After coming back against the Patriots on Sunday, giving them a chance at the AFC East title, Bills players and coaches said life is bigger than football, as they were just blocks away from the deadly shooting at Brown University.
Quarterback Josh Allen, who helped steer Buffalo to the key Week 15 victory in Foxboro, told reporters that some of his teammates were eating dinner in Providence, just blocks from where the shooting unfolded on Saturday afternoon.
Allen added that the team added extra security at the downtown hotel they were staying at after they landed at the Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport earlier in day. The quarterback called the shooting a “very scary situation.”
“Condolences to the families and prayers out to everyone involved in it and affected by it,” Allen said in his post-game news conference. “It’s a terrible thing. … I thought we did a great job of communicating with everybody, but it was a very scary situation.”
The Bills remained safe in their hotel on Sunday morning following the mass shooting that killed two people and injured nine. Authorities arrested a “person of interest” early Sunday at a hotel in Coventry.
Providence is roughly 25 miles southwest, a closer drive to Gillette Stadium than from Logan Airport in Boston. Dianna Russini, a senior NFL insider for The Athletic, reported Saturday night that the Bills were staying at a hotel less than two miles from the active-shooter scene at Brown.
The Patrios extended their “deepest sympathies to those affected and their families” following the Saturday shooting.
In a social media post, the team said, “We remain grateful to the first responders and law enforcement who acted swiftly to protect the students, faculty, staff and the community. We stand with Brown University and our neighbors in Rhode Island during this difficult time.”
The team held a moment of silence for those affected by the shootings at Brown and at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, which killed at least 11 people and injured at least 29.
Joey Bosa, a star defensive end for the Bills, told reporters that he wasn’t out with teammates at the time of the shooting in Providence.
“It’s horrible that we have to deal with that at all in this world, but there are some crazy people,” Bosa said postgame. “It puts it into perspective that football is important, but there are more important things, so just being grateful for being alive and having an opportunity to play a game like this.”
Bills head coach Sean McDermott added that the team gathered later Saturday night to pray for “everyone involved” in the Brown shooting.
“There are things in life bigger than football,” he said. “I thought it was important that we did that and came together as a team last night. It’s unfortunate and a shame that that goes on in the world.”