Inside The Bills

NFL.com: Wilson ready to spend big

According to NFL.com, Bills owner Ralph Wilson is ready to invest big time money into a big name coaching candidate.

NFL.com’s Vic Carucci reports that Wilson is willing to spend up to $10M per season on a coach to get his man, which by most accounts is Mike Shanahan. Carucci cites a source close to Shanahan with those figures. That source also said a stake in ownership of the club could also be on the table.

NFL.com: Shanahan to meet with Bills next week

In the rapidly changing world of the NFL hiring process, a meeting with former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan is apparently going to take place next week for the Bills front office.

That according to NFL.com’s Vic Carucci, who said owner Ralph Wilson and COO/GM Russ Brandon will meet with Shanahan next week as Brandon is overseeing the hiring process. It sounds as if the organization is ready to cede control of the entire personnel side of the organization over to a coach the caliber of Shanahan, who Carucci reports is currently the frontrunner for the position.

Even though Washington has tried more than once to lure Shanahan to run their organization, Buffalo’s job is apparently more appealing due to the solid financial footing it rests on with respect to salary cap and dead money on its books in player salaries.

Former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher is also on a short list, but Shanahan is the main focus, likely due to his strong offensive background, an area of Buffalo’s team that has been near the bottom of the league for most of the decade.

Fewell press conference to be live

Buffalobills.com will carry the Perry Fewell press conference live. It is scheduled for 8:30 pm.

Fewell was just named interim head coach by Bills owner Ralph Wilson.

Jauron departure not unexpected

The decision by Bills owner Ralph Wilson to relieve Dick Jauron of his coaching duties was not one that caught many fans off guard.

The 1-4 start that the team got off to this season certainly put immediate pressure on Jauron and his staff, especially the humbling home loss to Cleveland.

Media members had been asking Jauron every week since that loss about his assessment of his job security.

The two road wins at New York and Carolina that followed the Cleveland loss unfortunately proved to be just a brief respite from the struggles that have plagued the team all season. Difficulty converting third downs and scoring points on offense and stopping the run on defense.

How much can be changed with seven games left in the season remains to be seen, but Mr. Wilson evidently felt this decision had to be made at this time.

Mr. Wilson to get HOF ring Sunday

The Bills have announced that Mr. Wilson will be presented with his Hall of Fame ring at halftime of the game against the Houston Texans this Sunday.

In a separate development Hall of Fame DE Bruce Smith will be presented with his Hall of Fame ring at halftime of the home game against the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 29th.

50 years ago today

Just a reminder for all Bills fans that 50 years ago today was the big day.

Oct. 28th 1959 was the day that  the American Football League granted its seventh franchise to Buffalo with Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. of Detroit as principal owner.

The 50th season of Bills football and all that the team has accomplished over the five decades prior has to be traced back to this day because without it, none of it happens in Buffalo.

Jauron on meeting with Mr. Wilson

Bills head coach Dick Jauron understandably didn’t provide a whole lot of details on the meeting between himself, Alex Van Pelt, Eric Studesville, GM Russ Brandon and owner Ralph Wilson in Detroit. But he explain why the meeting took place.

It sounded as though Mr. Wilson wanted to get a better feel for the new direction of the offense under Alex Van Pelt, who Jauron confirmed after practice Sunday should be referred to as the offensive coordinator now.

Jauron said he felt at the end of the meeting that Mr. Wilson was comfortable with the changes.

“I did,” said Jauron. ”I felt like he was pretty comfortable before we got there. He’s known Alex for a long time, but he hasn’t known him as his offensive coordinator. He wanted to talk to him, he wanted to talk to Eric and he wanted to talk to me and Russ. It was really a good day.”

One last Mr. Wilson image from HOF weekend

Here’s one last photo of Mr. Wilson from Hall of Fame weekend. He’s posing next to a painting done by Marshawn Lynch’s cousin Sam Cain. Sam’s artwork production is called Cainhicks Custom by SamCee.

Top 10 Hall of Fame speech excerpts

There may be some argument with my choices, but here is my top 10 list of speech excerpts from the Buffalo presenters and inductees at the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony Saturday night.

10. Rich Eisen – “When did Buffalo move to Canton?”

9. Chris Berman – “Bruce, Mr. Wilson, I think we have a Buffalo home game.. It’s as if everyone in Buffalo is being inducted.”

