The New Yorker:

The four teams that remain on the road to the Super Bowl seem to be clinging to the same old narrative: nobody believes in us.

By Louisa Thomas

Minutes after the Buffalo Bills held on to beat the Baltimore Ravens 27–25 in the A.F.C. divisional game, a sideline reporter asked the Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen what he’d been thinking when the Ravens had failed on a late bid to tie the score. Allen beamed. “All year, this team has heard we got no talent, we’re too small, we can’t stop the run, we’re not good enough to compete,” he said. “We just put our heads down and worked hard.” Before long, in a press conference, the team’s coach, Sean McDermott, said the same thing: “Our guys heard it all. They heard it all week long. We’re not big enough. We’re not strong enough, not talented enough. Whatever it is, they heard it.” One Baltimore radio host was singled out for calling Buffalo a “city of losers” a few years ago.

It was not the first time the Bills had revelled in overcoming their critics this season. The previous week, after the team dominated the Denver Broncos 31–7 in the wild-card round, the Bills’ offensive tackle Dion Dawkins told the N.F.L. Network that videos of Broncos fans chanting “We want Buffalo” earlier in the playoffs had given the team extra motivation. Never mind that the Bills had been favored to win that game by more than a touchdown, or that, before the start of the season, oddsmakers had ranked the Bills among the top eight teams, out of thirty-two, most likely to win the Super Bowl. It’s true that the Bills had been expected to retool after losing some stars in the off-season, and that they had only two players named to the Pro Bowl this year (another eight are alternates). But, then again, no talent? Allen is a finalist to win M.V.P.

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