Inside The Bills

Bills to play primetime game in ’12

The Buffalo Bills will be playing one of their 16 games in 2012 in primetime with the strong likelihood of being on a Thursday night.

That according to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who during his annual league address at the Super Bowl in Indianapolis announced an expansion of the league’s Thursday night football schedule.

“We have eight games currently on the NFL Network schedule and we’re going to expand that to 13 games starting in the 2012 season,” said Goodell. “We’re going to be playing Thursday night games from Week 2 through Week 15. This will result in every team appearing on a Thursday football game and every team having a primetime appearance throughout the season. We think it’s great for the fans and great for the teams to have that primetime exposure and great for the Network.” 

That means 26 of the 32 NFL clubs will appear on the Thursday night schedule during the 2012 regular season along with the two that appear on Thursday night kickoff weekend in Week 1 on NBC which makes 28. Presumably the four that do not will appear either on Sunday or Monday night during the regular season. The 2012 NFL schedule will be released in mid-April.

Goodell to meet with fans

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will be at Sunday’s Bills-Eagles game to meet with a select group of Bills season ticket holders.

Goodell’s visit is part of a series of fan forum events in which the Commissioner meets directly with fans to answer their questions and hear what is on their minds.

The first event took place at the 2010 Pro Bowl in South Florida. More than 100 Bills season ticket holders were selected for the event.

Hairston on Goodell, Smith Q&A

Bills fourth-round pick Chris Hairston, who is attending the Rookie Symposium in Florida this week, commented on the unexpected visit by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was reportedly invited to speak to the players by Players Executive Director DeMaurice Smith.

Smith and Goodell briefly addressed the media after their Q&A session with the players, but did not take any questions.

Bigger rosters short term?

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about the possibility of an increase in team roster sizes once the league’s current labor situation is resolved. Here was his answer.

“I do believe that the uncertainty is something we’ll have to consider as it relates to getting players ready to play,” Goodell said. “One, from an injury standpoint, and two, from making the proper evaluations.  We have talked about different concepts depending on how long it goes, that we may have to implement.”

Currently offseason rosters can have a maximum of 80 players. No teams are near that figure right now since the only new additions to NFL clubs since the current labor situation began have been draft choices, and with all of them being unsigned they do not even count toward the roster total.

Goodell: No new stadium plans

Among the questions posed to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Monday evening in a teleconference with Bills season ticket holders was with the Bills lease closing in on expiration whether a new stadium would be a consideration.

“I’m not aware of a specific new stadium proposal,” said Goodell. ”I know that they continue to seek ways to improve the stadium experience and the stadium itself. And that’s critical in making sure that the Bills remain competitive.

“They’ve done a terrific job of making capital improvements to that stadium to make it competitive. It’s always a challenge for teams and communities. It’s one of the things we’re trying to address in the Collective Bargaining Agreement to make sure the Buffalo Bills and small market teams can be successful. It’s how do we incur those investments in the stadiums which are more and more being made in part by the private sector, meaning primarily the teams and the local business communities and the fans. We need to encourage that, but those costs continue to rise and that needs to be recognized in the system.”

NFL draft on the move?

During Monday night’s teleconference between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Bills season ticket holders, he was asked about the possibility of the NFL draft moving to a different city each year similar to the NHL draft. Goodell said it’s being entertained as an option.

“It’s one (idea) that we have really been studying and we very well may do that,” Goodell said. ”As you know we made some changes to our draft to speed it up and increase the pace of the draft that was overwhelmingly positive. Last year we went for the first time to primetime on the first two nights and then the third day.

“We’ve discussed about moving the second night or the third day to another city. There’s tremendous interest across the country in doing that. I think it’s another way to bring our fans in different communities the opportunity to attend the draft. We’re seriously evaluating that alternative. The first thing we need to do is ensure that we continue to have that draft. That’s what we’re doing in defending this antitrust case.”

Goodell, not surprisingly, answered mostly labor and revenue sharing questions from Bills fans as he stepped away from day one of a two-day mediation session in the 8th Circuit.

Tonight’s call with the commish

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will be fielding questions from Bills season ticket holders tonight (Monday) in a teleconference at 6:30 pm. Bills CEO Russ Brandon will be introducing the commissioner this evening.

“Tonight’s call the commissioner provides a great forum for Bills season ticket holders,” said Brandon. ”I look forward to listening at 6:30.”

Goodell has done about a dozen such teleconferences with season ticket holders in other NFL cities and Buffalo is the next in line. I will be moderating the call with the commissioner this evening. We’ll have recap late tonight on Buffalobills.com.

NFL’s ticket refund policy

The NFL announced their ticket refund policy today for the 2011 season.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced a league-wide ticket refund policy Tuesday for any 2011 preseason and regular-season games that are cancelled due to a work stoppage.

Bills rookies meet Goodell

Buffalo’s nine-draft choices met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell over the weekend at the league’s annual rookie symposium.