8. Bruce Smith – On his first attempt at football in high school – “The first day was a nightmare. The second day I quit. Coach called my house that day and spoke with my father. After the conversation ended my father asked me, ‘Why weren’t you at practice? Are you sick? Is something wrong?’ I said, ‘No sir. Football is just too hard. It’s too hot and it’s too painful.’ My father gave me a look I will never forget. In his baritone voice he said, ‘Son, whatever you do in life don’t ever quit.’”

7. Ted Cottrell – On Bruce Smith – “He wasn’t a football player. He was a football performer. The field was his stage and he was the star.”

6. Bruce Smith – “In the annals of NFL history the sum total of my career will be defined by the 15 years I spent playing for the Buffalo Bills. And what a ride it was. Four consecutive AFC Championships, the potency of the no huddle offense, the greatest comeback in NFL history and the record breaking attendance set by the greatest fans in the NFL.”

5. Bruce Smith – “I can remember arriving for my first minicamp with Andre Reed in 1985. And the first practice in the middle of May we noticed dark clouds off in the distance. Within minutes it began to rain, hail and snow. After 30 minutes of downpour the sun began to shine and I thought, ‘What the hell have I gotten myself into?’”

4. Ralph Wilson – “It has been a grand ride for me and tonight is the high point. Thank you to so many players, coaches, my family, the Bills family, passionate Bills fans, the Hall of Fame voters and the Hall of Fame staff… closing in on 91 I still feel that I have youth on my side. And I want to thank all of you very much for this honor.”

3. Bruce Smith – “Thurman Thomas, known to his teammates as Squatty. You are no doubt the most complete running back of our era. My life would be a little less bright if I didn’t have you to laugh and joke with. P.S. I hid your helmet.”

2. Ralph Wilson – when the Bills were down 21-7 at halftime in their preseason finale in 1960. – “Friends of mine in the stands said, ‘Why don’t you go down and talk to the team. You can’t do any worse.’ And I said, ‘What am I going to tell them?’ and they said, ‘Well tell them something.’ At their urging I went down and walked into our locker room and there was our head coach Buster Ramsey with that expression on his face that said, ‘What are you doing in here?’ I said I want to talk to the team. And I gave that team one of the most inspiring fight talks. It was reminiscent of one of those speeches by Knute Rockne or Vince Lombardi. And we lost the game 51-7. Shortly thereafter Buster said to me, ‘Hey Ralph, next time talk to the other team.’

1. Chris Berman – “50 years later the Bills still belong to Buffalo because your owner gave you his word.”

My pics from Hall of Fame night

It was one heck of an evening in Canton for the Bills family. Here are just a few of the photos from the evening’s festivities including Mr. Wilson’s private party. I’ve got to say he pulled out all the stops. Wait until you see the photo of his cake at the bottom unbelievable!

Pardon the lack of top quality images as I took these with the camera on my blackberry. First I snapped a quick pic of Bruce with Thurman and Jim Kelly next to his bust shortly after Bruce’s speech.

Then it was off to Mr. Wilson’s private party to first cover the event and then get some food myself (we barely had dinner). With a live band from Buffalo going all night, the 50th anniversary season was celebrated in ice, Mr. Wilson’s bust was on display and guarded by a HOF representative. Mr. Wilson’s party tent was about 100 yards long. And of course his cake courtesy of Dessert Deli back home in Buffalo was ridiculous.

Mr. Wilson thanks Buffalo

Mr. Wilson just finished his HOF speech and gave Buffalo a big thank you.

“I picked Buffalo,” said Wilson of his destination for his AFL franchise. “And it was a lucky pick because they have supported us beyond our fondest dreams. And without them I would not be on this stage tonight.”

Truer words could not have been spoken.

Mr. Wilson and Bruce Smith HOF speeches to air live on Buffalobills.com

For those of you that will not be near a television or sitting in Canton Saturday night you can watch the Hall of Fame induction speeches of Ralph Wilson and Bruce Smith live on Buffalobills.com.

Just be sure to click on the media lounge tab near the top of the home page. We’ll have full coverage of all of this weekend’s events on Buffalobills.com from the enshrinement ceremonies to the post game press conferences.

Hall of Fame speech order for Saturday evening

For those fans heading down to Canton this weekend, you’re going to want to be seated early for the induction ceremonies.

The reason why is Mr. Wilson is going to be presented as the first enshrinee. Here’s the list of the order of the speeches for Saturday.

