Inside The Bills

Bills lending some AFL history to the Hall

Earlier this week the Bills media relations department traveled down to Canton to deliver some AFL mementos to lend to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Two of the more valuable items were the club’s two AFL Championship trophies from 1964 and 1965. They will be on display along with three special game balls Mr. Wilson has received over the years, including one from the 1964 AFL Championship game and another from the 1990 AFC Championship game.

There’s also a video of the mementos being dropped off at the Pro Football HOF. The trophies are usually housed in the lobby of the administration building at One Bills Drive.

Losman a UFL’er

It took a while,but is pretty much official now with ESPN reporting that J.P.Losman has signed with the UFL’s Las Vegas franchise.

Losman had long been rumored to be one of the marquee players for the Las Vegas team as the four team upstart league embarks on an inaugural 6-game schedule this fall.

“I’m trying to get back on the field as soon as possible,” Losman told ESPN. “I love the game. I want to play this game. I don’t want to be [in the NFL] waiting for somebody to get hurt or not play well. “We’re trying to have as much success as possible here, try to create some buzz … and then go through [NFL free agency] again next year.”

No doubt the biggest attraction in addition to playing time was the chance to be coached by a veteran coach known for repairing quarterback’s games in Jim Fassel.

Fassel, not surprisingly told ESPN he has faith that Losman can revive his career.

“If I had doubt that he should not be a starting winning quarterback, I wouldn’t take it on,” Fassel told ESPN, “But I had the same feeling with Kerry Collins … J.P.’s got tremendous athletic skills. This guy should be a starter in the NFL. I mean, come on … But I still understand you can help a guy. Even Tiger Woods needs a swing coach. “Listen, if he’d have went back to the NFL and sat on the bench this year, then he’d have been no better off next year. Whatever anybody thought about him, they’d still say the same thing. Nothing would’ve changed.”

Its hard to disagree with that logic knowing at best Losman would have been holding a clipboard in the NFL this year. This way he can avoid sitting and any potential QB competitions and just play.

If he can’t succeed in a league of lesser talent with a coach known for fixing QBs then he will have lost nothing because there are obviously a lot of NFL coaches that don’t really believe he can make them better right now.

A good, productive, consistent season in the UFL could change that thinking.

My only question is will a six game season be enough of a litmus test to convince the doubters in NFL personnel departments?

Buffalo not ranked among top 10 football cities

Yep you heard right Bills fans in a rankings list compiled by FoxSports.com, their staff put together a rundown of the Top 10 football cities and Buffalo did not make the cut.

The list which absolutely has some qualified candidates (Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Dallas) also had some head scratchers (New Orleans #2?!). When you look at their criteria you begin to understand why they picked the cities they did. Here it is.

What qualities make a good NFL city? For our highly subjective purposes,leaning toward those with passionate, devoted fans with some sense of civic pride, and a stadium rich in either character, tradition or creature comforts. Basically, a place you’d want to visit, regardless of your fan allegiance.

Someone want to tell me how the heck New York made the top 10 with that dump called Giants stadium, which isn’t even in the state of New York? What tradition or character does that place have? It was built on swamp land. Plus New York is a baseball town, always will be.

As for Buffalo they easily make the grade for passionate and devoted fans with civic pride, the people that made up this list probably saw the stadium was built in 1973 and just chalk it up as a dinosaur with no character or tradition. How quickly they forget the 1980 opener, the ’88 division clincher in O.T., the AFC Championship game in ’90 (51-3) and the Comeback.

Judging by this list most of the voters couldn’t reference most of those games in the first place. Here’s the top 10.

1. Green Bay
2. New Orleans
3. Pittsburgh
4. Cleveland
5. Kansas City
6. Dallas
7. New York
8. Philadelphia
9. Chicago
10. Denver

Mr. Wilson believes Bills have playoff talent

Anyone remember after the disappointing loss to Miami in Toronto last year, what Mr. Wilson said when asked about his team’s performance after the game? He said, “We don’t have enough talent.” Well after the acquisitions made this offseason in free agency and the draft Mr. Wilson feels considerably different now.

Asked during a live online chat on NFL.com, what he expects from his team this year, Mr. Wilson offered the following.

“I expect us to have a better season, not only for me but for the fans in Buffalo, than we have had in the last few years,” said Wilson. ”Now, of course, there are so many things that can happen in the game, as the football fans know. There’s the talent factor, but I think we have the talent now.

“The luck factor is huge; the ball has to bounce right. We had the Dallas Cowboys beat a couple of years ago. All we had to do was recover the onside kick by them and we won the game, and the ball bounced away from our guy and the Cowboys recovered it and kicked the winning field goal. But I’ll be disappointed if we don’t make the playoffs this year. I think we’ve got a good chance.”

Gil Brandt on Mr. Wilson

Some nice history on Mr. Wilson from the inner circle of the NFL courtesy of NFL.com contributor Gil Brandt.

