Can first-year HC Joe Brady lead the Bills to SB LXI? Hasselbeck is nervous about THIS… | NFL Live

0:00 Hey, our own Adam Shfter is known for a lot of things.

0:03 Most notably, his great ability to break news,

0:05 but he's also in part responsible for launching one

0:09 of the most famous nicknames in the NFL for a fan base,

0:12 probably more popular than any other in the league.

0:15 Sheffy has the origin story behind Bill's Mafia.

0:23 Bill's Mafia, known for its mustard and ketchup squirting,

0:27 table breaking pregame party atmosphere,

0:31 the suffering of losing the Super Bowls and then the 17-year playoff drought.

0:36 I think it's actually brought people even closer together.

0:40 You don't go through something like that collectively

0:42 and not come out stronger on the other side.

0:45 Its popular nickname has an origin story and an unexpected villain.

0:54 November 28th, 2010,

0:56 the Buffalo Bills were playing the defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

1:00 They started that season 0 and8 and the Pittsburgh Steelers

1:03 come to town and the Bills pushed them to overtime.

1:07 Fitz sets up, fires deep looking for Stevie Johnson.

1:11 Ryan Fitzpatrick threw this gorgeous bomb down the field to Stevie

1:15 Johnson and I mean it was a perfect pass, right?

1:19 It was right to him.

1:20 It was right in HIS HANDS.

1:22 NO.

1:22 NO.

1:23 HE DROPPED IT IN THE END ZONE.

1:24 INCOMPLETE.

1:26 He had the game when he passed in his hands in the end zone.

1:29 Incomplete.

1:30 Unbelievable.

1:33 You could just feel like the airs get sucked out of the crowd.

1:38 When the biggest player needs to be made, you don't make it.

1:41 You know, you feel bad.

1:42 You devastated right now.

1:46 In 2010, social media was in its infancy.

1:49 And right after the game, Bill's wide receiver, Stevie Johnson, took to Twitter.

1:55 That night, Stevie goes on Twitter, kind of questions his faith, questions God.

2:00 I'll never forget that infamous tweet.

2:03 I praise you 24/7, and this is how you do me.

2:08 Thanks, though.

2:10 It became a viral moment for people saying

2:13 that Stevie Johnson was either blaming God or questioning God,

2:16 and it became a pretty big deal.

2:18 Headline writers had a field day.

2:20 Football player picks fight with God on Twitter.

2:24 Twitter was young and new to me.

2:26 I didn't see the tweet until much later.

2:28 And to Bill's fans, it was much, much later.

2:32 So, I hit retweet.

2:34 Around like 4:00 the next day, Adam Shaper retweets Steviey's tweet,

2:39 which in Twitter time is like 10 years later.

2:41 And it died down until Adam Shaper brought it

2:44 back up again and kind of stirred the pot, got the media going again on it.

2:50 And I think we took that a little personally.

2:54 That's right.

2:55 Less than 24 hours later,

2:57 I unintentionally and unknowingly became the villain in this origin story.

3:03 A bunch of us started teasing Adam a little bit.

3:06 He created a hashtag called Shfter Breaking News

3:08 and a bunch of us just started tweeting old news items.

3:12 Shfter breaking news AFL and NFL to for merger.

3:16 Ha.

3:18 Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father.

3:21 Hashefter breaking news.

3:23 You don't say.

3:25 Berlin Wall comes crashing down.

3:27 #fter breaking news.

3:30 Ha ha.

3:32 I just went block block block block block block

0:00 block block block block block block block block block

3:34 block block block block block block block block block

0:00 block block block block block block block block block

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3:34 block block block block block block block block block

0:00 block block block block block block block block block

3:35 block block block get you breaking news you someplace else

3:37 a couple days later I noticed Adam's tweets aren't showing up in my feed anymore

3:42 and I realized he had blocked me

3:44 and then other fans were noticing the same thing

3:47 and somehow Dylan's friends took that and started a movement

3:51 you know I was mindlessly kind of scrolling Twitter and then I

3:55 realized oh it's a Friday I got to do my follow Friday tweet

3:58 so I said follow Friday follow the Bills Mafia And I named

4:02 those of us that got blocked because it was like, "Oo, we're so bad.

4:04 We got blocked for teen Adam." Little did

4:07 I know what that one hashtag would turn into.