Goodell addressed the more than 250 new NFL players for about an hour focusing on “protecting the (NFL) shield” and player safety.

He spoke to the players about honoring the game and personal conduct among other topics and also opened the floor up for questions.

Fix to clubs sitting starters?

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been outspoken about his dissatisfaction with playoff bound NFL teams sitting their starters for the final two weeks of the regular season. At the NFL owners meetings Wednesday he announced some NFL schedule plans to hopefully rectify that practice.

“One of the key things we’re doing in the short term is in our scheduling,” Goodell said. ”We’re trying to schedule, potentially, week 17 will be all division opponents. And maybe even a large part of week 16.

“So, we think that will address this to some extent. It will not necessarily eliminate the issue but the competition committee, and I’ve stressed to them, we need to continue to look at this because it’s important to the quality of what we do, the integrity of our game.”

Divisional matchups the last two weeks of the season would obviously impact division title races if they were close, knowing head-to-head record and division record are the first two tiebreakers. So it sounds like a good plan. Of course if a team is way ahed of the rest of the division like the Colts were in 2009, where they had home field wrapped up with two weeks to play, it’s not going to fix that.

Last season the Bills beat a playoff bound Colts team in Week 17 that pulled its starters not long after the first quarter of play, including Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark. Buffalo won the game 30-7.

OT format unlikely to change

With all the brouhaha raised following the outcome of the overtime playoff clashes between the Packers and Cardinals and the Vikings and Saints, don’t look for the league to be changing the sudden death overtime format.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about the possibility of the rules being changed in any way, which currently is first team that scores wins, and in the minds of some favors the team that wins the coin toss.

“I wouldn’t hold your breath,” said Goodell, who also stated that to this point the league has not found a better solution or format for overtime.

That obviously means that the college format where each team gets possession is not being considered.

SI’s poll of players on Goodell approval rating

In this week’s Sports Illustrated Poll, 296 NFL players were asked “What Grade Would You Give Roger Goodell For The Job He’s Doing As Commissioner?”  Here are the results that will appear in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated.

Grade
A – (20%)
B – (46%)
C – (26%)
D – (5%)
F – (3%)

What do you think about the job done by Goodell thus far as NFL commish?

Live chat with NFL Commissioner

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is hosting a live chat at the top of the hour.

The chat gets underway at 2pm, but fans can submit their questions now.

Something tells me there may be a few questions as to why Michael Vick’s suspension is shorter than that of Marshawn Lynch.

3 day NFL Draft was inevitable

The NFL announcing that the draft will now be a 3-day event instead of 2 is anything but a surprise.

With all the draft crazy people that email us at the website alone it was obvious the NFL was going to take advantage of the ever growing fan base that rabidly follows the draft process from the declaration of junior eligibles in January to the draft itself in late April.

“We continue to look for ways to make the draft more accessible to more fans,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a league statement. “Moving the first round to prime time on Thursday night will make the first round of the draft available to fans on what is typically the most-watched night of television.”

I like that it starts on a Thursday and that the 1st round is made into a marquee attraction, especially since its the longest round time-wise anyway.

Saturday however, when they run rounds 4-7 will be for the die hards.

My question for all you fans is whoever is hosting the draft party better have the sleeping bags ready and the guest room and pull out couch ready to accommodate their buds. Either that or house hop with each guy hosting for a day. Get creative fellas.

Goodell stamps Bills Toronto Series “successful”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked to assess the Bills Toronto Series, in his state of the league address in Tampa Friday afternoon, and he expressed a strong feeling that the initiative has gone very well.

“The two games up in Toronto were tremendously successful for us,” said Goodell. ”We said the objective was to regionalize the Buffalo Bills, and it achieved those objectives. We were able to increase our season-ticket sales in the Toronto area significantly, over 40 percent. And I think from that standpoint we achieved what our initial objective was.”

Goodell also mentioned that he had met with all parties involved to see what is planned for the 2009 regular season game at Rogers Centre.

“It’s a building process,” said Goodell. ”When we first got into this we wanted to make sure that it was a good experience for the two teams, that they were successful and they could do it without any negative competitive consequences, and we achieved that objective.”

“I met with the people that are promoting the game, Rogers Communications, along with the Bills earlier this week, and I’m very confident that next year’s game is going to be bigger and better. I think they’ll evaluate every aspect of the game, including the pricing, and I think they’ll do a terrific job and it’ll be a great game.”

NFL Commish to chat on NFL.com

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will field questions from fans on Tuesday, December 30 at 2:00 PM ET in an exclusive NFL.com chat, it was announced today.

Fans may submit questions now and can continue through the hour-long chat at http://chat.nfl.com.

Commissioner Goodell participated in two live chats on NFL.com earlier in the season.

Goodell weighs in on Bills future

With NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a special guest of the Monday Quarterback Club earlier today he was asked naturally about the future of the franchise in addition to other issues. Here are some of the excerpts from his five minute question and answer session with the media this afternoon.

