At Highmark Stadium, the fans were already prepared for the heat on the gridiron as the Buffalo Bills hosted the Detroit Lions. But Ryan Fitzpatrick pulled off a move that entertained them but put off some in the media. FOX Sports’ Nick Wright was not too happy about Fitzpatrick’s table-breaking move.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“We don’t need to promote this guy,” Awful Announcing shared a clip of Wright on the First Things First podcast. “It’s enough. It’s enough that he gets plenty of promotion. He made a nice career for himself. He’s rebranded from like the Harvard-smart quarterback, which never really made sense because you watch him play.
“But like, he was just crazy reckless. And now, just because he has a long beard and we see his chest hair, he’s charismatic; I don’t get it. Everybody does that in Buffalo, literally everybody does it.”
Between the third and fourth quarters, Fitzpatrick climbed on top of a platform, below which a white foldable table was placed. He then went WWE-style onto the table, elbow first. The slow-motion made for a great shot, which clearly did its job.
Well, someone had to pull the move to christen the new $2 billion Highmark stadium. Bodyslamming through tables is a popular tradition among the Bills Mafia, and they take pride in doing so. Nobody knows who started the dangerous practice, but fans love doing it. When the Bills played the Kansas City Chiefs in 2025, Kansas City refused to sell foldable tables to anyone without a Missouri license.
Who better than Fitzpatrick to debut the tradition in the new Highmark Stadium? The former quarterback played with the Bills from 2009 to 2012 and went 20-33 as a starter. He has played for multiple teams after this stint, but still holds his time in Buffalo, and the city, in very high regard.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever felt more at home in a stadium or with a fanbase,” he told Adam Schefter in 2025. “I was in Buffalo for four years, but those are my people. I feel like I understand them and they understand me, and it was one of the great pleasures of my career playing there.”
And even though he’s never recorded a winning season for the Bills, he is still a fan favorite; he earned the ‘Fitzmagic’ nickname despite it all. After breaking the table, Fitzpatrick was cheered on loudly by the fans.
The move might seem unruly for someone who is now a broadcaster, and on the crew of Thursday Night Football, no less. But Fitzpatrick has always entertained the masses. When he returned to the crew after breaking the table, he restarted another personal tradition: he unbuttoned his shirt, held it open for everyone to see, and roared on.
Fans have seen him go shirtless in the freezing Buffalo conditions several times over the past few years. Last year, Josh Allen helped him to undo all the buttons after the Bills’ 31-21 victory against the Miami Dolphins. The fans went into a chorus of “TAKE IT OFF!” and he ripped off his shirt at the end of the game.
But besides these controversial antics during the game, Fitzpatrick did engage in something productive, too, a few days before the game. Fitzpatrick and former wide receiver Stevie Johnson got on ferry boats on Niagara Falls, and the quarterback made some brilliant throws to Johnson, who caught them on the Canadian side. It was part of the Bills’ decision to honor Canadian fans, who are an important and unique market for the team.
The segment was aired on Prime’s broadcast of Thursday Night Football.
No matter how Wright said not to promote Fitzpatrick, the legend never misses a chance to steal the spotlight.