Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Buffalo Bills continue their push through the NFL playoffs this week after a 47-17 throttling of the New England Patriots this past Saturday night in the AFC Wild Card Round.
While Saturday's win over New England was one of the most memorable performances from the Bills in some time, they will need to have similar success this upcoming Sunday night when they head to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
"People are excited," said John Rood, who's one of the officers for the Bills Backers of Kansas City group. "Our Bills Backers bar was filled up on Saturday to watch the Bills stomping the Patriots, but the immediate thought as soon as it ended was, 'Most likely they're coming to Kansas City.' We all kind of knew it, the K.C. fans that were in the bar all knew it. So it was a lot of excitement. The general mood in Kansas City is excitement, and tenuous anxiety."
Earlier in the 2021 season, the Bills went to Kansas City for a Week 5 matchup on "Sunday Night Football" on Oct. 10. That game belonged to the Bills from start-to-finish, as Josh Allen threw for 315 yards on 15-of-26 passing for three touchdowns in a 38-20 win. Allen also rushed the ball 11 times for 59 yards and another score as part of the victory.
The win in Kansas City came after the Bills fell short in the 2020 AFC Championship Game, losing to the Chiefs, 38-24, with a chance to advance to Super Bowl LV to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"After Week 5, a lot of the Bills fans, we were obviously having a blast," Rood said. "Kansas City was in a very different place. Their fans were pretty distraught. I believe they were in last place in their division at that point, but I kept telling my co-workers, 'Keep your heads up, because it's a long season.' I'm not the type of guys who's really a trash talker, and I knew we would probably be seeing them again, so I wanted to make sure I was being nice about it.
"Kansas City people at Week 5, they thought the season was over. I told them the season was not over, it's a long season. We will probably be seeing them in the playoffs, and here we are."
The Chiefs were struggling to get their footing to start the 2021 season and fell to 2-3 after the Week 5 loss to the Bills. However, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City offense managed to find their stride after a Week 7 loss to the Tennessee Titans, and the defense rebounded from some tough stretches of play to open the year.
In the end, the Chiefs were able to put together a 12-5 record to finish second in the AFC standings, just one game ahead of the Bills, who finished as the third seed for the playoffs.
For fans who are planning on making the trip to Kansas City for Sunday evening's game, the folks from the Bills Backers of Kansas City group have plans for a number of different outings leading up to Sunday's contest. This includes a number gatherings around town with other Bills fans also joining the fun.
"We're going to have parties going on at Al's Bar and Grill, which is up in Parkville, Missouri," Rood said. "I strongly recommend that any Bills fan who's coming in; if you're flying in, Al's is pretty much on the way from the airport to downtown. You can stop and get some wings, say hi to Al. He's been out here for years and he's been supporting the Bills Backers out here. Definitely want to throw that support right back to him.
"We're also going to have a downtown location, which is Taps on Main. We had the party there during the regular season, so people who were here in October will be familiar. It's a nice big space, and it's owned by a guy who's actually a Bills fan. He's born and raised in Kansas City, but his dad is from Tonawanda, New York. So we like to throw some business their way whenever the 'Mafia' comes to town."
With the group setting up two different watch parties for Sunday's game in Kansas City, they are preparing for a large congregation of "Bills Mafia" to root on their favorite team in the playoffs.
"I'm expecting it. I mean, I think people show up," Rood said. "I didn't think the regular season game was going to be as big as it did, and it got out of hand pretty quick with the number of people sliding in, as far as my DMs and asking, 'What's going on? What's the word?' So we're trying to organize this time a little bit better. We've already put out some literature on Twitter, and also in our Facebook group."
One thing that will forever stand out about this past Saturday's win over the Patriots is just how cold the game was as the night went on. At the time of kickoff at 8:15 a.m. EST, the temperature was sitting at a "balmy" seven degrees Fahrenheit without taking into account sub zero wind chills. It ended up being one of the coldest games played in franchise history.
While Sunday's conditions are expected to be cold in Kansas City, temperatures will certainly not dip down as low as they did in Orchard Park this past weekend.
"I thought about coming home for that game, and I'm kind of glad I didn't, just because that looked frigid, and I don't know if I can handle that anymore," Rood said jokingly. "I'm looking at the early weather reports officially from Kansas City... they're calling for a high of 40 degrees and a low of 23 degrees on Sunday. So it's going to be significantly warmer. A 3% chance of precipitation, which if you're from Kansas City, you know that a 3% chance pretty much means nothing, because the weather here can change overnight. Overall, temperature-wise, we're looking good. I would still bring some jackets and what not, but I don't think you're going to be at the level of freezing that you were in Buffalo last week."
So what other options are the Bills Backers of Kansas City offering Bills fans this weekend leading up to Sunday's kickoff?
"There's going to be more of an all-inclusive option, which is done through Fans of Buffalo, which you can follow them on Twitter: @FansOfBuffalo. They'll get your plane ticket, and they organize a tailgate. We also have, not a private tailgate, but one that we're just kind of putting on as the Bills Backers of Kansas City. That's going to be more of a bring your own food, bring your own drink situation."
In addition, the Bills Backers of Kansas City are planning a caravan that will meet and eventually ride together to Arrowhead Stadium. The hope is that all the cars will park in the same area of the parking lot to allow for a pregame tailgate with Bills fans all together.
And as anyone who ever lived in Western New York knows, Rood (who grew up in Rochester) ended his conversation with the casual: "Go Bills."
