WNY native Joe Andreessen tuning out fanfare, hungry to make Bills roster

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WROC) — As you might imagine, it’s been a busy week for Joe Andreessen.

“It’s a lot of attention, a lot of people reaching out to me,” Andreessen said. “People I might not have heard from for a while are reaching out to me.”

The Lancaster native says the twelve-tackle performance Saturday in Pittsburgh was because he got into what he calls a flow state. He wasn’t thinking, he was just playing.

“Coming into training camp, I knew the playbook, I knew my responsibilities, you just have to be able to do it at a high speed,” said Andreessen. “At a certain time, it just clicks. You’re not thinking and it’s a good feeling.”

Sean McDermott praised his performance and highlighted the uniqueness of a local standout attending the University of Buffalo and then playing for the Buffalo Bills. His defensive coordinator is looking forward to seeing what he’ll do for an encore.

“He showed some things in that game,” said Bobby Babich. “But it’s one game, it’s one game. The true sign of a pro is consistency.”

Thanks to a few injuries at linebacker and the eye-opening preseason performance, Andreessen has a chance to go from rookie tryout to final roster. His teammates are enjoying it.

“This is his home, this is where he’s from, and he has a lot of pride and joy in this red and blue,” said edge rusher AJ Epenesa. “It’s really cool to see him do that. And then to have him flourish and be playing as well as he is, I know he takes a lot of pride in his work so it’s been really fun to watch him grow.”

“All the people around here love him,” said fellow linebacker Terrel Bernard. “You can tell that it means a lot to him to just be here and have the opportunity to be here. It’s really cool for him to be doing what he’s doing.”

The guys in the locker room have been having some fun with Andreessen’s sudden local celebrity. His locker is next to AJ Epenesa who says “shout out Lancaster” is now a thing the guys are preaching.

Andreessen is trying to downplay that stuff and focus on the game on Saturday, but he does admit it’s a cool feeling to be the hero of Buffalo this week.

“I’m sure my parents and the ones close to me are happy about it,” said Andreessen.

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