To answer the original question before I move this to PPP...
The guy asking the question was the one who lumped the Bills in with the Bucs and Bengals, not Mortensen. His tweet was in response to this one:
RT @ELDRAGONE: @mortreport u really think raiders can win with mcnabb > Yes. I really believe NFL is better when Raiders are good.
You can direct your nasty e-mails and tweets to http://twitter.com/bwdoherty.
As for the "tradition and national fan base," he's absolutely correct. For decades, the Raiders have been right up there with the Cowboys, Packers, and Steelers as the teams with the biggest bandwagons. How many Raiders fans do we see when they play at the Ralph, most with no connection to Oakland?
I know, because I used to be one of them. Yeah, that's right -- I owned a Stabler jersey when I was in junior high, and there's still a moldering Los Angeles Raiders ballcap around here somewhere. Loved the outlaw attitude.
Conversely, when I meet Bills fans at a road game, the vast majority are either transplanted from WNY or still live there.