Inside The Bills

HOF support for Bills

The early support for former Bills on the list of preliminary nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame has been pretty good. Here’s your way to provide more backing for potential Hall of Famers like Andre Reed, Cornelius Bennett, Kent Hull, Darryl Talley and Steve Tasker.

Just go to the Fan’s Choice site where you can vote for who you believe belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2011. You can vote for up to five nominees, so all of the guys above can get your vote. And there’s something in it for you as there are prizes and a chance to win a sweepstakes contest as well just by voting.

So far Bills fans have done well to support the former Bills. Here’s the breakdown of the current leaderboard for fan voting for all Pro Football HOF nominees.

1. Darryl Talley
2. Steve Tasker
3. Andre Reed
4. Cornelius Bennett
5. Kent Hull

So keep up the good work and keep supporting your former Bills and you’ll have a chance to win some pretty cool prizes.

Several Bills on prelim HOF list

A number of former Bills players are on the preliminary Pro Football Hall of Fame nominee list for the class of 2011.

Here is the rundown of former players among the 113 that were nominated.

Cornelius Bennett
Kent Hull
Andre Reed
Darryl Talley
Steve Tasker

Former head coach Chuck Knox is also on the list.

The Hall of Fame selectors will choose 25 candidates who will advance as semifinalist nominees. The list of 25 modern-era semifinalists will be announced in mid-November. Reed was the only nominee from this list to make the finalist list in 2010.

Tasker, Gus Johnson get home opener

The Bills home opener on Sept. 12th will have a pair of familiar voices calling the game on CBS.

Bills Wall of Famer Steve Tasker will broadcast the game with play-by-play partner Gus Johnson when the Bills host the Dolphins. Here are the broadcast pairings for the Bills games in Week 2 and Week 3.

Buffalo @ Green Bay              Spero Dedes/Randy Cross

Buffalo @ New England          Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots

Tasker to take the mound

Bills Wall of Famer Steve Tasker will be taking the mound tonight at the Bisons game in downtown Buffalo tonight.

Tasker will be throwing out the first pitch at tonight’s Bisons game and will be joined by the Buffalo Jills and Billy Buffalo at the game as they’ll be telling fans about the Bills Kid’s Day game on Aug. 28th when the Bills host Terrell Owens and the Cincinnati Bengals. 

Kids tix are just $15 with a Bills Bandz giveaway and postgame fireworks. Kickoff is at 6:30 pm.

Moorman credits good coaching

Bills punter Brian Moorman, who was named to the league’s All-Decade Team made sure to credit his coaches for his success.

“That’s part of the reason why I was chosen,” said Moorman. “I had good coaching the last nine seasons in Danny (Smith) and Bobby (April).”

Now Moorman will make another transition to new special teams coach Bruce DeHaven.

“I’m looking forward to working with him,” Moorman said. “I’ve heard nothing but good things about him from Steve Christie, Chris Mohr and Steve Tasker.”

Every time a player has a new position coach there is a feeling out process, but having been through it before and being an established player Moorman is confident they’ll be able to get on the same page quickly.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had to,” said Moorman of getting used to a new position coach after having Bobby April the past six seasons. ”Normally whenever a coach inherits a veteran, they’re normally hands off when what you’ve been doing has been working. We’ll pick each other’s brain and find out what works for him and what works for me.”

DeHaven is in a good position to succeed quickly under Chan Gailey with a veteran kicker and punter as well as proven return talent and an up and coming long snapper.

Tasker’s future HOF chances

Bills Wall of Famer Steve Tasker did not make the finalist list for the 2010 Pro Football HOF class. And according to SI.com’s Peter King it’s going to take a lot to gét him enshrined.

King was asked on his twitter account the following and provided a short response.

SI_PeterKing: RT @brian_benedict: What do we have to do to get Steve Tasker elected to the HoF? … Pray. Hard.

King is on the HOF voting committee so he know the lanscape of the room and voters affinity for or apathy about special teams players.

Truthfully I think former Oakland punter Ray Guy may have to get in first for Tasker to have a real chance, right or wrong. And Guy did not make the finalist list either this year.