Bruce Smith to consider coaching

Bills Hall of Famer Bruce Smith was asked a number of questions while appearing on a live chat on NFL.com Monday, including whether or not he would be interested in starting a career in coaching. The NFL’s all-time sack leader had an interesting answer.

“I have given it some thought, but my first priority right now is to raise my son and once he gets off in college, I’ll revisit the possibility of coaching.”

While young players like Chris Ellis and Aaron Maybin could certainly learn a thing or two from Smith, I don’t know how Bruce could teach other players to contort their body the way he did, lowering his center of gravity, turning his upper torso at a 90-degree angle toward the offensive tackle, while his legs ran straight upfield.

Many of his former teammates tried to emulate that technique with no success. Phil Hansen told me he couldn’t do it. Marcellus Wiley said he tried several times, but kept falling down. I believe Bruce would have something to offer as a defensive line coach, but I think a lot of the things he could do on the field simply can’t be performed by the majority of NFL defensive ends.

Here’s the entire chat, where Smith also said he would not trade his career for a Super Bowl ring and a shorter career.

Russ Brandon on the FAN 590 today

This afternoon (Tuesday) Bills COO/GM Russ Brandon will be making a radio appearance. He’ll be on the FAN590 in Toronto.

Brandon is scheduled to appear at 2:40 pm. You can listen to the interview live online.

Marv welcomes Wilson to Hall of Fame

Bills Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy penned an open letter to his former boss Ralph Wilson welcoming him as a new inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The letter appears on NFL.com. Titled ‘Congratulations to the Pride of Buffalo,’ Levy calls Mr. Wilson’s induction an honor not only for the Bills owner, but the entire city of Buffalo.

Bills HOF QB Jim Kelly did that same thing for Bruce Smith, welcoming him to the Hall as well with a letter appearing on NFL.com.

That August weekend is certainly going to be a big one for the Queen City.

OchoCinco jealous of T.O. Show?

Chad OchoCinco had an interesting response to a tweet addressed to him from ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Schefter upon watching the debut of the T.O. Show last night jokingly said he foresees a Chad OchoCinco show coming next season on Univision (the Hispanic network). OchoCinco tweeted back the following.

My show starts September 9th against Denver, when i handle my business on the field then i’ll think about a TV show!

Hard to tell on a tweet if OchoCinco is joking himself or genuinely ticked with all the pub the T.O. Show is getting Terrell Owens. For what it’s worth OchoCinco follows Owens on Twitter and Owens follows OchoCinco.

Whitner makes a top 10 safety list

Donte Whitner claims he loves the haters as much as those fans that support him. Both parties may want to take a closer look at one of the latest rankings of the top safeties in the game.

TheScore.com did a top 10 safety list and Whitner made the cut. The Bills safety checked in at number 9 right behind Green Bay’s Nick Collins and Jermaine Phillips of Tampa Bay.

I don’t know if Bills fans fully recognize the sacrifices Whitner has made for the overall good of the defense switching roles on the fly week to week and season to season. If he had manned one position his entire career his big play numbers undoubtedly would be better.

Levi Jones won’t sign until after camps start

Looks like free agent OT Levi Jones will not sign with an NFL team until after training camps are open.

That according to his agent per the Arizona Republic. Jones’ agent confirmed to that paper that the Cardinals are interested in Jones, but do not want to pay him starter money.

“They (the Cardinals) wanted to sign him a while ago but it’s not in his best interest unless the contract they gave him guarantees that he would be paid commensurate with how much he was going to play,” his agent Ken Zuckerman told the Arizona Republic.

The Jones camp believes he deserves starter money, since he’s probably good enough in their eyes to be a starter on several NFL teams.

But with no team ready to promise that, Jones has decided to bide his time and wait for a training camp injury at the tackle position when his value on the market will be significantly increased.

Vick trying to get in front of Goodell

According to NFL Fanhouse Michael Vick’s representatives are trying to set up a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell knowing that Vick has to get in front of the commissioner and show remorse for his actions in the hope that he is reinstated.

NFL Spokesperson Greg Aiello told Fanhouse the following about Vick.

“The review of his status is ongoing. We are providing no other details at this time.”

Vick’s representatives believe there are only about 8 NFL teams serious enough to consider making him a part of their roster this season. None of those teams were mentioned of course.

Vick finished the home confinement portion of his sentence Monday. He’s now on 3 years probation, where if he gets into any other trouble off the field, he’ll probably be facing more jail time.

And that is the biggest deterrent for NFL teams right now. They openly wonder if he can be trusted.

Chat with Ralph Wilson

The Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies for Mr. Wilson and Bruce Smith are just a few weeks away. But you can send a question to Mr. Wilson as he’ll be appearing on an NFL chat today at 2pm on nfl.com.

