ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Driving in the second quarter and looking to extend their 13-0 lead over the New York Jets last week, the Buffalo Bills offense prepared to snap the football.
As quarterback Josh Allen stood in shotgun and assessed the defense, wide receiver Joshua Palmer briefly went in motion. Allen called an audible.
"Hey, mangia, mangia, mangia, mangia," Allen yelled as he raised his hands in a pinched finger gesture. After the call, some players called out, "No. 56," identifying Jets linebacker Quincy Williams.
The play resulted in a first down on a seven-yard pass from Allen to wide receiver Keon Coleman.
Fran Ricotta anticipated that mangia might come up during a Bills game. The owner of Mangia Ristorante & Caffe' in Orchard Park, along with her husband John, had heard from her staff in the past couple of months that one of the Bills' plays was called mangia.
"We weren't sure if we were ever going to hear that, so when we were watching it on Sunday and clearly heard it in the shoutout, it was pretty exciting," Fran Ricotta told ESPN. "The texts were coming in from staff. I think they were more excited about it than anything. It was so cool of Josh though."
This ate 🤌 pic.twitter.com/kSQf1b0jR3
— NFL (@NFL) September 16, 2025
The restaurant is about a six-minute drive from the team's stadium and practice facility. Allen, drafted by the Bills at No. 7 in 2018, has been going for years, including a time when he used to be able to go with family and friends and sit in the open dining room -- something that can't happen anymore.
"We've got a nice little restaurant here in Orchard Park that we frequented a lot last year in the quarterback room," Allen said about the audible Tuesday. "So, yeah, it's just an ode to one of our favorite spots."
The quarterback dinners in 2024 would take place in a reserved room to give Allen and his teammates privacy. Consistency is an important aspect to the players' routine, so they would sit at the same table and order the same food from the same waiter every time.
The word, mangia in Italian means "eat," which also extends the meaning for the Bills. A big emphasis by offensive coordinator Joe Brady is the "Everybody Eats" philosophy with everyone on the field doing their jobs, even roles on plays that don't involve the ball coming to them.
"It's guys running off on an influence in the middle of the field and opening up an incut," Allen said. "It's receivers going in and getting a safety or getting a DB and allowing [James Cook], [Ray Davis] or [Ty Johnson] to open up a lane and squeak through it. It's chasing the ball. It's everything that we kind of preach around this building. It's just really kind of be a good teammate. And, we got a lot of really good, fantastic players, but even better teammates on this team."
Allen did not want to get into the internal playcalling use of the term, but it has caused quite the buzz and will be something to watch for when the Bills host the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video).
"It's such a big buzz. Everyone's just talking about it," Ricotta said. "We've been here like, over 20 years now and this was the biggest thing that's ever happened. When Josh talks, people listen, right?"