise history: No. 12 for Jim Kelly, No. 34 for Thurman Thomas and No. 78 for Bruce Smith. Despite the fact that the Bills have only retired three jersey numbers in franchise history, the team has other numbers no longer issued to any player or in reduced circulation.[40][41]

Buffalo Bills retired numbers
No. Player Position Tenure
12 Jim Kelly QB 1986–1996[40]
34 Thurman Thomas RB 1988–1999[42][43]
78 Bruce Smith DE 1985–1999[41]
Unofficially retired:
Reduced circulation:[40]

Since the earliest days of the team, the number 31 was not supposed to be issued to any other player. The Bills had stationery and various other team merchandise showing a running player wearing that number, and it was not supposed to represent any specific person, but the 'spirit of the team.' In the first three decades of the team's existence, the number 31 was only seen once: in 1969, when reserve running back Preston Ridlehuber damaged his number 36 jersey during a game, equipment manager Tony Marchitte gave him the number 31 jersey to wear while repairing the number 36. The number 31 was not issued again until 1990 when first round draft choice James (J.D.) Williams wore it for his first two seasons; it has since been returned to general circulation, with practice squad safety Dean Marlowe wearing the number in 2018.

Number 15 was historically only issued sparingly after the retirement of Jack Kemp,[40] but was later returned to general circulation. It is not being used as of the 2018 regular season.

Number 1 has also only rarely been used, for reasons never explained. Kicker Mike Hollis, who played one season for the Bills in 2002, was the most recent to wear the number.

Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Distinguished Service Award Recipients[edit]

Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame[edit]

Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame
Inducted No. Name Position Tenure
1980 32 O. J. Simpson RB 1969–1977
1984 15 Jack Kemp QB 1962–1969
1985 — Pat McGroder Contributor
GM		 1961–1983
1983
1987 70 Tom Sestak DT 1962–1968
1988 66 Billy Shaw OG 1961–1969
1989 — Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Owner 1959–2014
1992 12 The 12th Man Fans 1960–present
1993 44 Elbert Dubenion WR 1960–1968
1994 58 Mike Stratton LB 1962–1972
1995 12 Joe Ferguson QB 1973–1984
1996 — Marv Levy HC
GM		 1986–1997
2006–2007
1997 68 Joe DeLamielleure OG 1973–1979
1985
1998 20 Robert James CB 1969–1974
1999 — Edward Abramoski Trainer 1960–1996
2000 61 Bob Kalsu G 1968
26 George Saimes S 1963–1969
2001 12 Jim Kelly QB 1986–1996
76 Fred Smerlas DT 1979–1989
2002 67 Kent Hull C 1986–1996
2003 56 Darryl Talley LB 1983–1994
2004 51 Jim Ritcher C/G 1980–1993
2005 34 Thurman Thomas RB 1988–1999
2006 83 Andre Reed WR 1985–1999
2007 89 Steve Tasker WR 1986–1997
2008 78 Bruce Smith DE 1985–1999
2010 24 Booker Edgerson DB 1962–1969
2011 90 Phil Hansen DE 1991–2001
2012 — Bill Polian GM 1984–1992
2014 — Van Miller Broadcaster 1960–1971
1977–2003
2015 — Lou Saban Coach 1962–1965
1972–1976
2017 34 Cookie Gilchrist RB 1962–1964

Pro Football Hall Of Fame[edit]

Buffalo Bills Hall of Famers
Players
No. Name Position Tenure Inducted
32 O. J. Simpson RB 1969–1977 1985
66 Billy Shaw OG 1961–1969 1999
12 Jim Kelly QB 1986–1996 2002
80 James Lofton WR 1989–1992 2003
68 Joe DeLamielleure OG 1973–1979
1985		 2003
34 Thurman Thomas RB 1988–1999 2007
78 Bruce Smith DE 1985–1999 2009
83 Andre Reed WR 1985–1999 2014[45]
81 Terrell Owens WR 2009 2018
Coaches and Executives
Name Position Tenure Inducted
Marv Levy HC
GM		 1986–1997
2006–2007		 2001
Ralph Wilson Owner 1959–2014 2009
Bill Polian GM 1984–1992 2015

