Entering Thursday’s Thanksgiving showdown vs. the Dallas Cowboys, the Bills were not receiving any respect.
Despite being 8-3, the Bills were 7.5-point underdogs to start the week against the 6-5 Cowboys, and the talk was mainly surrounding their weak schedule and unimpressive wins vs. bad teams.
Following their 26-15 win on the national stage, that saw the Bills improve to 9-3 for the first time since 1996, several players on the Bills felt it was time people start paying them their due.
As the clock wound down on one of the biggest wins in recent Bills history, defensive end Shaq Lawson had plenty to say on the sideline.
“Bills back. If we don’t got y’all respect now, we got this [expletive] for real,” Lawson said.
“They gonna respect Bills Mafia.”
Lawson wasn’t alone. As the team made it’s way down the tunnel towards the locker room, following the victory, passion was oozing out of the players.
“You don’t like us, but we’re winning!” Jerry Hughes shouted.
Jon Feliciano directly behind him added, “are not you entertained?!”
While being the underdog provides a certain ‘chip on your shoulder’ that drives players, at some point everyone wants acknowledgment for their hard work and success.
“The film spoke for itself today,” Bills defensive tackle Jordan Phillips told reporters. “We came out and did our thing. Showed the world what we got. Put the world on notice. We were the worst 8-3 team in the NFL, now hopefully we get a little respect. We’ll see how that goes.”
Bills safety Jordan Poyer was asked if this win can be classified as a statement win for Buffalo.
“I believe so,” Poyer said at his locker. “The world believed that we couldn’t come in here and do what we did today and you know, we showed what we could do. Everybody doubting us. Everybody, but the people in this locker room, believing that we couldn’t win… but the guys in this locker room, the coaches in this locker room, the organization, we believed that we were going to come in here and win and it showed today. ”
While many players and coaches on the Bills are often tight lipped regarding their feelings towards being disrespected by those outside the organization, Thanksgiving felt different.
Many of the players on the team shared pictures to their Instagram accounts of network analysts picking the Cowboys to win, adding fuel to the growing sense of being disrespected.
In many ways Week 13 felt personal. Perhaps it was being on national TV, it being Thanksgiving, or just the fact that after 12 games the Bills have the third-best record in the conference and have no control over who they face on their schedule. All they can control is beating the teams they face.
Next up, the Bills get to take on the hottest team in the NFL, in the Baltimore Ravens. If they find a way to get that win, then absolutely no one will be denying the Bills the respect that they feel they deserve.
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