1. National coverage before today's AFC Championship game
Championship Sunday has arrived!
The Bills will square off against the Kansas City Chiefs tonight on CBS at 6:40 pm ET but before that NFL Network has coverage for both championship games starting at 9:00 am.
The NFL Gameday Morning crew will discuss how the Bills can pull off the upset and reach their first Super Bowl in 27 years. Rich Eisen will sit down with Josh Allen as the two discuss the matchup against the Chiefs in the Bills first championship game since 1994. Kurt Warner and Michael Irvin will break down the matchup between safety Tyrann Mathieu and the Kansas City Chiefs secondary against Stefon Diggs and the Buffalo Bills wide receiver corps.
There will also be live guest appearances by Buffalo Bills legends Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed. CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer will also make an appearance to discuss his hometown team.
Right before the game at 6:00 pm, NFL Today on CBS will air their feature story with interviews from Jordan Poyer, Taron Johnson and Jerry Hughes. The three Bills defensive stars talk about how close-knit the team is, and why their friendship is one of the main reasons for their success.
2. Brett Favre has high praise for Josh Allen
Josh Allen will start in his fourth playoff game today and will be the 12th quarterback to start four or more playoff games at the age of 24 or younger. According to NFL Media Research, with a win tonight, Allen would join Mahomes (4-1), Ben Roethlisberger (5-1), Tom Brady (3-0) and Joe Flacco (3-1) as the only quarterbacks with 3+ wins and 1 or fewer losses in the playoffs before turning 25.
Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre played in five NFC Championship games throughout his career – four times with the Packers and once with the Vikings. On his weekly radio show The Sirius XM Blitz with Brett Favre, Favre talked about the AFC championship game and Allen playing in his first one.
"It's really exciting," Favre said. "I don't know what's going to happen in this game, but the fact that he's there and the teams that are there, it's a special time. But I think, well, like with Josh it's the beginning of I believe many more to come. … But this guy can do it all and quietly has kind of snuck up the ladder and is good. I mean, the guy is just, you know, he's the best no-name player out there, and I mean no disrespect by that. But he kind of gets overshadowed by all these other guys, but I love watching him play, man. He's a competitor and a big, big strong guy."
3. Thurman Thomas: "This is a community and a city that really needs this"
The city of Buffalo and Bills fans everywhere have been waiting for this moment and for this day to come for more than two decades. With a chance to play in Super Bowl LV on the line, this is one of the biggest games that most of the Bills players have ever been in. But they understand how important this is and how much the city needs it. Bills legend and HOF running back Thurman Thomas was on the most recent episode of the Bills Pod Squad and he talked about how he feels connected to the team and what Dion Dawkins said to him about team's mentality heading into the AFC title game.
"It's been great, over the past couple of years to be in this situation," Thomas said to Maddy Glab and Kim Pegula. "But really for this year to go as it has been, it's been outstanding just to talk to the players and talk about their families and what it means. Dion Dawkins last night said, 'you know what, we need this, this city needs this'. That was all that was said, and I was like wow this city needs that. These guys know how important this city and this community is to this football team and they have embraced it. I mean it has been unbelievable this year, even with everything that is going on. Talk about Josh Allen, losing his grandmother. You talk about Lamar Jackson's charity last week, you talked about Josh Norman, and what he's doing. This is a community man and this is a city that really needs this. I'm so glad to be on the ride and be enjoying the ride with the City of Buffalo."
