The Buffalo Bills are very special.
Maybe it is the fact that I am the resident Dallas Cowboys person around here at SB Nation and my team beat them in two Super Bowls (I’m a Cowboys fan, I have to cling to the past or else I have nothing) that makes me hold them near and dear to my heart in a special way. Or maybe it is just the fact that the Bills are awesome.
The Bills began having what we thought was a cute little moment back in 2017. They broke their playoff drought and were the latest feel-good story across the NFL that the collective assumed would dissipate like all of the rest.
Here we are, almost a decade later, and the Bills remain one of the best teams in the entire world and have the reigning MVP at the game’s most important position. That player, Josh Allen, is also a global icon who may not even be the most famous person in his own household after his wedding this year. Quite the moment for Buffalo.
In spite of all of the fanfare the Bills remain a blue-collar team with a fanbase that personifies hard work and helping hands. Bills Mafia is every fan base’s second-favorite one in the league after their own, which is part of what makes the Bills easy to root for when your team is out of it (trust me I know, I’m a Cowboys fan like I said).
These qualities were born long ago for the Buffalo area at large but also for the Bills as a football franchise. Everyone is aware of the teams that lost four straight Super Bowls in the 1990s, but what people might not be aware of is how tight the group remains as they cheer on the new generation of players looking to bring a Lombardi Trophy to the fanbase that cherishes them all.
Recently I spoke to one of these men in Thurman Thomas and he was absolutely delightful. Thurman exemplifies the qualities that every football fan loves about the Bills, even well beyond the days of his lining up in the backfield with Jim Kelly.
You can watch our interview below.
Thurman touched on his thoughts, hopes and dreams for the Bills of today, but also discussed the new stadium that the Bills are building. It is set to open next year which makes this season the final one at Highmark Stadium. Needless to say everyone involved wants the building’s swan song to involve a world championship.
Thomas’ company 34 Group has been involved in the construction of the new Highmark Stadium and Thurman also partnered with the workwear brand Carhartt to aid the skilled tradespeople building the stadium. Carhartt has been powering America’s workforce since 1889. This fall, America’s family-owned workwear brand is launching a new creative platform, Made Possible, to unveil just how much of life is made possible by hardworking people and celebrate the hardworking tradespeople behind everything we know and love – from the sport stadiums we pack, to the live music we listen to, to the food on our plates.
It is very cool to see Thurman so involved in the construction of the Bills’ new stadium both from a logistical standpoint but specifically from one providing assistance to the people helping to literally build it. That is what Buffalo and the Bills are all about.
Time will tell whether or not the Bills open their new stadium next year with a Lombardi Trophy in their hand. Thurman Thomas will not be on the field to help make that a reality, but Josh Allen and his teammates seem fairly equipped to try and climb that mountain themselves.