Here’s the page where you can submit your question. Not sure how long Mr. Wilson will be online answering questions. We’ll try to get a recap together later today.

T.O.’s publicists are like sisters

Anyone that has or had a doting sister probably had Terrell Owens publicists pegged from the very beginning of his reality show ‘The T.O. Show’ Monday night.

Episode 1 which aired on VH-1, painted Mo and Kita (his publicists) as his publicists, cheerleaders, advisors and life coaches. Truthfully they act like an older sister would act.

I don’t pretend to know any of them, but I suppose they have his best interests in mind with respect to his career after football, which is why they got him to move to L.A.. But I can’t see Owens thinking about his post-football career, until it’s reality, which is good for the Bills.

Buffalo’s pub was pretty good in the episode, though it was brief. I’m hearing there will be a lot more of a Buffalo presence in episode 2.

Ravens trolling for wideouts

The Baltimore Ravens look as though they’re preparing for life without Derrick Mason, who abruptly announced his retirement last week. John Harbaugh is reportedly having four receivers in for workouts this week, including one familiar name.

According to the Baltimore Sun, veteran WR D.J. Hackett will be working out for the club. Hackett was released by the Panthers after a dismal season in which he caught just 13 passes after signing as a free agent with Carolina in 2008.

This situation bears watching because if Baltimore cannot find an appropriate replacement they may explore the trade market and Buffalo has an abundance of receiver talent, most of which is good enough to play in the league, but unlikely to all be on the Bills roster come September.

Spencer Johnson camping already

Bills DT Spencer Johnson already started camp… his own that is, with his 1st annual Youth Sportsfest in his native Alabama.

More than 300 youth residents had the opportunity to join Johnson and other sports celebrities at the event which was held at Johnson’s high alma mater, Southern Choctaw HS.

The primary focal point of the Sports Festival was the free football and cheerleading camp, where local youngsters were provided with the opportunity to learn valuable insights from some NFL players in regards to what it takes to be successful in school, sports and life. 

Each participant also received excellent instructions from the HS coaching staff and also had the opportunity to get autographs from Spencer and his NFL friends.

Several youngsters also joined Johnson’s fan club.

Johnson is one of several Bills players to conduct a camp in their hometown community this offseason.

Kawika and Donte ramping up

Sounds as if Kawika Mitchell and Donte Whitner are ready to make lights out hits on the field already. Both are ramping up hard for the onset of training camp.

Both of them have been tweeting about their latest workouts in preparation for camp and the season. Mitchell offered the following indicating just how amped up he is for the season to start.

Only 1 bad thing bout Twitter and talk of the 09′ season. It’s Twitter BS. It’s potential and I hate the word potential. I want this (expletive) 2 b now. I’m ready for the reality. I like the talk. It adds pressure. I want the real thing. I want it all. BILLS stand up!

Meanwhile Whitner is so pumped up from the results of his workouts he took a photo of himself and seems ready to get the fans going.

Feeling good and tuning up for a long and great season….Can u say “Let’s Go Buf-f-a-loooo!

Nice to see veterans pumped up for the season and ready to lead.

One other camp sleeper

In addition to the training camp sleepers listed on the home page today, there’s one other player on Buffalo’s roster that could turn some heads before the preseason is over.

Long snapper Garrison Sanborn is a quality prospect. Undrafted after graduating from Florida State in 2008, the Bills signed him after his three day tryout during rookie minicamp this past spring.

His long snap times between .72 and .75 and his accuracy is pretty consistent. I think he represents the most significant competition for incumbent long snapper Ryan Neill in Neill’s three seasons with the Bills.

It will be interesting to see just how far Sanborn can push Neill in camp and the preseason.

Levi Jones still looking

This offseason there’s been a lot of Bills’ fan interest in Bengals cast off Levi Jones. But an NFC team still appears to be his most consistent pursuer.

The Arizona Cardinals have maintained a dialogue with Jones, according to ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli. The Cardinals have been mildly “interested” since April, when Jones stated he would like to play for Arizona.

The interest on Jones’ part makes sense. He played his college ball at Arizona State. But you have to believe if he was willing to play for the veteran minimum, or was willing to accept a reserve role if he was unable to win a starting job he would have signed by now.

All indications are his asking price is still too high and that he wants a starting gig. What teams are worried about are his knee problems the past three seasons which has made his availability on Sundays anything but consistent.

Don’t expect the Bills to consider him as an option unless there’s a major injury at the tackle position at camp, or if their original plans at tackle are not panning out the way they hope.

Donte on T.O. as a teammate

For those of you that missed Donte Whitner’s appearance on ESPN’s First Take earlier this weekend, he has some interesting things to say about having Terrell Owens as a teammate.

Donte called T.O. “humble” among other things in his characterization of Owens as a teammate during his interview with ESPN. He also said he’ll be watching the debut of Owens’ reality show on Monday night.