I just fear some voters will never equate special teams performance on par with offense and defense.

What those voters need to know is Tasker was a player that proved the doubters wrong and showed that special teams can not only change games, but win them.

Tasker, Reed have HOF hurdles

With Steve Tasker and Andre Reed once again making the list of Hall of Fame semifinalists, Bills fans are naturally hopeful that another August day in Canton will belong to them. But both of them have some other prominent names at their respective positions or phase of the game that could make enshrinement for them all the more difficult this year.

Reed, who has been a finalist three times already, may not get that far this year. Bad enough he had Cris Carter as a fellow finalist last year. Neither of them were voted for enshrinement.

Carter and Reed are again on the semifinalist list and joining them are Tim Brown and Jerry Rice. Rice is a lock for enshrinement. With a healthy contingent of HOF voters reluctant to parade receivers into the Hall every year, Rice is likely to be the only player at that position to go in.

The presence of Shannon Sharpe as one of the most prolific receiving tight ends on the list doesn’t help matters either.

For Tasker, his main obstacle is Ray Guy. There are many that believe if a special teamer is going to be enshrined, that the first should be Ray Guy. Guy is on the semifinalist list. If a special teamer goes in, Guy is expected to get the nod over Tasker. The only positive for Tasker if that happens is that special teamers will finally be viewed as Hall of Fame worthy.

The list of Hall of Fame finalists will be announced on Jan. 7.

HOF semifinalists to be named Saturday

The Pro Football Hall of Fame will be naming their 25 semifinalists for enshrinement as part of the 2010 Hall of Fame class, and you’ll be able to see the names revealed live.

For the first time ever, the announcement of the 25 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010 will be televised on “Pro Football Hall of Fame: Road to Canton” show this Saturday at 1 PM ET on NFL Network with an encore at 9 PM ET.

Paul Burmeister hosts the 60-minute show and leads a panel discussion analyzing who made the final 25 and who didn’t.

Former Bills likely to be on the list include Steve Tasker, Andre Reed, Kent Hull and Darryl Talley.

Ask Steve Tasker

Bills fans. There’s a way to participate in the Bills All Access show hosted by Steve Tasker.

Just submit a question for the Fan Question of the Week segment and see if your question is answered on the show.

Here’s an example of the Fan Question of the Week segment from earlier this season.

Tasker at Buffalo Wild Wings Thursday

Bills Wall of Famer Steve Tasker will be making an appearance tonight (Thursday) in Rochester.

Tasker will be at the Buffalo Wild Wings location at 780 Jefferson Road in Rochester from 6-7 pm.

He’ll be signing autographs and taking pictures with fans.

Tasker is also the host of Bills All Access seen weekly during the season on Sunday’s at noon in Rochester on WHAM (ABC) and at 11:30am in Buffalo on WKBW (ABC).

Have your question answered on Bills All Access

Bills All Access with Steve Tasker airs every weekend during the football season and this season they want to make you part of the show.

Each week Tasker answers a question from the fans during a segment of his show. To submit a question you have about the Bills just go to Buffalobills.com and along the right rail of the All Access page you’ll see where you can submit your question.

Then see if your question is answered on the show that week.

Bills All Access airs in the following regional markets, and certain segments are also available in the Bills media lounge on Buffalobills.com. Here’s the question that was answered from Week 2.
Day  Time  Station 
Sun. 11:30 a.m. WKBW – Buffalo (ABC)
Sun. 12:00 p.m. WHAM – Rochester (ABC)
Sat. 12:35 a.m. WTVH – Syracuse (CBS)
Sun. 12:00 a.m. CW-WHAM – Rochester (ABC)
Sun. 12:05 a.m. WBNG – Binghamton 
TBA City TV – Toronto

Fan can now lobby for HOF candidates

For the first time, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is asking fans to voice their choice for who they think should be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010 with a dedicated fan forum.

At the Fans Choice Forum you can argue for the candidacy of Bills Wall of Famer Steve Tasker or three-time finalist Andre Reed. Kent Hull, Cornelius Bennett, Darryl Talley, Fred Smerlas, Chris Spielman and former head coach Chuck Knox current join Reed and Tasker on the Hall’s preliminary 2010 induction list.

