Welcome back to the NFL and the lovable fans. The NFL and her fans returned triumphantly over the past weekend, and if you love football as much as we do, it nearly brought a tear to your eye.
If you remember our article from last week, this is the first edition of the top fan moments from the 2021 season. Obviously we will be talking about week 1, the return of the fans. Although it was awesome to have fans back for the NFL, this week didn't provide us with a signature fan moment. After some research and hours of video-watching, we have picked out the top 5 fan moments from this week in order. These lists will include Thursday Night Football, but will leave Monday Night Football for the following week.
#5 The Return Of NFL Redzone
Along with the return of fans, there was another huge return this weekend, NFL Redzone and Scott Hanson. Highly anticipated, the return did not disappoint. On Sundays, Redzone goes on from 1:00 to 7:30 in my house, unless of course the Cowboys are playing. Honestly, it felt so good seeing the GOAT Scott Hanson back on my screen and going to the octobox. For those that do not watch Redzone, essentially it is 7 hours of commercial free football, they go from one game to the next showing all the big plays. Sometimes they will show two or three games at once, and after the action subsides Hanson recaps and analyzes the highlights. I look forward to Redzone all off-season and I am just glad it is back.
#4 The Mafia Returns (The Bills, That Is)
One of the best fan-bases in the NFL resides in Buffalo, NY and they made their presence known on Sunday. The Bills Mafia showed up in record numbers for the first time in two years at full capacity. Coming off their best season in recent memory, the Mafia was sure glad to be back. Not only is this one of the best fan-bases in the NFL, it is THE best. Just days before the season FOX Sports: NFL named the Bills as the fan-voted best fan-base for the second year in a row. Although the Bills lost their home opener, the fans still flourished and the Bills will be back. I wouldn't be surprised if this team was hosting the AFC Championship come January.
#3 The Bengals Crowd
There were some great crowds this week but no doubt Cincinnati had the best. The Bengals have been pretty mediocre the past decade so the fans have not had much to cheer about, but on Sunday they did. The future is bright for this franchise, with quarterback Joe Burrow making his anticipated return from an ACL Tear, so no surprise the fans showed out for week 1. The squad gave the full capacity stadium some things to cheer for. #5 overall pick Ja’Marr Chase caught his first touchdown pass from 50 yards out. The Bengals battled throughout the game leading to the best reaction when rookie kicker Evan McPherson hit the game winning kick with no time left in overtime. The Bengals gave us a look back into full crowds and great reactions.
#2 Michael Buffer At Sofi Stadium Opener
This wasn't a direct ‘fan moment’ but it was so epic it had to be included. The Rams spent 5 billion dollars to build Sofi Stadium and on Sunday they were able to finally open it to a Los Angeles full crowd. They opened on prime-time Sunday Night Football, and before the game, fans at home and at the stadium got to experience legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer announce his signature line, “Let's get ready to Rumble”. It put a smile on my face sitting on my couch, I can’t imagine how it felt for fans to experience it live. Just look at the crowd in the picture above! They Roared and the camera panned to fans clapping and cheering, even the Bears fans in attendance were cheering. The Rams killed the Bears in their home opener, and just like the Bills I expect this stadium to host a playoff game. This stadium is also hosting the Super Bowl in February, so we can look forward to that.
#1 FedEx Field’s Sewage Leak
The undisputed number 1 this week is the sewage pipe burst at FedEx Field. This video went viral on Sunday afternoon which shows dark water spraying down on fans from the upper deck. Many jumped to the conclusion that a pipe had burst as the guy recording says “that’s sewage” and nobody argued it. It is no secret that FedEx field is among the worst in the league but this is low, even for the field and Dan Snyder. My favorite part of this video is the guy in the yellow shown above, jumping away as he presumably got a whiff of the water. This video ran wild and was hilarious, it was no doubt number 1.
Although This week was pretty dull, we still were able to get some great fan footage. This is going to be a weekly thing so we will see you next week to recap week two’s top fan moments.