Fans of the Buffalo Bills are known for many things. They love their Buffalo wings and they call themselves the Bills Mafia. Although it is frowned upon by the Bills organization itself, they have a penchant for breaking tables. Let’s examine the origin of this tradition.
Bills Fans Have a Rich Tradition of Breaking Tables To Celebrate the Team
Bills fans started the ritual around 2015 when a video of a drunk fan falling through a table went viral. Fans started recreating the video, and a tradition was born.
Now, at Bills tailgates, it’s not uncommon to see fans jumping from their cars or buses onto a table, breaking it, and then having another cocktail to celebrate the Bills.
Buffalo is very serious about their team, and Bills Mafia has become the stuff of legend. Now, Dick’s Sporting Goods stores in Buffalo sell folding tables alongside Bills merchandise. After all, tables are part of the unofficial fan gear.
Table-slamming has become so closely linked to the Bills that ESPN has created graphics showing Bills quarterback Josh Allen jumping off a bus and onto a table during games.
The popularity of table-slamming, reckless as it may be, coincided with the emergence of the Bills Mafia. The seemingly random way in which these two elements quickly turned into traditions is part of their appeal to Bills fans.
“We started Bills Mafia before people started jumping through tables,” said Del Reid, who is known as the “Godfather” of Bills Mafia and its founder. Though Reid said he has never table-slammed, he said he has no issue with the practice.
“As long as people are being safe, however, they want to express their fandom is fine,” he said. “People are trying to outdo themselves.”
During COVID-19, people would get together in small groups at their homes on Sundays and table-slam on their own. Bills Mafia wasn’t going to allow a small thing like a worldwide pandemic keep them from breaking tables.
“Table-slamming is about showmanship,” diehard Bills fan Ashleigh Dopp told the New York Times. “It kind of ends your tailgate.”
The Bills, as an organization, do not condone or authorize table-slamming. The team was concerned with excessive drinking and the violence of table-slamming, announcing a policy in 2018 that fans could face criminal charges, have their tickets revoked, or be ejected from the team-run parking lots for destroying folding tables.
The Origin Of Bills Mafia
“Bills Mafia” has become a mainstream term when describing Buffalo fans, but how did it come about?
The name was first used over a decade ago when Reid replied to ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter on Twitter. Reid is affectionately known as the “Godfather” of Bills Mafia, and he mocked Schefter for sharing “old news” since he was a day late to retweet something.
The origins of #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/SNLXRR2SD6
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 12, 2025
Shortly after, he and some of his other friends who are Bills fans found themselves blocked by Schefter on Twitter.
After a spat on Twitter, a separate group of people realized they were all blocked by Schefter as well.
Reid used the term “Bills Mafia” to describe those who got blocked, encouraging other fans to follow those accounts, and a rabid fandom was born.
Ravens vs. Bills Game Preview
- Location: Highmark Stadium, Orchard Park, N.Y.
- Time: 6:30 p.m ET
- Channel: CBS, Paramount+
The Bills will look to avenge their 35-10 loss to the Ravens in Week 4. The Bills Mafia will be out in full force and the stadium will be rocking.
This was the only game in which Allen neither passed nor rushed for a touchdown. Allen was sacked three times in this game, compared to a total of 11 sacks across their other 16 regular season games.
Josh Allen’s QB+ score against the Ravens was his lowest of the season, according to PFN’s QB+ metric. He recorded a QB+ score of 86.5 (B) against the Denver Broncos in the Wild Card Round.
Lamar Jackson’s QB+ score in Week 4 was his 10th-best of the season. He also posted a QB+ score of 86.5 against the Steelers in the Wild Card Round.
The Bills’ Offense+ score in Week 4 ranked 29th, while the Ravens’ Offense+ score was also the 29th best in the NFL this season. Meanwhile, the Ravens’ Defense+ score was their third-best of the season, while the Bills registered their second-worst of the season.
Since Week 9, Jackson has been exceptional on non-pressured passes, completing 75.8% of his attempts for 20 touchdowns and just one interception on 161 throws.
Over their past five games — all victories — Baltimore has scored touchdowns on 40.8% of their drives, an improvement from their already elite 33.3% rate earlier in the season.
Defensively, the Ravens have been dominant on fourth downs, with opponents going 0-for-6 in the past four games. This is a significant improvement from their previous stretch, where opponents converted 12 of 23 attempts.
On Saturday, Jan. 11, Derrick Henry made history as the first NFL player aged 30 or older to record four games in a season with at least 130 rushing yards and multiple rushing touchdowns.
Excluding the one-snap Week 18 game, Allen has been remarkably efficient on third downs, completing 13 of 16 passes with two touchdowns and no interceptions over his past two games.
The Bills have taken excellent care of the football, avoiding a turnover in six of their seven games since their Week 12 bye.
Buffalo’s red-zone defense has also shown improvement. After allowing Baltimore to score touchdowns on all four red zone trips in their Week 4 meeting, the Bills have given up just two red zone scores on six trips over their past three games (Denver went 0-for-1).
Notably, the Bills didn’t lead for a single second in their first matchup against the Ravens. This could be significant for James Cook, as his production over expectation this season is 16.4% higher when Buffalo is playing with a lead rather than from behind.
Jackson and Allen are widely expected to be the top two vote-getters in this season’s MVP race. This matchup could mark only the ninth instance in the past 45 seasons where the top two MVP vote-getters have faced each other in the playoffs.
The MVP winner’s team has emerged victorious in six of the last seven such meetings. The last runner-up to win was Drew Brees in Super Bowl 44 after the 2009 season when his New Orleans Saints defeated Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts.
Per Pro Football Network’s Playoff Predictor, with 10,000 simulations, the Ravens are an underdog and given a 47.9% chance of winning against the Bills.
