The Buffalo Bills: East Coast Media’s Best-Kept Secret

Five-Year Dominance: 72% Winning Percentage (2020-2024)

The numbers don’t lie, yet somehow the narrative does. Over the past five seasons, the Buffalo Bills have compiled one of the most impressive records in the NFL:

• 2020: 13-3 (.812)
• 2021: 11-6 (.647)
• 2022: 13-3 (.812)
• 2023: 11-6 (.647)
• 2024: 13-4 (.765)

Combined Record: 61-22 (.735 winning percentage)

This translates to an average of over 12 wins per season, five consecutive AFC East titles, and consistent playoff appearances. Yet ask any casual NFL fan outside of Western New York, and they’ll struggle to place the Bills among the league’s elite. Why? The answer lies in the geographic and cultural bias that permeates sports media coverage from America’s traditional power centers.

The East Coast Media Blind Spot

The uncomfortable truth about NFL coverage is that it emanates primarily from two media hubs: New York and Boston. These cities house the major networks, employ the majority of national sports writers, and set the narrative that flows to the rest of the country. When your local teams are the Patriots, Giants, Jets, and (to a lesser extent) the Eagles and Commanders, it creates an unconscious bias that manifests in several ways.

First, there’s the proximity bias. New York and Boston media members see their local teams practice, attend more of their games, and have deeper relationships with those organizations. When the Patriots were dominating under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, the coverage was exhaustive and largely celebratory. But when a small-market team like Buffalo achieves similar success, it’s treated as an anomaly rather than sustainable excellence.

Second, there’s the market size factor. Buffalo ranks as the 31st largest media market in the United States, while New York is first and Boston is tenth. Advertisers and networks naturally gravitate toward content that serves larger audiences, creating a self-perpetuating cycle where bigger markets get more coverage, which drives more fan engagement, which justifies more coverage.

The evidence of this bias is abundant. The national media picked against the Buffalo Bills this offseason. Almost everyone with a microphone picked another team to win the AFC East. Maybe it was the Miami Dolphins or maybe it was the New York Jets, but the majority of pickers picked against Buffalo. When the Bills clinched the division with a month remaining in the 2024 season, their social media team trolled these experts with receipts, showcasing predictions from Rich Eisen, Chris Brockman, Emmanuel Ocho, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes, and Stephen A. Smith.

The disrespect isn’t accidental—it’s systematic. The Bills weren’t mentioned once by Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Charles Davis, Ian Eagle during a 90-minute CBS announcers’ videoconference, despite coming off a playoff season. Meanwhile, these same broadcasters extensively discussed the Patriots’ prospects without Tom Brady and predicted the Dolphins would “make a really big leap.”

The Chiefs Comparison: A Tale of Two Narratives

Perhaps no comparison better illustrates the media bias than the treatment of Buffalo versus Kansas City. Both teams have been AFC powerhouses over the past five years, yet their coverage couldn’t be more different.

The Chiefs, playing in the 34th largest media market, receive wall-to-wall coverage as America’s team. Patrick Mahomes is universally acclaimed as the league’s best quarterback, despite Josh Allen’s superior individual statistics in multiple seasons. The media narrative around Kansas City emphasizes dynasty, excellence, and inevitability.

Meanwhile, Buffalo is perpetually cast as the bridesmaid. Despite Josh Allen having the most wins by a quarterback (76) in his first seven seasons in NFL history and Sean McDermott leading the Bills to 11+ wins in five straight seasons (making him only the fifth NFL coach to achieve this feat), the Bills are discussed primarily through the lens of their playoff failures against Kansas City.

This narrative ignores several key facts:

• The Bills ended the Chiefs’ undefeated season in 2024, becoming the first team to score 28 or more points against Kansas City since the 2022 season
• Buffalo has consistently outperformed Kansas City in regular season head-to-head matchups
• The Bills are the first team in history to record 30+ rushing touchdowns and 30+ passing touchdowns in the same season

Why East Coast Writers Can’t Acknowledge Buffalo’s Excellence

The reluctance to properly credit Buffalo stems from several psychological and professional factors:

While the national spotlight often shines on the usual suspects in New York, Boston, and Kansas City, some players are quietly dominating without the recognition they deserve. Just ask Christian Wilkins. In our deep-dive feature, “The Forgotten R-A-I-D-E-R: Why Christian Wilkins Is the Most Undervalued Superstar in the NFL”, we expose how media blind spots extend beyond teams to elite individual players — and why it’s time to rewrite the narrative.

