Quote:
Originally Posted by DRM08
I don't know if it can be a more hostile stadium than Buffalo last week. Buffalo fans were throwing snowballs at them, haha. Setting aside the snowballs, the Buffalo fans were extremely desperate to have a home game against the Chiefs, after going to Kansas City a bunch of times the last 3-4 years. Two years ago, Buffalo fans had their hearts absolutely broken by the Chiefs in the 13 seconds Playoff game. And the year before that, KC whipped Buffalo pretty easily in the AFC title game.
For all intents and purposes, that game last week was THE Super Bowl for Buffalo's fanbase. I truly believe their fanbase cared more about beating the Chiefs in that game than they do about winning any other games, including the actual Super Bowl itself.
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Haha true. "Hostile" might not be the best word, since no one in Baltimore is going to be throwing anything at the Chiefs the way Bills fans did. You're right that Buffalo has a lot of pent up frustration. But this weekend, the Bank will be as loud as any outdoor stadium in the NFL. And like I mentioned, the Ravens have the second most home wins after the Pats over the past 25 years even though they're only fourth by overall wins (including road games) during that same time period. So it's a tough place to win as a visiting team.
Everyone knows that Arrowhead, Seattle, Lambeau, and Heinz Field are strong homefields, but I would put M&T Bank right up there. Pat McAfee was talking about that this week (x.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1749818397876199566?s=20). Mahomes himself called it the loudest place he has played in alongside Seattle.
A peek behind the curtain: my favorite analytics Ravens podcast (Filmstudy; truly excellent) had a whole episode last week instructing fans how to make as much noise as possible including by "barking" at the opposing quarterback and varying the pitch of your screaming rather than being monotone to play tricks' on the visitors' ears. There are big Ravens accounts on Twitter that are brokering ticket sales to make sure none go to Chiefs fans. And even though the Ravens have been in a bunch of AFCCGs, this is their first one at home, so there's a lot of anticipation.