JACKSONVILLE, F.L. (WKBW) — As the Buffalo Bills get ready to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars inside EverBank Stadium on Sunday, fans from Western New York are making their presence felt.
Like every Bills road game, plenty of fans from Western New York are making the trip. When you add in all the Buffalo transplants living in the Jacksonville area, you get plenty of Josh Allen jerseys. At the Players Grille in Jacksonville, fans have been gathering for parties and tailgates ahead of Sunday’s game.
WATCH: Buffalo Bills fans making their presence felt ahead of Wild Card matchup vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
"It's out of this world," William Koch, Jacksonville Bills Backers vice president, said. "I mean, we have a big population of Bills fans already that live here, and then to have everybody else come down on top of that, there are parties everywhere."
"It's so much fun," Jill Holcomb, an Elma native now living in Jacksonville, said. "You know, the stars had to kind of align for this to happen, and it's just so awesome, and it's going to be so memorable. I can't wait for Sunday."
This is the first game in Jacksonville for the Bills since the 2021 season. It’s also where the Bills played their first playoff game after ending their 17-year playoff drought in the 2017 season. The Bills lost that game, so some fans are hoping for revenge nine years later.
"We've been waiting for this," Koch added. "Ever since the last playoff game when they knocked us out, we were hoping that it was going to come down to this and the Bills were going to come."
While the game is the main focus, fans say getting a chance to spend time together leading up to kickoff is priceless.
"It kind of makes me feel like we're part of an inclusive club, right?" Mario Briglio, who traveled to Jacksonville from Southern Ontario, said. "Like everywhere we go, if somebody's yelling like, ‘hey, hey, or like, Go Buffalo.’ So we're really happy to be part of that. And every time we go to Buffalo, we go every year, and it's like we're part of a family. We don't know everybody, but we see familiar faces. We see people doing the same things we want to do, and it's just a great, great feeling to be part of that."
"What's not to love about the Bills?" Joel Butler, a Jameston native, added. "The Bills Mafia tailgating, breaking tables, having good times."
