Bills Mafia crashes Detroit for possible Super Bowl preview

On December 16, 2024By Littum

Hundreds of football fans in downtown Detroit were wearing blue, and that wasn’t all Lions‘ Honolulu Blue. It was a royal blue. Buffalo Bills Blue.

They are the Bills Mafia, a cheeky, self-given name for Buffalo Bills fans. The mob came to Detroit in droves on Sunday, eagerly awaiting a matchup between the Lions and Bills, two likely SuperBowl contenders. In parking lots around Ford Field, hordes of Bills fans stood in the cold, wet weather, enjoying the camaraderie of fandom and anticipating the high-speed offense showdown at Ford Field.

The Bills Mafia have become notorious for their pregame antics, which often go viral on social media. Among their many hijinks, Bills Mafia is perhaps best known to jump from high places to folding white tables — the Bills Mafia table slam.

And at the corner of Gratiot Avenue and Brush Street, the Bills mob gathered to do just that. At a big tailgate coughed off Fans of Buffalo — a group that advertises itself as the “first Buffalo sports travel group” — white plastic tables were smashed throughout the day.

From a distance, it might have looked like an act of violence when Alex Cauley, a big, burly Buffalo fan in Bills-themed Zumbas overalls, threw Ryan Petras, a Lions fan, through a table from atop a concrete block. But they are friends, they said, and partied in town and had a good time, regardless of who might win.

Petras, 31, is from Troy. Cauley, also 31, is from Kansas City. The two met years ago while working together and bonded at the tailgate before playing. They both plan to be groomsmen at each other’s weddings.

“He’s a good guy, even though he’s a Bills fan,” Petras said before being thrown through the table.

Ceremonially, Buffalo fans gathered around the table as Cauley led them in a chant before throwing Petras (and himself) through the table, crashing to the ground and laughing — also wincing in a little bit of pain.

“I will feel that tomorrow,” Petras said.

This season, the Bills mob has brought a significant presence to all of their road games. The goal is to make every game for the Bills feel like a home game, even if they are hundreds of miles away.

Kym Eiss, a Bills fan born in Buffalo, now living in Toledo, was early for the tailgate in all her Bills gear. Her reason for coming out?

“It’s the mafia. What do you mean?” Eiss said. “I bleed red, white and blue, my whole family is from Buffalo.”

Eiss said she has some respect for the Lions and said she expects this game to be a preview of this year’s Super Bowl. But of course, her faith was behind Josh Allen and Buffalo’s high-powered offense.

“The Bills, Josh (Allen), they look good. There’s no other way to put it,” Eiss said.

At the same strip of tailgaters on Mechanic Street, DJ Myers, a 29-year-old Lions fan from Troy, said there were simply “too many” Bills fans in Detroit, but he wasn’t intimidated by their presence.

“(Lions) fans this year have been as good as ever, and you’ve seen the blue wave from the Lions in Arizona and Green Bay,” Myers said. “Our noise is so important to the product we put out on the field.”

Myers has been to every Lions home game this season, and he traveled to Arizona in week three to watch the Lions beat the Cardinals. Lions fans are as dedicated as the Bills Mafia, Myers said.

“That’s why this is the most expensive ticket in the NFL this year,” Myers said. “It’s no accident,”

Liam Rappleye covers the latest and trending news. He can be reached at [email protected]