Buffalo Went Wild As The Bills Reached The AFC Title Game For The First Time Since 1994

Saturday night was a good one on the eastern shores of Lake Erie, as the Buffalo Bills beat the Baltimore Ravens at home to reach the AFC title game for the first time since 1994. Buffalo got a bit of luck and a huge play from Taron Johnson, who returned an interception of Lamar Jackson 101 yards for a touchdown and turned the game on its head late in the third quarter.

If you haven’t seen that, please watch it from the field level and enjoy how wild the 6,700 Bills fans went who were allowed in the stadium in Orchard Park.

That’s a good indication of how the entire city erupted during one of the biggest plays in franchise history. No, really.

And it served as a prelude to a wild party that was sparked in Buffalo after the game. As those listening to the scanners in Buffalo could tell you, the party caused a traffic jam outside of Buffalo city hall with people celebrating in the roundabout out front.

Even Griselda’s Westside Gunn was outside taking it all in, hopefully from a safe distance and with everyone wearing masks because we’re still in the middle of a pandemic.

A bit further north on Elmwood Avenue, the party was a bit more cliche. At the intersection of Allen and Elmwood in the Allentown region of the city — temporarily renamed Josh Allentown, of course — traffic was stopped altogether so an impromptu party could have someone leap through a folding table.

There were also a lot of fireworks going off in the city.

Back online, where social distancing was a bit more possible and things were safer, the Bills team Twitter account roasted a Ravens player for disrespecting the Buffalo origins of chicken wings.

Humphrey did own up to simply not knowing, which was a nice moment that can serve as a lesson in humility to us all.

There’s something to be said for restraint in celebrations for a number of reasons, starting with health and safety in a pandemic. And the Bills as a franchise have been here before: five times the Bills have made it to the AFC title game and they appeared in the Super Bowl four straight years in the 1990s. But that was a very long time ago, and the city’s sports fans have endured some real misery in the interim, not to mention losing all four of those Super Bowls. In a year like this, and with a team like the Bills have improbably put together, it certainly feels right to get excited about being a game away from another crack at finally winning it all.