Josh Allen reacts as Buffalo player deactivates social media pages for ‘getting death threats’

Buffalo Bills kicker Tyler Bass has deactivated his social media accounts after missing a potential game-tying field goal in Sunday’s season-ending playoff loss to the rival Kansas City Chiefs.

Bass’ page on X, formerly Twitter, now reads: ‘This account doesn’t exist.’

Similarly, his Instagram account now reads: ‘Sorry, this page isn’t available.’

Bass has received some criticism for missing a 44-yard field goal with 1:47 left in the AFC Divisional Round game. Not only did it effectively destroy another once-promising Bills season, but it also brought up memories for Buffalo fans of Scott Norwood’s famous ‘wide right’ miss in Super Bowl XXV, which the team lost to the New York Giants.

Not everyone is critical of Bass, however. In reality, Bills Mafia members have been donating to the Ten Lives Club, a non-profit no-kill feline rescue facility, because the 26-year-old kicker has served as the group’s spokesperson.

‘WE STAND WITH TYLER BASS. DON’T BULLY OUR FRIEND,’ read an Instagram post from the Ten Lives Club. ‘We just heard the terrible news that Tyler Bass is receiving threats after yesterday’s game and our phones are ringing off the hook from people who want to donate $22 to Ten Lives Club in Tyler’s name.

 

 

 

‘Tyler doesn’t deserve any of the hate he’s receiving,’ the post continued. ‘He’s an excellent football player and an even better person who took the time to help our organization and rescue cats last year. Leave our friend alone.’

The response was instantaneous.

‘Donated,’ wrote one responder. ‘Tyler is amazing!’

‘You don’t have to be a Tyler fan, Bills fan, or even a football fan to know that no player deserves death threats,’ read another.

‘Hell I’m a Steelers fan and I just donated $22 too,’ read an additional response. ‘Tyler’s an elite kicker. Everyone misses some. Especially in that windy end zone.’

Bass accepted blame for the defeat after Sunday’s excruciating loss in Orchard Park.

‘Ultimately, completely on me,’ Bass aid. ‘I feel terrible. I love this team, man. It hurts. This one hurts bad.’

 

However, quarterback Josh Allen tried to take the blame off Bass, saying that it was a pair of incompletions on his own part that necessitated the field goal in the first place.

 

 

‘I wish he wouldn’t have been put in that situation. You win as a team you lose as a team. One play doesn’t define a game, doesn’t define a season,’ Allen said. ‘Losing sucks. Losing to them, losing to anybody.’

While the Bills Mafia is best known for its wild parking lot exploits, which often involve Buffalo supporters jumping onto fire folding tables, the club may also do good on occasion.

When then-Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton helped Buffalo advance to the playoffs in 2018 by throwing a 49-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd, Bills Mafia members donated $315,000 to the veteran signal caller’s charity.

The group has also contributed to the foundations of former Bills players Eric Wood and Brian Moorman.

‘When we launched Bills Mafia, the aim was to do something nice with it, not make it about us, and do something that would touch the community in a positive way.’ Del Reid, Buffalo FAMbase’s co-founder and president, said ESPN in 2018.

The group even developed a T-shirt brand, 26 Shirts, to raise funds for various NGOs.

‘So we created a nonprofit, and out of that came the 26 Shirts business model, in which we would sell T-shirts to give back to the community in a genuine, practical way.’