For the Bills' Wild Card Matchup against the Patriots, the team will have not one but TWO Legends of the game.
Hall of Famers Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas will lead the charge and hype up Bills Mafia before the game on Saturday night.
Both Kelly and Thomas played with one another on the Bills from 1988-1996. Kelly holds the Bills' postseason record for most career passing yards (3,863), passing touchdowns (21) and passing yards in a single game (405). Thomas holds the Bills' postseason rushing record for most career rushing yards gained (1,442), rushing touchdowns (16) and rushing yards in a game (186).
"I get to be back on the field and be part of the game," Thomas said. "If you look at all the players that have done it all the way up to this point and Steve Tasker last week, which was incredible! To be out there with Jim, I couldn't ask for a better partner to do this with at the beginning of the playoff game."
Throughout their careers, Kelly played in 17 playoff games and Thomas played in 21 which is tied for most in franchise history. Both Kelly and Thomas said that their favorite postseason memory was the AFC Championship Game against the Raiders in which they won 51-3 and set them up to play in the first of four Super Bowls.
Saturday's playoff game will be a momentous occasion with the potential record-low temperatures but also because this will be the first home playoff game since the 1990s that will be packed with Bills fans. Kelly and Thomas are both eager to get back in Highmark Stadium and be a part of an electric evening.
"Wild and crazy," Kelly described what the atmosphere will be like Saturday. "We've been talking about this for a couple of years now. Everybody's talking about how Bills Mafia is always so crazy, and I said, 'man they haven't seen anything yet. Wait till they are in a playoff game here in Buffalo and they'll see what the Bills Mafia is all about.'"
"It's gonna be crazy," Thomas added. "It's gonna be absolutely bonkers! I've had people that I've run into that were saying, 'Man, I can't wait to have these guys experience a full stadium in a playoff game.' And obviously, against New England, it's gonna be something that these guys have never heard before. And you're talking about a guy like Jerry Hughes, and Micah Hyde - Micah has been in that situation with Green Bay - but Jerry just never having that type of atmosphere during a playoff game is going to be outstanding."
Keep an eye out for some of the Bills' Legends to be around the Billevard and on the Seneca Sound Stage signing autographs before the game.
