ExtremeRavens Posted 9 hours ago Posted 9 hours ago Two Canisius University sophomores who run a Bills blog saw the endless vitriol directed toward Ravens tight end Mark Andrews online and wanted to help. Andrews’ drop on a potential game-tying 2-point conversion in Baltimore’s AFC divisional round loss has dominated discourse since late Sunday night. The ensuing death threats and one vile hashtag – an indictment on the darkest corners of sports internet fandom – sprung the college buddies into action through their webpage, The Buffalo Brief. Nicholas Howard and Ryan Patato started a GoFundMe on Monday morning with the goal raising $5,000 toward, Breakthrough T1D, raising money to cure, prevent and treat Type 1 diabetes. Andrews, who has Type 1 diabetes, supports the charity. As of Tuesday at 3 p.m., the fundraiser has topped 570 donations accumulating over $13,000. Howard and Patato started their site, The Buffalo Brief, only six months ago. It was a passion project before the start of the season as a way to create content surrounding their favorite team. Howard said this kind of response isn’t abnormal for Bills Mafia. Buffalo’s fan base also raised money when quarterback Josh Allen’s grandmother died in 2020. Howard chose his sports management major because of the Bills. He’s currently working with the Buffalo Sabres’ promotional team. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida, native has family in Buffalo and was sitting in the opposite end zone beside his dad for Sunday’s playoff game. Since moving to Western New York himself, he’s become fully ingratiated in the fan base. The Buffalo Brief has gotten some assistance from other dominant fan accounts online. They’ve watched the fundraiser for Andrews spread quickly, nearly tripling their original goal. “At first, it was just Bills mafia,” Howard told The Sun. “But as it grew and grew, I’ve gotten a lot of Ravens fans, Texans fans, all kinds of fans donating to the fundraiser. I’ve gotten Ravens fans hitting up our DMs on Instagram saying, ‘We love what you’re doing. We appreciate it. As much as we don’t like the Bills, we appreciate it.’ It’s very heartwarming getting those messages.” When contacted by The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday, Andrews’ agent said his client was not available for comment, though he has been made aware of the GoFundMe page. Andrews was not made available to the media following the Bills game. He also did not appear during the hour-plus long media availability the next day at the team’s practice facility in Owings Mills, though was in attendance for exit meetings earlier on Monday. “I know he is going to be hurting for a while,” fullback Pat Ricard said. “He is going to continue to do great things. In my eyes, he’s going to be a Hall of Famer, just an all-time Ravens. I think time will heal all things.” Andrews isn’t the first Raven to experience the agony of committing such a costly gaffe. Kicker Billy Cundiff as well as wide receivers Lee Evans and Zay Flowers have all made similar mistakes when the lights were brightest. If there were a support group for athletes experiencing that kind of thing, the line would be a mile long. Even famed Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer chimed in on X, writing “Different sport, but I can relate.” Palmer recalled he didn’t pitch well in final game of the 1982 season. Palmer let up a run in each of the first three innings, including two homers, in a series-deciding loss. “Stuff happens and you move on,” Palmer added. Baltimore Sun reporter Brian Wacker contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn. View the full article Quote
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