Tag: buffalo bills season opener

Bills fan gets billboard help from Pepsi

Buffalo Bills fan gets help from Pepsi for a billboard.

A loyal Bills fan went viral for painting their house with the team’s logo, but the reasoning was what really stood out.

This fan was just…claiming their territory, literally.

The decision to paint the side of their home was made in response to his neighbor flying a New York Jets flag. Western New York resident Michael Mansfield has a friendly rivalry with Jets fan Eric Jensen, which began when Jensen first moved into the area.

Reported on by WHAM-TV in Rochester, the story soon went viral, which happened to catch the attention of PepsiCo. When the company saw the neighbors’ story, they wanted to celebrate Mansfield and his unapologetic love for the Bills. The brand did that and more. Pepsi reached out publicly via Twitter with an offer to make a commercial and some billboards if the post reached 1,000 retweets (albeit unbeknown at first to Mansfield). 

Here’s Pepsi’s message: 

From his village block in Bloomfield, NY, into the heart of the city of Rochester, Pepsi’s response caught the eye of Bills faithful who came through in support on his behalf, surpassing that 1,000 number easily. 

“As soon as we heard the news about Michael’s unapologetic love for his football team, the Buffalo Bills, we knew we had to get involved,” said Nancy Gold, Marketing Manager, PepsiCo Beverages North America (North Division). 

Looks like Bills fans will be supporting Pepsi now: 

Photo via Pepsi on Twitter.

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Bills QB Josh Allen said his 300 yards passing ‘doesn’t matter’

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen says it doesn’t matter he passed for 300-plus yards finally.

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For the second consecutive year, the Buffalo Bills got the better of their division rivals from New Jersey at the start of a new NFL schedule, winning 27-17 on opening day. In the season opener at home against the New York Jets, the Bills went into the third quarter up 21-3 before the Jets began worked their way back into the game following injuries to key linebackers such as Matt Milano and Tremaine Edwards, before Buffalo closed it out.

In finishing thing, the Bills saw their quarterback finally reach the promse land.

Allen threw for 312 yards, going 33 for 46 passing with two touchdowns. He added 59 rushing yards and another score on the ground. But the talk of the town was Allen finally hitting the 300-yard plateau. 

That is, it was for everyone but the man himself. 

Following the win, Allen had little to say about the 312 yards, and there was even less patting himself on the back. 

“It’s one of those stats that doesn’t matter. The only stat I care about is the points on the scoreboard. As long as we have more than the other team is all I’m really focused about,” Allen said via video conference following the game.

Allen’s preparation to face Jets defensive coordinator Greg Williams group also played out as a key to their victory, evident in the big lead the team took early on.

“He likes to heat it up, obviously, on third down” Allen said. “You want to put yourself in second- and third-and-manageable. But understanding that… if it’s third-and-long we’ve got to be pretty precise in the decision-making process and not putting the ball in harm’s way and allowing our defense to go out there and make them play a long field.”

Another key to the win was the efforts of those around him, namely his wide receivers. Stefon Diggs had a good showing in his first game for the Bills, leading the team with 86 yards receiving. John Brown also added himself a touchdown catch in the outing. Allen said the strength of having both Brown and Diggs is a huge factor. 

“(Diggs and Brown) are extremely smart football players. They know how to get open, they’re fun to play with. Not a lot of guys in this league can do what they do. I really wouldn’t say we have a one and a two, we have two No. 1s,” Allen said. 

Still, there was that one big problem for Allen that persisted: His fumbling problem continued. 

“Those two fumbles early on, I can’t do.” Allen said. “When we’re in a position to score points, I can’t take that away from us. The way we won, yes I’m happy. But at the same time, we’ve got a lot to work on, a lot to grow from. We’ve got to be better. We left a lot out there and we know that.”

Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott echoed that as one would expect from a bench boss.

“We left some things out there,” McDermott said via video conference. “Overall Josh did a really good job with giving our receivers a chance. I thought our line did a great job giving Josh time to work back there. Good first game but a lot to work on. There’s a lot to like. We’ve worked things in practice that we saw carry over to the game, that’s the biggest thing that makes me smile as a coach.”

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