Since the NFL-AFL merger the Buffalo Bills have twice started a season with five straight wins, most recently in 1991, when the Bills would go on to finish the regular season with a 13-3 record and eventually lose for the second consecutive year in the Super Bowl. With a win on Sunday night versus their AFC East rival the New England Patriots, Buffalo would replicate that mark for a third time.
But even though the Bills have won six of their last seven meeting with the Patriots in games played in Buffalo and enter this matchup as an 8-point favorite, MVP quarterback Josh Allen knows that in order to keep an unbeaten season alive, everybody will need to bring their A-game… and that includes all members of Bills Mafia who will be in attendance for an early-October white out at Highmark Stadium.
“We’re gonna need every ounce, every decibel that we can get,” Allen told reporters this week when asked about the role Bills Mafia will play on Sunday night. “Every bit of momentum and energy that we can get from the crowd, they’ve been so big for us. Forcing a couple false starts and a couple delay of games. I don’t think people realize how big of an impact that can make on a game, and it really can change the game at any point, so we’re gonna need them this week.”
Josh Allen’s Message Won’t Fall on Deaf Ears
Fortunately for the best quarterback alive, this isn’t an unreasonable ask. Having grown up just 30 minutes outside of Buffalo and having been to many Bills games when the team wasn’t all that competitive throughout much of the 2000’s, I know firsthand how rowdy a Bills crowd can be… and with the bright lights of primetime shining down on the field and a full day of, let’s call it alcohol-infused pre-game festivities, I don’t doubt that Bills Mafia will do their part on Sunday.
Does that mean we should all just head to our preferred sportsbook app and hammer the Bills? Perhaps it does, and surely, some of you reading this likely already have. But don’t expect the Patriots to roll over and take an L on the chin without putting up a fight.
“It’s a team that’s always played at a very high level. Having Coach Vrabel there now, instilling the type of culture that he usually instills and the type of defense he has, we gotta be ready for a lot of different things, making sure we’re having a good week,” Allen said. “These division games are tough any time you play each other just because you’re so familiar with each other. It’s no different this Sunday night.”
One thing different this Sunday night will be the fact that two former teammates of Josh Allen will be wearing Patriots uniforms this time around. Both Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins have sat in the Buffalo Bills receivers room, but now as each pass-catcher is in his first year with the Patriots, Josh Allen looks forward to reuniting with both this weekend.
“He’s obviously a fantastic player, you gotta know where he’s at at all times,” Allen said of Diggs. “We played him last year, so I don’t think it’s anything super crazy, but obviously being back in Buffalo, who knows if the emotions are going to be heightened for him or for the fans.”
Allen seemed far more excited to reunite with Hollins, who played just one season with the Bills.
“Very excited to see Mack Hollins. He made a very lasting impact in his one season here. He’s another Buffalo kind of folklore legend. We do miss him,” Allen added.
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