Buffalo isn’t a frontrunner kind of town. It’s a too-often forgotten town; living in Manhattan’s considerable shadow, dismissed by critics who focus on the piles of snow rather than the glorious summers, a city always trying to remind everyone it’s still there.
That’s OK. The charms of Western New York aren’t for everyone. In some ways, the underdog mentality that is instilled in nearly every resident is the whole point of the place, a positive not a negative, a cherished feature, not some bug.
The Bills have long reflected that. Even when they were a powerhouse in the early 1990s, reaching four Super Bowls (and, of course, losing them all) the team’s identity was based on toughness, physicality and embracing the challenges as playoff runs ran deeper and deeper into winter.