Q: How much a part will tradition and history play in the awarding of the Bills as a franchise to a new owner or will it strictly come down to economics?

RG: I think tradition and history is very important. I think the passion of the fans is important. But it ultimately comes down to can the team continue to be successful here and I believe it can because of the passion of our fans in this region and I think the steps the Bills are taking to regionalize the team and broadening the interest in the team and hopefully will attract more people to support the Bills.
Q: Have you heard from the Rogers group in Toronto about their long term plans. Have they approached the league saying they’re interested in a franchise or the Bills franchise?

RG: I haven’t had that discussion. All of our discussions have been around the international series of games and making that successful and trying to help the Bills continue to be successful in Western New York.

Q: What about the stadium and how does that affect the future viability of franchise?

RG: The stadium is obviously very important. We want to make sure we have stadiums that are suitable for our teams for the long term. This stadium has been around a long time, but there have been major capital improvements to the stadium and I think we need to continue to do that so it continues to be an outstanding facility.

Q: How much is the league suffering from the current status of the US economy?

RG: It suffers in a variety of ways. One we have direct financing which in this current environment is difficult. Two, our business partners are going through a difficult and third is really our fans. Our consumers have less disposable income. There’s concern about their future and we have to be sensitive to that. That’s one of the reasons why we have reduced playoff tickets because we think that’s responsible for what our fans are going through.

Q: Every once in a while you’ll hear about an ownership group lining up to purchase the team in the future. Is that productive, does that help or hurt the cause?

RG: We have discussions privately with a number of groups that are interested in a franchise. Some have geographical preferences and some just would be interested in owning a franchise. And again it goes back to tradition and history and this franchise has a great history so I’m sure there will be people who will be interested in owning the franchise here.

Q: Have you had talks with Jim Kelly and his group at any level?

RG: I’m aware of Jim’s interest and some of the partners that he’s interested in bringing in.

Goodell to attend Monday QB Club on the 17th

The Monday Quarterback Club, the business group that backs the Buffalo Bills, will be hosting NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell who will be special guest speaker at the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Distinguished Service Awards luncheon this Monday (Nov. 17) at the HSBC Arena Harbour Club.

Other special guests include Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. of the Bills and Jerry Butler, former Bills receiver and current Director of Player Programs for the Cleveland Browns. Doors open at 11:15 am, with the luncheon at 11:30 am, and the program beginning at 12:05 pm.

Mark Kelso, former Bills Safety and current color analyst for Bills radio broadcasts, and Gretchen Geitter, Vice President of Community Relations for the Bills, will be the 2008 recipients of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Distinguished Service Award.

Members interested in registering for the event or those interested in becoming new members should call 693-3807 or visit the Club web site at www.mondayqbc.com.

Wilfork refutes report of admission of being dirty player

I’ve officially heard it all from Vince Wilfork. Last Sunday I posted the ESPN report that stated that Patriots DT Vince Wilfork in his meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell admitted to him that his flying extended elbow that caved in J.P. Losman’s knee last season was in fact a dirty hit.

Now almost a week later, Wilfork issued a statement refuting that report.

It read in part as follows.

“After a very productive and fulfilling meeting with the NFL commissioner, it was inaccurately reported by ESPN that I stated that the hit on Buffalo Bills quarterback J.P. Losman last season was a cheap shot. I did not say that. I am not that type of player and would never intentionally try [to injure] a fellow NFL colleague.”

My response is actions speak louder than words and apparently the NFL agrees in light of the most recent fine he received.

Everyone is aware of they eye gouge attempt on Brandon Jacobs (fine), the late hit behind the play on Jason Witten (got a fine), the Losman hit (fine), the Cutler “love tap” with his elbow (fine), the dangerous facemask yank on Michael Turner (fine). But he’s been doing this since his rookie year.

No one remembers him kicking Bills guard Chris Villarrial in the back when he was down on the ground following a Bills field goal attempt in 2003. No one remembers him cold cocking Jonas Jennings with a helmet to helmet hit from behind, while Jennings was engaged with another defensive lineman on a pass play that left the offensive tackle knocked out cold with a concussion.

A leopard doesn’t change his spots and Wilfork has proven that throughout his NFL career. It’s time to sit him down before he puts someone out of the game for good.

Pats DT Wilfork to reportedly meet with commish

According to Pro Football Talk, one of the diritiest defensive tackles in the game has finally earned himself a meeting with Commissioner Goodell. The meeting is reportedly taking place Tuesday in New York.

It’s in response to his elbowing of Jay Cutler in the Monday night game a week ago. Behind the play Wilfork elbowed Cutler in the head, which officials and even ESPN cameras did not see. But the Denver coaches’ tape has it plain as day. They sent it into the league and Wilfork could be facing a suspension.

I think two games without pay would be perfect considering his history. That would take him out of action this week and next week when the Bills travel to Foxboro, which would be fitting justice in light of all his infractions against the Bills over the years.