All-time first round draft picks[edit]

Main article: List of Buffalo Bills first-round draft picks

Recent Pro Bowl selections[edit]

Main article: List of Buffalo Bills Pro Bowl selections

Coaches of note[edit]

Head coaches[edit]

Main article: List of Buffalo Bills head coaches

Current staff[edit]

Buffalo Bills staff
Front office
Head coach
Offensive coaches
  
Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
Strength and conditioning

→ Coaching staff
→ Management
→ More NFL staffs

AFC East
BUF
MIA
NE
NYJ
North
BAL
CIN
CLE
PIT
South
HOU
IND
JAX
TEN
West
DEN
KC
LAC
OAK
NFC East
DAL
NYG
PHI
WAS
North
CHI
DET
GB
MIN
South
ATL
CAR
NO
TB
West
ARI
LAR
SF
SEA

Current roster[edit]

Buffalo Bills roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists

Unrestricted FAs

Restricted FAs

Exclusive-Rights FAs

Rookies in italics

Roster updated January 7, 2019
Depth chart • Transactions
43 Active, 4 Inactive, 18 FAs

→ AFC rosters → NFC rosters
AFC East
BUF
MIA
NE
NYJ
North
BAL
CIN
CLE
PIT
South
HOU
IND
JAX
TEN
West
DEN
KC
LAC
OAK
NFC East
DAL
NYG
PHI
WAS
North
CHI
DET
GB
MIN
South
ATL
CAR
NO
TB
West
ARI
LAR
SF
SEA

Radio and television[edit]

Main article: List of Buffalo Bills broadcasters
See also: Buffalo Bills Radio Network

The Buffalo Bills Radio Network is flagshipped at WGR, AM 550 in Buffalo. John Murphy is the team's current play-by-play announcer; he was a color commentator alongside, and eventually succeeded, longtime voice Van Miller after Miller's retirement at the end of the 2003 NFL season. Mark Kelso serves as the color analyst. The Bills radio network has approximately seventeen affiliates in upstate New York and one affiliate, CJCL 590AM (The Fan) in Toronto. As of early 2012, it is composed mostly of WGR, Entercom's sister stations WCMF (96.5 FM) and WROC-AM 950 in Rochester, and a fleet of independent AM and FM stations across upstate New York from Jamestown east to Albany. Previous flagship Citadel Broadcasting was purchased by Cumulus Media, who in turn ceased carrying Bills games at the end of the 2011 season, leaving the network without affiliates in Syracuse, Binghamton, and Erie. (The Syracuse affiliations were later picked up by Galaxy Communications.)

During the preseason, most games are televised on Buffalo's ABC affiliate, WKBW-TV channel 7. In 2018, the team signed an agreement with Nexstar Media Group to carry Bills games across its network of stations in the region, which includes WJET-TV in Erie, WROC-TV in Rochester, WSYR-TV in Syracuse, WUTR in Utica, WETM-TV in Elmira and WIVT in Binghamton). Following the expiration of its contract with WKBW in 2019, the flagship station will become WIVB-TV.[46] CBS analyst and former Bills special teams player Steve Tasker does color commentary on these games; the play-by-play position is rotated between his CBS partner Andrew Catalon and Rob Stone. WROC-TV reporter Thad Brown is the sideline reporter. Since 2008, preseason games have been broadcast in high definition.