Ralph Wilson, Jr. (presented by Chris Berman)
Randall McDaniel (presented by O.K. Fulton)
Bob Hayes (Roger Staubach will speak on behalf of the family. Bob’s son Bob Hayes, Jr. will represent his late father during the weekend’s festivities)
Rod Woodson (presented by Tracy Foster)
Derrick Thomas (Carl Peterson will speak on behalf of the famiy. Derrick’s son Derrion Hayes will represent his late father during the weekend’s festivities)
Bruce Smith (presented by Ted Cottrell)

Nice that the Hall of Fame book ended the Bills representatives. Kind of fitting for a weekend that belongs to Buffalo and the AFL.

Mr. Wilson on the sidelines

Bills Hall of Fame owner Ralph Wilson is on hand at training camp. As far we know this is the first practice he has attended.

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.

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.

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.

Mr. Wilson on Terrell Owens

Bills owner and 2009 HOF enshrinee Ralph Wilson was a guest on Sirius NFL Radio Friday morning with Randy Cross and Bob Papa, and naturally they asked him what he thinks of his biggest offseason acquisition Terrell Owens. Here’s what Mr. Wilson had to say.

First he admitted he hasn’t spent much time with Owens since he signed.

“No I haven’t,” said Wilson. “I don’t know him that well. He’s been a model citizen and is well liked by all the players and has attended most of hte offseason practices. I think he’s going to give us what we need, which is a big, tall wide receiver who loves to play the game. We’re just lucky to get him. I couldn’t believe it (that we got him) when he was free to sign with anybody.”

Mr. Wilson on Sirius NFL Radio

Bills owner and founder and 2009 HOF enshrinee Ralph Wilson was a guest on Sirius NFL Radio this morning with Randy Cross and Bob Papa. He discussed a number of topics including Buffalo’s fan base and how he came to choose Chris Berman as his presenter.

Here are some of the highlights courtesy of Sirius NFL Radio.

On whether he knew the AFL was going to be the success that it was.

RW: “I hoped that we would be successful, but I didn’t know. It was a new league that was taking on the NFL. We did have an exciting product, but I wasn’t sure of course.”

On how he was appointed to first discuss merger talks with the NFL in 1965.

RW: “When we came into existence we were never expecting a merger. We came in to give football to towns that didn’t have it like Denver and San Diego and Oakland and they were very, very small towns in those days back then. But in 1965 we had heard rumors that the NFL might be interested in maybe merging with us. And we didn’t start those rumors.

“Barron Hilton was President of the league at the time and he appointed myself and Sonny Werblin with the Titans or now the Jets to meet with a representative from the NFL. I had numerous talks down in Miami beach with Carrol Rosenbloom of the NFL to set the parameters for how a merger could be accomplished.

“It didn’t go through the first year and then the following year Lamar (Hunt) and Tex Schramm of the Dallas Cowboys finalized the merger and it went on from there.”

On how he decided to hang in and stick with the AFL instead of cutting his losses in the early going

RW: “I didn’t know how long we could last. I don’t think we would have lasted indefinitely had we continued without the merger. We didn’t bring the merger up and we didn’t establish the league to merge. I was just happy that the merger came along because part of the merger agreement was that we would pool all of the television money and we would all get equal shares. And that gave some of the small markets the wherewithal to get some good players from college because the price of poker was running up.

“The Buffalo Bills lost money until the merger. We didn’t become wealthy. You were a success in pro football in the early days if you broke even. And there weren’t too many teams that were successful by that definition then.”

On how the Buffalo community has embraced the Bills as the fabric of the community

RW: “That’s true. We have very, very passionate fans in Buffalo. Unfortunately over the past two or three decades Buffalo has lost a lot of their big companies, like Bethlehem Steel and National Gypsum. Their population is down, but the people that are still left are rabid Bills fans. A lot of people told me that I ought to move the team.

“Even if I had thought about moving the team, which I never did, I always felt it would have been devastating for the fans of Western New York.”

On going in with Bruce Smith

RW: “Bruce was probably one of the best defensive ends that I ever saw. In my years I’ve seen a lot of great pro football players, but Bruce Smith was a game changer. Against the Miami Dolphins when they gave the football to Dan Marino who would always beat you in the last minute, he would pour in and get a sack for us and get us the ball. He was a great player.”

On how he came to choose Chris Berman as his presenter

RW: “There were a lot of fellas I thought about, a lot of people. I took a couple of months to try to decide. I’ve known Chris for many, many years and first I had to think as to whether he would even do it. I didn’t know if he would do it or not. I thought he would be outstanding. Someone has to say something good about me I hope he does. I’ve got to get on the phone with him about that.

“He stood out for me though, but there were other people I knew who could have done the job too.”