Inside The Bills

Bills CB Drayton Florence is going to be watching Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday with the troops.

Florence will be in Honduras with US troops stationed there. He talked about it on ESPN Radio. The interview starts at the 10 minute mark.

“I’ll be doing a military tour where we’re traveling to three military bases to boost the morale of the troops a bit,” Florence told Ross Tucker. “It should be a great experience. I grew up in a military family so I made sure my Foundation gives back to the troops that sacrifice so much.”

With Buffalo’s current losing streak stretching further and further it’s drawing more and more comparisons to the club’s 0-8 start last year. Veteran Drayton Florence was asked after Sunday’s game if this slide is worse than last year’s.

“I think it’s more disappointing,” Florence said. ”We start off good 5-2 and we just hit this skid in the road and we haven’t been able to bounce back. The good teams bounce back from this. They may lose three in a row, but they bounce back and find a way to win. We just haven’t been able to find a way to win.

“It’s just disappointing to start off so good and everybody is playing well, defense is getting turnovers, Fitz is throwing two or more touchdowns a game and we’ve got all the different receivers stepping up and making plays and it just hasn’t been happening. We’re still going out and preparing just as hard as we were from Week 1 and the results… we’re just not getting the ‘W’s.”

On Saturday (Dec 17), 29 WNY children, all of whom have a parent serving overseas that they will separated from this holiday season, will be treated to a very special Christmas celebration courtesy of Drayton Florence, cornerback for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, and the Drayton Florence Foundation.

From 12-1:30 pm, Florence and some of his Bills teammates will be at the Santa’s Vision event, hosted by the Adam’s Mark Hotel in downtown Buffalo, and will host a private holiday party for these very special youngsters including a luncheon courtesy of Buffalo Wild Wings in Hamburg, a unique Christmas tree storybook time, distribution of gifts and all-around holiday cheer. 

“Being a child in a military family myself and having recently had my sister serving our country overseas and missing holidays and birthdays with her kids, I am incredibly sensitive to the needs of these kids this time of year”, said Florence. “It is incredibly taxing on both our military serving our country, protecting our freedom, and the families they leave behind, and this time of year makes it even tougher.  Our goal is to take some time with these kids to provide joy and smiles for as long as we can.”

Outside of the private event hosted by the foundation, the entire Santa’s Vision event is open to the general public from 9 am – 3 pm on Dec 17^th and is entirely FREE! All kids in attendance will get a free toy in addition to enjoying free pony rides, face painting, and pictures with Santa. In addition, a special area will be set up for children to write letters to our troops overseas and meet some of the men and women who serve our country.

Bills CB Drayton Florence was asked about getting off to a better start in games, which hasn’t been the case the past two weeks on both sides of the ball. Florence had a good tongue-in-cheek answer as to why they’ve had a couple of heart-pumping comeback victories the past two weeks.

“We’re just trying to get ourselves some Monday night games so we’re keeping the games exciting and keeping them close,” Florence deadpanned. 

On a more serious note, Florence recognizes that the Bills can’t keep cheating the hangman every week.

“We’d like to start out like we did at Kansas City, but we know that’s not going to happen each and every week,” he said. ”We’ve going to have to be in those games if we have to come back at halftime or if we’re up at halftime we’ve got to sustain those leads also.”

The Drayton Florence Foundation has announced a raffle for a game day experience package with proceeds going to help military families in the Buffalo area.  The raffle is being conducted online at www.gamedayraffle29.com and kicks off today, the 10th anniversary of the September 11th tragedy.

For just $10, you and a guest are entered into a drawing for a chance to watch the Buffalo Bills game on October 9, 2011 against the Philadelphia Eagles in style!  The winner will be selected on Friday, September 30th and only 1,000 tickets will be sold. 

The winner will receive:
▪ Two (2) tickets to the Bills-Eagles game▪ Two (2) roundtrip airfare tickets on JetBlue▪ Parking Pass for the game▪ Two (2) nights at the Comfort Suites, downtown Buffalo▪ $50 gift certificate to Buffalo Wild Wings▪ Post-game private meet and greet with Bills cornerback Drayton Florence▪ Two (2) autographed footballs

2011 marks the second year that the Drayton Florence Foundation has partnered with the Wounded Warrior Project to provide Buffalo Bills tickets to our troops wounded while serving our country. Later this year, the foundation will host a holiday party for our western New York military families, complete with gifts, games and activities for the entire family.

To help support the efforts of the Drayton Florence Foundation and help give back to the families of the men and women who give so much for our country, please visit

www.gamedayraffle29.com.

A child of a military family himself, with both his father and currently his sister serving our country, Bills cornerback Drayton Florence is all too aware of the challenges that families face during these deployments. It is because of this passion for our local heroes that Drayton has refocused the mission of his foundation to educate, motivate and stimulate youth, preparing them for a lifetime of success, to specifically serve the families of our active military.