The Hall wants to know what fans are thinking and it’s time for fans to speak up and be heard by casting their ballot! Almost 10,000 fans have already cast their ballot in the first 24 hours! 

Andre Reed is currently ranked #9 while Tasker is at #17, so get behind your guy and vote!

Top 10 fan’s choice as of this morning:
1. Jerry Rice
2. Emmitt Smith
3. Cris Carter
4. Shannon Sharpe
5. Charles Haley
6. Ray Guy
7. Richard Dent
8. Tim Brown
9. Andre Reed
10. Phil Simms

Tasker again left on outside

Steve Tasker made the list of 25 Hall of Fame semifinalists, but did not make the cut to 15. Former Oakland punter Ray Guy also did not make the cut, so special teams will not have a pioneer candidate on the finalist list.

The finalist class is pretty stacked so that may be why Guy and Tasker were left on the outside looking in, but I fear it’s going to be a long time before a special teamer is legitimately considered for enshrinement.

In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if players like Guy and Tasker have to wait to be nominated by the Seniors Committee for enshrinement. Hopefully I’m wrong because Guy and Tasker were special.

Bills Owner, Bruce, Andre, Tasker make HOF semifinalist list

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has reduced their preliminary list of candidates for the Hall of Fame induction class of 2009 to 25 semifinalists Tuesday and Bruce Smith, Andre Reed, Steve Tasker and owner Ralph Wilson are among those that made the cut.

The list of 25 will eventually be reduced to 15 modern era finalists.

I think all four have a fair shot to make the finalist list. Bruce is a shoe-in, Andre has been a finalist the last 2 years and there has been growing support for Tasker and Mr. Wilson.

Mr. Wilson and Tasker have been semifinalists before as well.

The results of the modern-era reduction vote to 15 finalists will be announced in early January.

Several 90′s Bills, Ralph Wilson on prelim HOF list for 2009

Bills recent Wall of Fame inductee Bruce Smith, Kent Hull, Andre Reed, Darryl Talley, Cornelius Bennett and Steve Tasker make up the list of AFC Champion 90′s Bills that are are on the preliminary list of modern-era nominees for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2009. 

Also on the list is Bills founder and owner Ralph Wilson as a contributor nominee.

Other former Bills players on the list are Fred Smerlas and those who spent parts of their career with the Bills like Larry Centers and Chris Spielman.

Former Bills head coach Chuck Knox is also a preliminary nominee.

Bruce Smith is a shoe-in as a first ballot nominee being the league’s all time leader in sacks and a four-time AFC Champion and a countless number of Pro Bowls and All-Pro teams. Reed made the list of finalists last year. We’ll see if he can make it in this time. Tasker will get consideration too.

Mr. Wilson stands a good chance I believe as more of the committee I understand is coming around to understand the magnitude of his contributions to the game.

From this preliminary list of modern-era nominees, Hall of Fame selectors will choose 25 candidates who will advance as semifinalist nominees.  The list of 25 modern-era semifinalists will be announced later next month. The 25 modern-era semifinalists list will be reduced by a mail ballot to 15 modern-era finalists. 

The final list of nominees that will be considered for election will consist of the 15 modern-era finalists and the two previously announced senior nominees, Bob Hayes and Claude Humphrey.  Hayes and Humphrey were selected this past August by the Hall of Fame’s Senior Selection Committee. 

The Class of 2009 will be selected from the list of 17 finalists (15 modern-era and two senior nominees).  The actual voting will be conducted at the Hall of Fame Selection Committee’s annual meeting, which will be held on Saturday, January 31, 2009, in Tampa, Florida the day before Super Bowl XLIII.  The election results will be announced immediately after the meeting at a press conference in the media headquarters.  While there is no set number for any class of enshrinees, the ground rules provide that between four and seven new members will be selected. 

The preliminary list includes 110 players, seven coaches and 16 contributors, including former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and longtime team owners Bud Adams, Jerry Jones, Art Modell and Ralph Wilson.