Ten former Buffalo Bills coaches and five former Bills players will be participating in tomorrow afternoon's AFC and NFC championship games, with a trip to Super Bowl 50 on the line.
Six of those 10 coaches work for the Denver Broncos under head coach Gary Kubiak, with the most notable of them the last head coach to guide the Bills to the playoffs, Wade Phillips. He currently serves as Denver's defensive coordinator, guiding them to a No. 1 overall ranking during the 2015 regular season.
Eric Studesville (running backs), Tyke Tolbert (wide receivers), Bill Kollar (defensive line), Fred Pagac (outside linebackers), and Samson Brown (assistant defensive backs) all served as Bills positional assistants at one point during their careers, as well, and now work for the Broncos.
Denver will be taking on the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game. New England does not employ any former Bills coaches, but fans will recognize two former Bills players in tight end Scott Chandler and defensive lineman Alan Branch. Both are role players for the Patriots, just as they once were for the Bills.
In the NFC championship game, the most notable ex-Bill in name is Carolina Panthers special teams coordinator Bruce DeHaven, who continues to chase a Super Bowl win while also battling prostate cancer. Panthers assistant offensive line coach Ray Brown is also a former Bills assistant, as well. Carolina will also put defensive lineman Dwan Edwards and guard Chris Scott onto the field; Edwards, a former Bills starter, is a rotational player on one of the best defensive lines in the league, while Scott, who was in Buffalo for a blip, is a reserve interior lineman.
Carolina's opponent, the Arizona Cardinals, has former Bills in the fold, as well. The one player, defensive lineman Red Bryant, barely counts, as he was only with the Bills for a portion of the preseason this past summer. Two assistant coaches - assistant offensive line coach Larry Zierlein and outside linebackers coach Bob Sanders - worked for the Bills in recent seasons, as well.
Which former Bills player or coach would you most like to see advance to the Super Bowl tomorrow afternoon?