After Snowvertime win, many Bills helped dig out motorists

The Buffalo Bills (7-6) saved their season thanks to Sunday’s 13-7 overtime victory against the Indianapolis Colts (3-10) in a game played in a lake-effect snowstorm at New Era Field.

How would center Eric Wood, punter Colton Schmidt, long snapper Reid Ferguson, left tackle Dion Dawkins, guard Ryan Groy, and tackle Conor McDermott spend their free time once the postgame celebrations — which included making snow angels, pelting LeSean McCoy with snowballs, and diving into snowbanks — had come to an end?

By helping motorists free their cars from the massive amount of snow that fell in Orchard Park and Western New York.

According to Sean Kirst’s outstanding article from The Buffalo News, the aforementioned Bills players, and possibly more, volunteered their time helping patrons at Ilio DiPaolo's Restaurant in Blasdell Sunday evening following the game.

Among the tales Kirst told of Bills players doing good for the Western New York motorists involved an 80th birthday party being thrown for Flora Pasquale, a Buffalo resident.

As Pasquale and her guests, many of whom were retirees, were leaving the restaurant, they ran into the same frustrating fate: their cars were unable to escape the snow’s wrath.

Kirst said that, no matter how often they were called upon, those Bills players donned their winter outerwear and headed out to shovel away the snow and help push the retirees — or anyone’s — cars from the mounting snow.

"Flora's friends, these little old ladies, they're bringing them Italian cookies and saying, 'Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Dennis DiPaolo whose late father Ilio founded the restaurant, told Kirst in the story.

During his session with the media Monday, first-year Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott was asked about the actions of his players. While he said he wasn’t aware of their heroics, McDermott added that “it doesn’t surprise me with our guys. We’ve tried to do things the right way, and the players know that this is what we do. It’s not always just who we are, these guys know they have a platform. I think our guys do a good job of using that platform, and just really embedding in our community, which is important.”

The Buffalo Bills rose to the challenge of beating the Colts in a snow globe, then they rose to the challenge of helping their fellow Western New Yorkers out during the worst game-day lake-effect snowstorm this region has seen in some time.