This week’s Broncos Q&A is Del Reid, the co-founder of the “Bills Mafia,” the table-smashing, ketchup-wearing and incredibly generous fan base in Buffalo. The 2023 NFL Fan of the Year is a 49-year-old Bills lifer who will be in his seats in Section 224 at Highmark Stadium Sunday:

The Denver Gazette: What’s with the ketchup baths?

Del Reid: (Laughs). “The ketchup thing is one guy. His name is Kenny Johnson. He goes by ‘Pinto Ron’ because he has a 1980 Pinto he takes to every Bills tailgate — home and away. Every home game they cover him in ketchup and mustard. These days it’s a huge event here. Yeah, he goes to every single game. The Bills just celebrated his 500th game — home and away. He won’t do the ketchup ceremony for the away games. He’ll say, ‘During COVID, I missed a couple…’ Dude, nobody’s counting Covid. He went to every game he could get in.”

The DG: Take us through the origins of Bills Mafia.

Reid: “The short version is I made a joke on Twitter in 2011 and it went viral. And now here we are. (Note: the tweet was directed at former Broncos beat writer Adam Schefter, asking the ESPN news-breaker to ‘Follow the Bills Mafia.’) Fans started using ‘Bills Mafia.’ Players started using it. Nine years later, the team adopted it. It was totally unintentional. I wasn’t trying to create a movement. I was making a joke about four or five of us that got blocked by Adam Schefter. The rest is history.”

The DG: How would you describe Josh Allen’s celebrity in Buffalo?

Reid: “Josh is such a perfect fit for this city. He’s one of us now. Even though he grew up in northern California and went to school at Wyoming, this guy is Buffalo through-and-through. He really gets who we are as western New Yorkers. Not to be dramatic, but it’s a blessing to have him as the quarterback of our team. He says all the right things, but he follows through on it. He’s said his No. 1 goal is to get a (Lombardi) trophy for Buffalo. That’s it. And he’s so active with the Children’s Hospital here. He does so much fundraising for them.

“You hear all these stories about kids wanting to meet him and then he makes that opportunity happen. Yes, he’s an alien playing football. But it starts with him being a really good dude. We’re proud to have him. And we freaking deserved him. It’s been a long time, you know?”

The DG: Where does Josh Allen rank in Bills lore?

Reid: “He’s No. 1. He’s doing things no one’s done as a Buffalo athlete — Bruce Smith, Jim Kelly, Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas. Josh is on a different level. And it’s a different time with social media and everything. But Josh has completely changed this town. People make jokes about Buffalo. But he makes us proud to be here. I watch him every week and there’s one play every week that blows your mind. He’s a millimeter away from going out-of-bounds, then he’s throwing across his body 40 yards downfield and completes it. It’s ridiculous.”

The DG: Is there a kinship between Bills and Broncos fans given the Super Bowl losses (in the 1980s and 90s)?

Reid: “I mean, Denver’s had it pretty good since then. What do we have? We’re more like the Vikings at this point. But Buffalo’s the center of the universe — as everyone knows. And Peyton Manning was my all-time favorite non-Bills player. I love Peyton Manning.”

The DG: Peyton didn’t give the Bills problems?

Reid: “When Peyton was playing everybody gave the Bills problems.”

The DG: Fair. I’m worried about Buffalo when you guys win a Super Bowl.

Reid: “You should be. People have asked me: What’s it going to be like when Buffalo wins it? Honestly, I can’t imagine it. There’s a block in my imagination. I cannot see what that party is going to look like. Is it going to make us hungrier to win again? Is it going to satisfy this craving we have? Is the city going to burn? Possibly. It would mean the world, though.

“Buffalo Bills season is 12 months long here. Not many teams have their city represented on their helmet or on their jersey. The Sabres (have it), too. The Bills are how the rest of the world views the city of Buffalo. That’s our identity. We’re 0-4 in Super Bowls. We’ve never won a Stanley Cup. That loser persona our people have? A Super Bowl would wash that away. That would be a huge paradigm shift for this region. I don’t care if the Kansas City Chiefs win 10 Super Bowls during this dynasty. I want one for the Bills. That said, I don’t want to see the Chiefs win ever again.”

The DG: You’re making friends in Broncos Country.

Reid: “I’m saying we’re ready to win it. And Josh Allen will never buy a beer here again. People are already naming their kids after Josh.”

The DG: What is Bills Mafia’s history with charity work?

Reid: “That’s what I’m most proud of: Bills fandom is equated with giving. Some fan will say we should raise money for Andy Dalton’s foundation and we raise a bunch of money. Then (Ravens star) Lamar Jackson left a playoff game against the Bills with a concussion in 2020. Bills fans began donating to a Louisville-based charity. It was a significant amount of money donated to that charity — to the point the charity took out a full-page ad in the Buffalo News thanking us. Another one was NBC Sports Chicago made fun of us, called us the laughingstock of the NFL. So we responded by raising $20,000 for a children’s pediatric cancer center in Chicago.

“Our calling card is giving. It’s really easy to get nasty and petty with football stuff. But that’s not Bills fans. If you live in Buffalo, more than likely you were born here. It’s not a big transplant city. And it’s always been a very charitably minded city. That’s Bills fans.”

The DG: Same for your own T-shirt company (26Shirts.com)?

Reid: “The T-shirts are a business but very giving-minded. We’ve passed over $2 million that we’ve passed into the community. We’re proud of it. It’s thanks to my amazing wife.”

The DG: What should we expect in Buffalo Sunday?

Reid: “It’s going to be cold because it’s Buffalo. Looks like in the 30s. That’s not bad. There’s been some playoff games the past few years that have been 4 (degrees) with wind chills in the negatives. For me, cold is the 20s. This won’t be too bad. I’ll probably wear a tank top.”

The DG: OK, prediction time. Who wins?

Reid: “Bills fans are pretty confident. The Bills really score. We’ve been a very productive offense. I feel almost dirty saying we’ll only score in the 30s, but I want to be respectful. The defense has our issues we work through. The past month they were exposed a little bit. But Josh (Allen) was saying the other day we’ve got some tricks up our sleeve we haven’t showed yet. And it’s Josh Allen, you know? Am I going to predict less than 30 points? No way. I’ll say 34-17, Bills.”