Beginning in the 2016 season, as per a new rights deal which covers rights to the team as well as its sister NHL franchise, the Buffalo Sabres, most team-related programming, including studio programming and the coach's show, was re-located to MSG Western New York—a joint venture of MSG and the team ownership. Preseason games will continue to air in simulcast on WKBW.[47]

In the event regular season games are broadcast by ESPN, in accordance with the league's television policies, a local Buffalo station simulcasts the game. From 2014 to 2017, WKBW-TV held the broadcast rights to that contest, with the station having won back the rights to cable games after WBBZ-TV held the rights for 2012 and 2013.[48]

Training camp sites[edit]

[49]

Mascots, cheerleaders and marching band[edit]

The Bills' official mascot is Billy Buffalo, an eight-foot tall, anthropomorphic blue American bison who wears the jersey "number" BB.

The Bills currently do not have cheerleaders. The Bills operated a cheerleading squad named the Buffalo Jills from 1967 to 1985; from 1986 to 2013, the Jills operated as an independent organization sponsored by various companies, most recently by Citadel Broadcasting. The Jills suspended operations prior to the 2014 season due to legal actions.[50] The Bills and Jills are currently involved in a legal battle, in which the Jills allege they were employees, not independent contractors, and are seeking back pay.[51] Complicating matters is that Citadel's buyer, Cumulus Media, declared bankruptcy and sought to discharge its remaining Bills-related debts in January 2018.[52]

The Bills are one of six teams in the NFL to designate an official marching band or drumline (the others being the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins, New York Jets, Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks). Since the last game of the 2013 season, this position has been served by the Stampede Drumline, known outside of Buffalo as Downbeat Percussion.[53][54] The Bills have also used the full marching bands from Attica High School, the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University at home games in recent years.

The Bills have several theme songs associated with them. One is a variation of the Isley Brothers hit "Shout", recorded by Scott Kemper,[55] which served as the Bills' official promotional song from 1987 through 1990s. It was officially replaced circa 2000 with "The Power of the Bills", although "Shout" remains in use. The Bills' unofficial fight song, "Go Bills", was penned by Bills head coach Marv Levy in the mid-1990s on a friendly wager with his players that he will write the song if the team won a particular game.[56]

Supporters[edit]

The Bills Backers are the official fan organization of the Buffalo Bills. It has over 200 chapters across North America, Europe and Oceania.[57] Also notable is the Bills Mafia, a collection of Bills fans organized via Twitter beginning in 2010;[58] the phrase "Bills Mafia" had by 2017 grown to unofficially represent the broad community surrounding and encompassing the team as a whole, and players who join the Bills often speak of joining the Bills Mafia. Outsiders often treat the Bills' fan base in derogatory terms, especially since the 2010s, in part because of negative press coverage of select fans' wilder antics.[59] Bills fans have been noted as much for their boisterous behavior as they have for their generosity; after the Bills received help in breaking their 17-year playoff drought on a last-minute Cincinnati Bengals victory, Bills fans crowdfunded the charities of Bengals players Andy Dalton and Tyler Boyd with tens of thousands of dollars as a gesture of thanks.[60][61]

The Bills are one of the favorite teams of ESPN announcer Chris Berman, who picked the Bills to reach the Super Bowl nearly every year in the 1990s. Berman often uses the catchphrase "No one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills!" Berman gave the induction speech for Bills owner Ralph Wilson when Wilson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009.

The Bills were also the favorite team of late NBC political commentator Tim Russert, a South Buffalo native, who often referred to the Bills on his Sunday morning talk show, Meet the Press. (His son, Luke, is also a notable fan of the team.) CNN's Wolf Blitzer, also a Buffalo native, has proclaimed he is also a fan,[62] as has CBS Evening News lead anchor and Tonawanda native Jeff Glor.[63]

ESPN anchor Kevin Connors is also a noted Bills fan, dating to his time attending Ithaca College. Actor Nick Bakay, a Buffalo native, is also a well-known Bills fan; he has discussed the team in segments of NFL Top 10. Character actor William Fichtner, raised in Cheektowaga, is a fan,[64] and did a commercial for the team in 2014.[65] In 2015, Fichtner also narrated the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the Bills four Super Bowl appearances, "Four Falls of Buffalo". Former Olympic swimmer Summer Sanders has professed her fandom of the team.

