`Bills Mafia' donate to Jackson's favourite charity

After the Buffalo Bills advanced to the AFC championship game for the first time in 27 years with a victory Saturday over the Baltimore Ravens, their fans, the proudly named “Bills Mafia,” celebrated by extending some kindness to Lamar Jackson.

The fans, often the butt of jokes for diving onto collapsible tables at raucous tailgate parties, began sending donations in US$8 amounts (and more) to the Louisville chapter of Blessings in a Backpack on Saturday night, with $8 chosen by many because the Ravens quarterback wears No. 8.

The charity was created to ensure that children in underserved households go home for the weekend with food.

Jackson, who played college football at Louisville, has supported the charity for several years. He left Saturday's 17-3 playoff loss with a concussion.

“It started around 11:30 (Saturday) night, and our donation box just started flooding with donations from Bills fans for Lamar. It's just been overwhelming — in the best possible way,” Nikki Grizzle of Blessings in a Backpack told ESPN.

By Monday night, donations had topped $400,000 from more than 15,000 Bills fans.

“Appreciate that #Billsmafia,” Jackson tweeted Monday. “Means A lot not to only me but those kids as well.”

This is becoming a habit for Bills fans.

Three years ago, they celebrated their first playoff berth since the 1999 season by donating to a charity founded by Andy Dalton, then the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, after his touchdown pass beat the Ravens and secured Buffalo's wild-card berth.

The Andy and JJ Dalton Foundation quickly received more than $100,000 from more than 4,500 donors, with many in $17 increments because the Bills had gone 17 seasons without a playoff appearance. At one point, Dalton tweeted, “We're getting 10 donations a minute!” The organization ended up with more than $300,000.

Bills Mafia was named for a Twitter hashtag made popular in 2011, and fans who used it organized a non-profit called Buffalo Fambase Inc.

Bills Mafia has come through for Buffalo players, too. When the grandmother of quarterback Josh Allen died in November, fans donated more than $500,000 to Buffalo's John R. Oishei Children's Hospital in her name.