Buffalo gears up for playoffs and hopes Saturday's Bills game is just the start

New tattoo of a chicken wing in the shape of the Bills logo? Of course.

Shoutout from Kenmore native Wolf Blitzer during CNN's live coverage of the United States Senate run-off elections in Georgia? Yeah.

A pizza joint temporarily renamed after quarterback Josh Allen? Absolutely.

Billboard from Northtown Automotive taunting Saturday's opponent? Done.

The Bills are hosting a home playoff game Saturday for the first time in 24 years and the Bills Mafia, local businesses and the team can't wait to get things started.

The team's 13-3 run through the regular season had fans fired up, even though Covid-19 regulations meant Bills boosters couldn't pack the stadium or sports bars as they would during a typical campaign. Local companies and institutions jumped on the bandwagon, too, putting up signs backing the team or lighting their buildings in Bills red, white and blue.

"Lakes freeze in Buffalo and so will Rivers," reads Northtown's billboard, a shot at Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers, who is more used to playing in domes and warmer climes.

On Saturday, for the first time all season, a small group will be allowed into Bills Stadium to watch the team in person. Team officials say they're prepared to get the nearly 6,800 or so fans safely into and out of the stadium while strictly enforcing rules on mask wearing and social distancing.

Hundreds of thousands more will watch on TV at home or at bars and restaurants in Western New York where patrons are allowed to gather.

Public officials say they understand how excited Buffalonians are about the game, but they warn against getting together with people outside your immediate household to cheer on the Bills.

"Have fun, watch the game, do it at home like we've done all year. We've had good luck with it, the Bills are on one heck of a roll, so why don't we continue doing that?" Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a news briefing earlier this week.

Many members of Bills Mafia weren't alive the last time the Bills generated this type of enthusiasm – and optimism – in its fan base.

It's been a fun ride for them, but it perhaps means even more to fans old enough to have lived through the drought years of the 2000s and much of the 2010s.

That may be why Kenmore West alum Blitzer felt compelled to interject during CNN's Tuesday night broadcast.

"And can I just add, Go Bills?" Blitzer said after a Georgia election official had ended an interview with a shoutout to the University of Georgia Bulldogs. His colleague John King said it was fine and congratulated Blitzer on his hometown team's performance, adding, "Amen for your Bills this year."

You don't have to look too far on Twitter or Facebook to find professions of Bills loyalty, but a tweet is an ephemeral thing. The tattoo that Scott Howard of the Living Canvas Tattoo Studio inked on a client is far more permanent.

In a Facebook post Wednesday, Howard shared a design he created of the Bills logo with a chicken wing replacing the leaping buffalo, a dash of blue cheese replacing the horn and a celery stick replacing the red beam. He asked anyone interested in getting it done to message him.

One day later, he shared a photo of the finished tattoo with the message: "It's done boys and girls. GO BILLS!"

Local companies and institutions are trying to tap into this fan energy. Erie County Medical Center and Williamsville South High School are among the buildings lighting up in team colors to show their support for the Bills.

Banners celebrating the team went up Friday at the main entrance to Buffalo City Hall, and 40-foot "Let's Go Buffalo" pennants from Oxford Pennant were added earlier in the week near the top of downtown Buffalo's 38-story Seneca One tower.

In addition to the Northtown billboard, Shea's Performing Arts Center's billboard along the inbound 33 states, "We love great plays: Let's go Buffalo."

And Allentown Pizza stretched a banner on the side of its building with its new name for at least the short term: Josh Allentown Pizza, punctuated by his #17 jersey number.

With much of metro Buffalo operating under a state-imposed "orange zone" that, among other restrictions, bans indoor dining, Allentown Pizza and most restaurants in Erie County will be doing takeout business only to feed fans during Saturday's game.

And bars located in the orange zone can't have patrons inside, either. That's why a group of bar and restaurant owners on West Chippewa Street got permission from the city to close off a section of the street for an outdoor viewing party.

But the ban on indoor dining doesn't apply to bars and restaurants outside the orange zone, including those in rural parts of Erie County and all of Niagara County and other outlying counties. So expect big – but socially distanced – crowds at venues such as New York Beer Project in Lockport.

Poloncarz and Dr. Gale Burstein, the county's health commissioner, say they want people to have fun, but to remain safe while watching the game.

"Hopefully the Bills will continue doing well and we’ll be able to continue watching the games. But we just have to remember to keep it small size – stay with people in your family," Burstein said at the county news briefing. "If you do want to go out with friends and family, try to keep it outdoors and try to keep your mask on as much as possible."

Poloncarz said county officials are concerned about fans gathering together in large groups to watch the game and emphasized that tailgating is banned at the stadium, as well as in the private lots that surround the stadium.

"We are worried, because that could create a spike in our numbers," he said.

Household gatherings are the single largest identifiable source for the spread of the virus, based on contact-tracing data released by the state late last year.

That primarily stems from people getting together with those they don't live with, particularly if it is indoors and mask-wearing is inconsistent, said Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Russo wonders how much of an effect Bills watch parties have had on the region's Covid-19 caseload, and how different our numbers would be if we had struggled through a batch of poor performances that fans didn't care to watch with extended family and friends.

“The Bills doing so well has not helped us, probably," Russo said.

Looking at Saturday's game, however, Russo said fans sitting outdoors in the vast and windy Bills Stadium in Orchard Park, wearing masks at all times and socially distanced, likely are in the best possible situation.

“I think that’s going to be the safest place to watch the Bills game," he said.

The Bills are doing what they can to ensure that is the case. All fans attending the game were required to get a Covid-19 rapid test, administered by a private company on the stadium grounds, and must show proof of a negative result to enter the stadium.

The team has assigned fans 10-minute windows to enter the stadium for the game in an attempt to avoid congestion at the gates.

Fans have to wear their masks at all times, except when taking a bite of food or a sip of a drink – even when chewing or swallowing what they just consumed, said Andy Major, the vice president for operations and guest experience.

Team security won't tolerate violations of the tailgating ban and will remove fans who won't wear a mask, Major told reporters on Friday.

Major couldn't say how many of the nearly 6,800 fans aren't able to use their tickets because they either didn't schedule a test, didn't show up for the test or tested positive.

Getting things set up at the stadium required extensive efforts behind the scenes, but the team believes it is prepared for the game – and for a future home game if the Bills take care of business on the field, the state grants approval and fans cooperate.

"We would love to do this again next week," Major said.