Is it possible to have a “12th Man” if you are the visiting team in a playoff game? It would appear that fans of the Cincinnati Bengals have answered emphatically “yes” to that.
Bengals fans have ARRIVED in Buffalo!
— Gridiron (@Gridiron) January 22, 2023
Video: megcoffey21#GridironEats | #CINvsBUF pic.twitter.com/YHhNxQy5Nc
For spectators watching at home, we were treated to the perfunctory visuals of Bengals fans throughout the stadium in Buffalo. However, the sounds emitting from televisions around the world were piercing.
When teams battle all year for playoff seeding and home-field advantage, it must be somewhat disorientating for a home team and home crowd to be shouted down by the visiting team’s fans. At least, that is what the television feed made it sound like.
On Cincinnati’s second drive, on what was a seemingly normal play with 8:50 left in the first quarter, Tee Higgins caught a pass from Joe Burrow for six yards. What was not expected were the cascades of “Teeeeee” raining down as clear as the snowfall.
There’s A LOT of Bengals fans in Orchard Park. That Tee chant was LOUD.
— Mark Gunnels (@MarkAGunnels) January 22, 2023
Later, after the touchdown that put the Bengals up 13-0, while waiting for the extra point, the “Who Dey” chants were louder than anything the Bills fans could come up with pretty much all afternoon.
🗣️ WHO DEY! WHO DEY! WHO DEY!
— Cincinnati 💔 (@CincyProblems) January 22, 2023
Bengals fans are LOUD in Buffalo. pic.twitter.com/0OBYplXnYM
For the spectators at home, we do not know how it sounded from within Highmark Stadium stadium, but we know it was very loud. Hearing such a rambunctious crowd cheering so enthusiastically for the away team could not have been fun for the Bills to hear.
Bengals are on fire . Fans are electric in Buffalo. Buffalo fans aren’t louder than Cincinnati yet
— DB (@bengalsdrake) January 22, 2023
As Bengals fans who were used to being overrun by Pittsburgh Steelers fans in the not-so-distant past, we know it was indeed an unpleasant feeling for the Buffalo fans and players.
Of course, at the end of the game, Bengals fans made their voices heard loudly and proudly once again with choruses of "Who Deys" as Burrow took a knee to run out the clock.
Something else to remember was the angst over where this game should be played. After the avoided “coin flip” fiasco, some felt it would be fairer to play a Bengals-Bills divisional game at a neutral site. Seemingly in the same way the team took care of business against Baltimore rendering a coin flip a moot point, Bengals fans rendered a home game for the Bills futile.
So for all the fans of the Cincinnati Bengals who made the trip up to Buffalo, we saw you, we heard you, and your presence was felt by Bengals fans around the world. And by the players as well.
If you didn't make the trip...
— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) January 23, 2023
Here's what it felt like for #Bengals fans who traveled to Buffalo celebrating the win with Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins and Joe Mixon. @fox19 pic.twitter.com/z3ZYm8aXTD
It will be a tall task for any fanbase to make that happen in Kansas City the way the Bengals’ did in Buffalo. But if there is one fanbase that appears to be up for such a challenge, it is the one from Cincinnati.
We love the Bengals 3,000. Who Dey?!