Cognitive Dissonance: For years, east coast media built narratives around the superiority of their local teams and traditional powerhouses. Acknowledging Buffalo’s sustained excellence requires admitting those narratives were flawed.

Professional Relationships: Beat writers and national media members have deeper connections with New York and Boston franchises. They’re more likely to receive inside information, exclusive interviews, and access that creates positive coverage.

Market Pressure: Media companies need clicks, views, and engagement. A story about the Patriots’ rebuild or the Jets’ latest dysfunction generates more traffic than recognizing Buffalo’s methodical excellence.

Historical Bias: The Bills’ four consecutive Super Bowl losses in the 1990s created a narrative of futility that persists despite three decades of subsequent history. East coast media members, many of whom covered those losses, struggle to separate past from present.

Where the Bills Stand Now: 2025 Super Bowl Contenders

Despite the media neglect, Buffalo enters 2025 as legitimate Super Bowl favorites. “Super Bowl or bust, it’s hard not to say that,” said Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “Is this the best team that Josh Allen’s played on? He’s obviously at the peak of his powers. The schedule’s favorable, I don’t know how you would look at this and not say they should have home-field through the playoffs.”

The foundation for optimism is substantial:

Offensive Excellence: Buffalo scored a franchise record 525 points and 65 touchdowns in a single season in 2024. Allen finished with the fewest turnovers in any season so far (8) while maintaining elite production. The “Everybody Eats” offensive philosophy has made Buffalo less predictable and more difficult to defend.

Defensive Upgrades: The Bills addressed their primary weakness by adding proven veterans like Joey Bosa, Larry Ogunjobi, and Michael Hoecht while investing heavily in defensive draft picks. This represents the most comprehensive defensive overhaul in the McDermott era.

Favorable Schedule: The early betting lines indicate that the Bills are favored to win every game they play in 2025. They are the only team in the NFL this season to do so, marking the second time in four seasons Buffalo has been favored in all 17 games.

Home Field Advantage: The Bills have won 11 straight games at home, the longest active streak in the NFL, and went 8-0 at home during the 2024 season.

The Psychological Edge of Being Overlooked

Paradoxically, the media disrespect may be Buffalo’s greatest asset. “This football team is psychologically built to perform its best as an underdog”, and Sean McDermott has consistently used external doubt as motivation.

The Bills thrive on the chip-on-their-shoulder mentality that comes from being dismissed by coastal elites who’ve never experienced a Buffalo winter or understood the blue-collar work ethic that defines the organization. While other teams deal with the pressure of expectations, Buffalo operates in the comfortable space of proving doubters wrong.

Excellence Speaks Louder Than Coverage

The Buffalo Bills represent everything right about modern NFL franchise building: smart front office decisions, excellent coaching, elite quarterback play, and organizational culture that prioritizes winning over headlines. Their five-year run of excellence stands among the best in franchise history and deserves recognition as one of the premier organizations in professional sports.

East coast media’s failure to properly acknowledge this success says more about institutional bias and geographic prejudice than it does about Buffalo’s achievements. The Bills don’t need validation from New York and Boston writers to cement their legacy—but it would be professional for those writers to acknowledge what the numbers clearly demonstrate.

In a league where sustained excellence is increasingly rare, Buffalo has built something special in western New York. Whether the national media chooses to notice or not, the Bills will continue their pursuit of the ultimate prize: a Super Bowl championship that would force even the most biased observers to finally give credit where credit is due.

The 2025 season represents Buffalo’s best opportunity to break through, armed with an MVP quarterback, improved defense, favorable schedule, and the psychological edge that comes from being perpetually underestimated. When they do, perhaps the east coast media will finally understand what Bills Mafia has known all along: this isn’t a fluke—it’s a dynasty in the making.