(NEW ERA FIELD EDITION: Week 15) Miami Dolphins vs. Buffalo Bills

(6-8)

(8-6)

The Experience: In this special edition post, I'm gonna review a stadium and city I've travelled to multiple times: New Era Field in Orchard Park, NY. For starters, New Era Field is not a stadium you should visit in the first few weeks of the season; if the snow isn't reaching your nose, don't bother going. You won't get the authentic experience. It's just one week shy of Buffalo's frigid victory over the Colts, and snow still blaneketed the stadium in white. In fact, my seat was covered in slush. Even sitting on a blanket, you'll feel like you went swimming in Lake Erie once the fourth quarter rolls around. You've had swamp-ass? Try glacial-ass.

New Era Field stands upon the ashes of what was once Lake Erie's most profitable cities. It rises out of the ground like a phoenix; a timeless tribute to the days of small-town ball. With small-town ball comes small-town fans, and Buffalo has them in droves. Buffalo may be the least valued team in the NFL, in terms of worth, but the sheer amount of red-and-blue I saw merely entering the stadium would suggest otherwise. The Bills represent a lot more than just Buffalo; they represent all of upstate New York, from Rochester to Albany, and are truly New York's football team. For the last time, NEW YORK DOESN'T ALWAYS MEAN NEW YORK CITY, but I digress.

Buffalo fans are like trucks; big, frightening, and during Upstate winters, full of salt. One may say this fanbase is cancerous, but I prefer to say passionate. It's no secret that the Buffalo Bills fans have a bad reputation, but I have to counter. My experience, as a neutral Vikings fan, was great. In fact, I sat in front of a myriad of Bills fans complimenting them. Whenever the Bengals-Vikings score popped up on the jumbotron, they cheered with me. Sure, there were a few crazies here and there (a trio of bearded guys in the end zone had their shirts off in 15 degree temperature), but nothing out of the ordinary. 

I guess some things do change in the City of Light. Years ago, when I wasn't old enough to go to games, my Mom got confronted by a ten year old who threatened to "wipe his ass" with her Miami jersey. 

My advice for non-Bills fans? Stay neutral. 

As a final note, the Bills theme is actually pretty catchy. Anything is better than the trash that is the Miami Dolphins theme.
Recap: Bills 24 Dolphins 16
Remember how the Dolphins beat the Patriots last week? Well, throw all of that momentum out the window. Jay Cutler came back down to Earth with 2 interceptions and a few dropped balls, while the running game stalled like a truck on Interstate 90. The Dolphins defense made Tyrod Taylor look competent, while allowing LeSean McCoy to break the 10,000 career rush yards marker.
One of the best parts about watching football games live is you get to pick what you want to watch, so I decided to focus on Adam Gase, which turned out to be comic gold. When the Dolphins do something right, he fist pumps like they won the AFC Championship; when they screw up, he acts like Sally from Charlie Brown and throws a temper tantrum. Miami made things interesting towards the end, after a few questionable calls (that drew a few well-aimed snowballs from the crowd) helped them get in the end zone. They even recovered the subsequent onside kick...only for Cutler to pull a...Cutler, and throw a game ending interception nowhere near his intended receiver. Was this game worth getting glacial-ass for? Not really.