Bills fans are particularly well known for their wearing of Zubaz zebra-printed sportswear; so much is the association between Bills fans and Zubaz that when a revival of the company opened their first brick-and-mortar storefront, it chose Western New York as its first location.[66]

Persons notable almost entirely for their Bills fandom include Ken "Pinto Ron" Johnson, whose antics while appearing at every Bills home and away game since 1994 earned enough scrutiny that his tailgate parties were banned from stadium property on order of the league;[67] John Lang, an Elvis impersonator who carries a large guitar that he uses as a billboard;[68] and Ezra Castro, also known as "Pancho Billa," a resident of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex who wears a large sombrero and lucha mask. Castro was diagnosed with a spinal tumor that had metastasized in 2017; he was invited on stage during the 2018 NFL Draft to read one of the Bills' selections.[69]

In popular culture[edit]

Buffalo's rivalry with the Miami Dolphins is referenced on Steve Martin's 1979 album Comedy Is Not Pretty! on the track "How To Meet A Girl." On the track, Martin simulates chatter about football at a party, and one "partier" expresses disbelief that Buffalo could beat Miami – at the time of the album's release, the Dolphins had won 18 straight games over the Bills.

In the 1996 X-Files episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", the titular character, a member of a shadowy government cabal, states that the Buffalo Bills will not win a Super Bowl while he lives.

The Buffalo Bills were featured on the direct-to-TV movie Second String, and in the Vincent Gallo drama Buffalo 66.

Actor Dean Cain was briefly a member of the Bills. Because of this, references to the Bills have appeared in the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, in which Cain played the title character. In the first episode of season four, titled "Lord of the Flys", Clark picks up a blue Buffalo Bills hat with the Charging Buffalo emblem in the center and uses it to help disguise himself. In a later episode, he lets it be known the Metropolis Mammoths are playing the Bills.

In an April 2011 episode of the television series 30 Rock, titled "100", Alec Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy discovers that, in an alternate future, he would not only be wealthier and more successful, but he would also be the owner of a "New York football team." He later is disappointed to learn the team is not the New York Giants or New York Jets, but the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills are the team that eventually unseats the Orlando Breakers, the fictional NFL team that serves as the focus of the sitcom Coach in later seasons, in the playoffs.

In a March 2014 episode of the television series Family Guy entitled "3 Acts of God", Peter Griffin—along with his family and friends—attends a game between the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which the Bills win. The episode also features Bills players Mario Williams and C. J. Spiller guest starring as themselves.[70]

Several former Buffalo Bills players have earned a name in politics after their playing careers had ended, almost always as members of the Republican Party. The most famous of these was quarterback Jack Kemp, who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Western New York in 1971—two years after his playing career ended and remained there for nearly two decades, serving as the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States under Bob Dole in 1996. Kemp's backup, Ed Rutkowski, served as county executive of Erie County from 1979 to 1987. Former tight end Jay Riemersma, defensive tackle Fred Smerlas and defensive end Phil Hansen have all run for Congress, though all three either lost or withdrew from their respective races. Quarterback Jim Kelly and running back Thurman Thomas have also both been mentioned as potential candidates for political office, although both have declined all requests to date.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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  2. ^ "Contact Us". Buffalo Bills. Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
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  5. ^ The New York Giants and New York Jets play at MetLife Stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
  6. ^ "Training Camp". Buffalo Bills. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  7. ^ a b Sessler, Marc (October 8, 2014). "Bills sale to Terry, Kim Pegula unanimously approved". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
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  9. ^ "Bills End Their Playoff Drought, and Tears Flow". The New York Times. Associated Press. December 31, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  10. ^ "History: History of NFL franchises, 1920–present". Pro Football Hall of Fame. February 7, 2010. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  11. ^ "Franchise nicknames - Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site". www.profootballhof.com.
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External links[edit]

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