By Frank Pingue
(Reuters) – Grateful supporters of the long-suffering Buffalo Bills have overwhelmed Andy Dalton’s foundation as a way of thanking the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback for his role in snapping the team’s 17-year NFL postseason drought.
Dalton capped a stunning comeback over Baltimore on Sunday with a last-minute 49-yard touchdown pass in a fourth-and-12 situation. The Ravens’ loss, coupled with a Bills’ win minutes earlier, ended what had been the longest active playoff drought in North American professional sports.
The quarterback’s foundation said on Tuesday it had received more than $100,000 in donations since Sunday’s 31-27 victory that gave Buffalo the final American Football Conference wild-card berth in the playoffs.
Dalton also posted a video on his Twitter account on Tuesday to express his gratitude and encourage more donations.
“We have over 4,500 donors right now. We’ve raised over $100,000 and it continues to go up,” Dalton said in the video. “We cannot thank you enough. Let’s keep it going.”
Dalton created the foundation with his wife shortly after the Bengals drafted him in 2011. It provides support, resources, opportunities and life-changing experiences to seriously ill and disabled children and their families.
Buffalo are scheduled to play the host Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto,; Editing by Neville Dalton)
