ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — While the day ended on a key fourth-down stop, for one crucial part of the team’s playoff win, it started on the grill, with cornhole and — just like the team — lasered in.
The message was simple.
“I can't stand Miami,” said Bills fan Pam Maggard of Tampa, Fla. “Squish the fish.”
It’s that energy that was there for the Bills to pick them up when in the third quarter they went down, and it wasn’t just here in Orchard Park but across the pond, as the blue-and-red faithful flooded a pub in the U.K. to make sure the team felt their presence from 3,500 miles away.
“The Bills mean a whole lot,” Bills fan Tony Dixon of Buffalo said. “It's stable for the community, and we just want to bring home that Super Bowl every year. They bring everybody together with more love.”
Added Bills fan Peter Notaro of Williamsville: “I don't think Buffalo could survive without the Bills because I think each and other are the same. I think the heartbeat of Buffalo is the Bills.”
While so much of this afternoon was about Sunday’s challenge, fans still haven’t forgotten about the one No. 3 had to go through and were adamant that this win, and any one going forward, isn’t just for the city but for him.
“It's made people realize that prayer works. God works, and he works in special ways,” Peter Notaro of Lancaster said on Sunday. “He for sure he worked in Damar’s way and favor.”