Miami Dolphins tight end Jonnu Smith took a shot at fans of the Buffalo Bills and the city of Buffalo, N.Y., in a recent podcast appearance.
Jonnu Smith- Not a Buffalo fan Confirmed 👀😈#BillsMafia cover your ears 🙉 pic.twitter.com/ug7UidlnNB
— The Dive Bar Podcast ‼️🏝️ (@TheDiveBarPod) July 11, 2024
“That’s why the fans be hating so much because they want to be down here [in Miami],” Smith said of supporters of the Bills. “You ever went to Buffalo? Oh, my gosh, man. I don’t know how those dudes do it. I don’t know how they did it. I don’t know how they did it, man. Going from anywhere in the country, man, and going to Buffalo. It got to be the worst place you could be.”
The Dolphins and Bills have consistently been two of the better teams in the AFC East division over the past few years. Both squads have finished with regular-season records above the .500 mark in every season since the start of the 2020 campaign. The Bills also did so in the 2019 season, but the Dolphins did not.
Miami and Buffalo ended the 2023 regular season with identical 11-6 records, and the fight to clinch the division came down to the last game of the season. The Bills clinched the division after defeating the Dolphins by a final score of 21-14 back on Jan. 7.
Buffalo earned the tiebreaker in the standings because it won both of its regular-season matchups against the Dolphins.
But neither the Dolphins nor the Bills parlayed their regular-season success into much playoff success. They both lost in the playoffs to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, though Buffalo put up more of a fight than Miami did.
The Dolphins scored a season-low seven points and lost to the Chiefs by 19, while the Bills fell to Kansas City by a mere three points and even held a four-point lead at halftime.
The Dolphins and Bills already have plenty of reasons to justify their adversarial relationship, but Smith’s recent comments could add even more juice to the rivalry when the 2024 regular season rolls around.
Smith inked a two-year deal with the Dolphins in the offseason after spending time playing for the Tennessee Titans, New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons. In 17 games played with the Falcons during the 2023 regular season, he racked up 582 receiving yards, three receiving touchdowns and 26 first downs receiving on 50 total receptions.
In light of Smith’s words regarding Bills fans and their city, fans of the Dolphins should circle their calendars for Sept. 12, when Miami will take on Buffalo for the first time in the 2024 regular season.
