Buffalo, the city of good neighbors, has picked up a few nicknames through the years. There’s Nickel City, Queen City, City of Good Neighbors and, um, City of Losers.
The Buffalo Bills host Baltimore Ravens on Sunday as the two leading NFL MVP candidates — Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson — battle each other in the divisional round the AFC playoffs.
Ahead of that game, Ravens coach John Harbaugh spoke to the media Monday as the team gets ready for what’s likely to be an epic showdown. That’s when a cheeky Baltimore sports radio host dropped the “city of losers” bomb while asking about Bills Mafia.
“[Bills fans] didn’t like what I said about them a few years ago,” Jerry Coleman told Harbaugh. “I called them the city of losers… I mean I was just stating the facts.”
The room erupted in laughs except for an uncomfortable-looking Harbaugh, who seemingly regretted asking if Coleman had a problem with Bills fans. “… I apologize to the world,” Harbaugh says.
Coleman was hardly apologetic on X on Tuesday.
“As always stay classy, Buffalo. You guys are the best,” he replied to one fan’s remarks.
In mentioning his “city of losers” remark, Coleman is referring to his viral moment a few years back when he started a beef with Bills Mafia, and ultimately the city.
“They [Buffalo] have two major sports teams just like Baltimore except the big difference is besides they have better chicken wings is they’re a city of losers. They’ve won nothing,” the longtime Baltimore sports personality tweeted in 2019.
Mentioning that Buffalo sports team have never won it all is dirty pool in western New York. In a pitch-perfect response, Bills Mafia donated thousands of dollars in Coleman’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association, a disease that had affected Coleman’s mom.
It’s not the first time Bills Mafia has shown that Buffalo truly is the City of Good Neighbors.
Back in September, Bills Mafia donated nearly $18,000 to the Tua Foundation after the Bills knocked Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa out of a game with a concussion.
After Bills kicker Tyler Bass missed a field goal that would have tied the epic game with the Kansas City Chiefs in last year’s playoffs, Bass endured a torrent of criticism, including death threats. Bills mafia stepped in and showed their support by donating tens of thousands of dollars to the Ten Lives Club, a local cat shelter that worked with Bass,.
Bills Mafia even showed some love to Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson in January 2021, after Buffalo defeated the Ravens in the divisional round. In that game, Buffalo knocked Jackson out of the game with a concussion. Following the win, Bills fans tracked down Jackson’s favorite charity, Louisville Chapter of Blessings in a Backpack, which Jackson began at the University of Louisville. They began donating to Jackson’s cause after finding out about it via Reddit.
— Bill Wolcott is a producer who helps cover the Buffalo Bills, high school and Rochester sports in general. The lifelong New Yorker has been a journalist for 30 years.