4:10 It became a little bit of this is who we are.

4:13 We're not Bill's Nation.

4:15 We're Bill's Mafia.

4:18 From there, there were t-shirts, Twitter pages, and a fandom movement was born.

4:25 Adam, it's ancient history of Bill's Mafia.

4:28 Adam, I'm sorry.

4:30 And thank you for being the spark to something

4:32 that's so much bigger than any of us.

4:36 It's just so good.

4:37 I love it.

4:38 Um, what a great story.

4:40 Also, Bill's Mafia will have a new home this fall.

4:42 Their $2 billion stadium is set to be ready for week one.

4:47 We'll find out where Buffalo begins.

4:50 Uh, and then the quest to put Joe Brady on this list.

4:53 There have been only five rookie head coaches to reach the Super Bowl.

4:57 Only two won it.

4:58 So, can Brady figure that out?

5:00 Well, Tim, let's ask you.

5:01 Is Joe Brady set up to try and add his name

5:04 to that list of rookie head coaches that make it to the Super Bowl?

5:10 The last rookie coach to do this was George Seafford

5:13 back in 1989 and his quarterback was actually Joe Montana.

5:17 Now, I do think Josh Allen is

5:18 on that trajectory to be potentially a Hall of Famer,

5:21 especially once he wins the Super Bowl.

5:22 But I think the other part about this with the additions of DJ

5:25 Moore and Bradley Chub on defense that you also bring in Jim Leonard,

5:29 the defensive coordinator here uh to the Bills.

5:31 Now, I played with Jim my third season there with Buffalo.

5:34 And we always called him a pros pro.

5:36 He was one of those guys that showed up early.

5:37 He did all the right things.

5:39 Maybe not the most athletic, but the way that he approached the game,

5:41 you could tell he was going to be a great coach.

5:43 Now, obviously, he's become that.

5:44 So, I do think Joe Brady set up in a situation where you have your quarterback,

5:48 you have an offensive line, you have a lot of good returning talent.

5:51 Uh, I think it's just a matter of things kind of going

5:52 the Bill's way and also Bill's Mafia finding a new home.

5:56 Man, that's pretty cool.

5:58 Yeah, you know, it's interesting.

6:00 There should be continuity because Brady was there, you know,

6:04 now taking over as the head coach and one of the things he did

6:06 a great job of is relied on the run game a little bit more and less,

6:09 you know, on on just asking Josh Allen to be great.

6:12 I do think that head coach is a little bit like quarterback in that, you know,

6:16 it's it's easier to get worse than better when

6:20 you're replacing somebody that's been really successful in that spot.

6:23 And so, I think there going to be some challenges.

6:25 I think EJ, you bring up a great point about

6:27 the defensive side of the ball and the expectation for them,

6:30 you know, to be good there.

6:32 I I just I think when I look

6:34 at this, the thing would make me nervous is that there

6:37 were high expectations and they got really far

6:39 and they kind of just had some some bad luck.

6:41 And now I just don't think the team is as good as it

6:45 was a few years ago when you look at the roster top to bottom.

6:48 And so with that, I think that ends up being probably

6:51 the the challenge that's the biggest for Joe Brady as he takes over.

6:56 I I don't blame EJ for getting excited there

6:58 because like this is this is your squad, EJ.

7:01 You love the Bills.

7:01 What was your experience like with Bill's Mafia?

7:03 We were just hearing all about him.

7:05 Did you have a good experience with him?

7:07 Yeah.

7:08 Look, Laura, well, first off,

7:09 Chefy found out what happens when you mess with Bill's Mafia.

7:12 But, uh, one thing about the Bills Mafia cuz I

7:14 was around I was drafted around that time when, you know,

7:16 the social media stuff was getting bigger

7:18 and they supported me through and through

7:20 and they showed me and my family a lot of love and they still do.

7:22 I I live down in South Florida now.

7:24 A ton of Bills Mafia people out here and uh, it's still all love for sure.

7:28 Changed my life.

7:29 They're one of the best fan bases being in that parking lot there,

7:31 which by the way, all that's still going

7:32 to be in place even with the new stadium.

7:34 This is the first time Buffalo hasn't entered

7:36 the season as defending AFC East champ since 2020.

7:40 That was Josh Allen's third year in the league.

7:42 We'll see what they do this year.