The quasi-mythical ‘12th man’ that’s made Lumen Field the stuff of legend in recent decades certainly played a role in the Seattle Seahawks’ Week 8 bout with the Buffalo Bills… just not in the way it traditionally does.

Bills Mafia, as they are wont to do, took over the downtown Seattle venue in Buffalo’s comfortable 31-10 victory, with Bills-centric chants oft-being heard over the broadcast. The Buffalo faithful traditionally travels well and supports their team on the road, with contests in Miami and Nashville being particularly popular away days for Bills fans; taking over Lumen Field is particularly impressive, however, as not only is Seattle roughly 2,600 miles away from Buffalo—the Seahawks’ fanbase is widely regarded as one of the NFL’s strongest and loudest.

Amari Cooper trade looks like financial heist by Bills’ general manager

But Bills fans came in and overshadowed them inside their own home, an impressive feat that earned the praise of Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott and quarterback Josh Allen. Seattle quarterback Geno Smith even noticed the takeover, commenting on Bills Mafia’s strong showing during his postgame media availability. 

“Hats off to Buffalo,” Smith said. “They came in, they beat us at home. Their fans traveled well, it was real loud in there. Kind of felt like we were on the road at times. They came out, they fought, they beat us. We can say we made mistakes, but they capitalized. So those are things that we’ve got to get better at, and we’ve got a big week ahead.”

Buffalo fans post strong numbers in opposing stadiums regardless of location, but something that potentially played a role in their particularly strong Week 8 showing was the attendance of Canadian fans. The Bills have a comparatively strong Canadian fanbase due to Buffalo’s proximity to Canada (Highmark Stadium is just a few minutes away from the border, and Buffalo is less than 100 miles away from Canada’s largest city); with Seattle, too, not being too far away from the border, perhaps Bills fans from the Great White North (and the general western portion of North America) made the trek to Seattle, akin to how Toronto Blue Jays fans typically show out well when their club visits the Mariners.

Buffalo’s Week 8 win saw domination on all fronts, as it dwarfed Seattle in total yards (445 to 233), time of possession (38:03 to 21:57), and, where it matters most, points. Performances like these are a bit easier to pull off when you have the aid of a raucous faithful at your back; the Bills likely didn’t expect to receive this at Lumen Field, but they aren’t complaining, either.

— Enjoy free coverage of the Bills from Buffalo Bills on SI —

SEATTLE – We had some dark skies around Western Washington today with plenty of rain and wind.  There were even several strikes of lightning this afternoon. 

We had record rainfall totals today for Bellingham and Seattle at Magnuson Park. Rain surpassed 2 inches for numerous spots around Western Washington in just 24 hours.

We had record rainfall totals today for Bellingham and Seattle at Magnuson Park. Rain surpassed 2 inches for numerous spots around Western Washington in just 24 hours.

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Tonight showers continue with pockets of heavier downpours and gusty winds. Lightning has subsided as the sunset has set, losing instability. 

Tonight showers continue with pockets of heavier downpours and gusty winds. 

Showers will stick around overnight along with breezy winds and mild temperatures. We will also see snow in the higher mountain passes. 

Showers will stick around overnight along with breezy winds and mild temperatures. 

A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect for the North Cascades through 11am Monday for snow above 4000′. Snow totals are expected to be 5-10″, including for Mt. Baker Ski Area and Washington Pass. 

A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect for the North Cascades through 11am Monday for snow above 4000′.

Scattered showers will continue Monday with the possibility of isolated thunderstorms again. Snowflakes can also be expected in the mountain passes including Stevens and White Pass, which could see several new inches of snow. Snoqualmie Pass is looking at just rain/snow mix with little to no accumulation. 

Scattered showers will continue Monday with the possibility of isolated thunderstorms again. 

Monday’s highs will be a few degrees cooler as an upper level trough moves through the area. 

Monday’s highs will be a few degrees cooler as an upper level trough moves through the area. 

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Showers will taper by Monday evening with dry skies continuing into Tuesday.  Partly sunny skies through Tuesday before our next round of rain returns Wednesday through midweek. Right now, next weekend is also looking drier and calmer with only a few shower chances. 

Showers will taper by Monday evening with dry skies continuing in to Tuesday. 

Heading into another long offseason, the frustrations of Seattle Mariners fans are fairly easy to understand.

1) M’s fans are upset that they root for the only team in baseball to have never appeared in a World Series.

2) M’s fans are upset that the current ownership group doesn’t seem to care about that fact, and that it isn’t going out of its way to change it.

Mariners fans would like to see the ownership fully invest in the roster so they can capitalize on this historically good pitching staff and actually make a run at the World Series.

While the M’s have spent in recent years on Julio Rodriguez, Luis Castillo and Robbie Ray, they’ve also seemingly forced the organization to play with one hand tied behind its back. The ownership group has clearly forced the team to work on a strict budget, which has led to the shedding of Ray’s contract. Jerry Dipoto also shed the commitments Marco Gonzales, Evan White and Eugenio Suarez last offseason. Money was also a likely driving force behind not giving Teoscar Hernandez even a qualifying offer last offseason.

While the M’s have let those players go, they’ve brought in bargain-basement guys like Tommy La Stella, AJ Pollock and Luis Urias since a playoff berth in 2022. They didn’t appear to make any real effort at signing Shohei Ohtani last offseason and don’t appear willing to go after Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman or Juan Soto this offseason.

M’s fans have long assumed that the ownership group is more concerned with making money than winning baseball games, and this new graphic from Travis Sawchik of The Score only proves their point.

While Sawchick admits that the numbers are not exact, he says that the Mariners made about $374 million for the 2023 season. The organization then turned around and spent just 44 percent of that ($163 million) on players in 2024. That ranks the M’s in the bottom half of revenue-payroll spending in the league.

The Mets and Dodgers, who spent the highest portion of their revenue on player payroll, both made the National League Championship Series.

As the offseason ramps up, M’s fans will once again be looking for John Stanton and Co. to spend. We’ll see if they actually do it.

The Mariners missed the playoffs by 1.0 game this past season.

Continue to follow our Inside the Mariners coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following Teren Kowatsch and Brady Farkas on “X” @Teren_Kowatsch and @wdevradiobrady. You can subscribe to the “Refuse to Lose” podcast by clicking HERE: