|
|
|
|
Buffalo Bills
|
| |
|
| |
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the metropolitan area of Buffalo, New York. They sold out every game in 2008. They play their home games in the suburb of Orchard Park, and beginning in 2008, one home game is played in Toronto. They are members of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Bills began competitive play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL merger.
The Bills won two consecutive American Football League titles in 1964 and 1965, but the club has not won a league championship since the merger.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Buffalo Bills' Start a new discussion about 'Buffalo Bills' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the metropolitan area of Buffalo, New York. They sold out every game in 2008. They play their home games in the suburb of Orchard Park, and beginning in 2008, one home game is played in Toronto. They are members of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Bills began competitive play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL merger.
The Bills won two consecutive American Football League titles in 1964 and 1965, but the club has not won a league championship since the merger. Buffalo is also the only team to win four consecutive American Football Conference Championships, though they failed to win any of the subsequent Super Bowls.
The Bills were named as the result of the winning entry in a local contest, which named the team after the AAFC Buffalo Bills, a previous football franchise from the All-America Football Conference that merged with the Cleveland Browns in 1950. That team, in turn, was named after William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody. The Bills' cheerleaders are known as the Buffalo Jills. The official mascot is Billy Buffalo.
The Bills conduct summer training camp at Saint John Fisher College in Pittsford, NY, a suburb of Rochester.
They are the only NFL team to play their home games within New York State. Both the New York Jets and the New York Giants play in the suburb of East Rutherford, New Jersey outside of New York City. On October 2, 2005, the Bills played the New Orleans Saints in the first NFL regular season game held in San Antonio, Texas. They are also the only team to play home games in Canada. Currently, the Bills are the only team to have two home sites and only the third in modern NFL history to have more than one home stadium in a season (the Green Bay Packers had played games at sites in Green Bay and Milwaukee from 1933 until 1994, and the aforementioned Saints split home games between San Antonio, Giants Stadium and Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina).
History
Logos and uniforms
When the Bills began playing in 1960, the team's colors were royal blue, white, and silver, very similar to that of the Detroit Lions. The team wore blue jerseys with gray numbers and white jerseys with blue numbers. The helmets were all silver with blue numbers on the side.
In 1962, the standing red bison was designated as the logo and took its place on a white helmet. In 1962, the team's colors also changed to red, white, and blue. The team switched to blue jerseys with red and white stripes on the shoulders. the helmets were white with a red center stripe. By 1965, red and blue center stripes were put on the helmets.
The Bills introduced blue pants worn with the white jerseys in 1973, the last year of the standing buffalo helmet. The blue pants remained through 1985. The face mask on the helmet was blue from 1974 through 1986 before changing to white. Buffalo sporadically wore white at home in the 1980s, but has not since 1986.
In 1974, the standing bison logo was replaced by a blue charging one with a red slanting stripe streaming from its horn. In 1984, the helmet's background color was changed from white to red, reportedly in part to distinguish them more readily from three of their division rivals at that time, the Indianapolis Colts, the Miami Dolphins, and the New England Patriots, who all also wore white helmets at that point. (The Patriots now use a silver helmet while the Colts have since been realigned to the AFC South, though the New York Jets--who wore white helmets until 1978--have since switched back to white helmets.) Then in 2002, a darker shade of blue and nickel were introduced, along with red and white pipe trimming on the jerseys and pants. The original shades of red and blue, however, were contained as striping colors. They are also still used on their logos.
In the same year in 2002, the Bills white uniforms went through a radical change. The white uniforms include a red stripe on the sides and are dark blue along the shoulders of the uniforms. The current white uniforms are worn for most Bills road games. The current helmet is scarlet with one navy blue, two nickel, two royal blue, two white stripes, and white face mask. The current helmet bison logo is royal blue, with scarlet streak, white horn and eyeball with a royal blue pupil.
In 2005, the Bills revived the standing buffalo helmet and uniform of the mid-1960s as an alternate uniform.
Under coach Dick Jauron, the Bills have usually worn the all-blue combination at home and the all-white combination on the road when not wearing the throwback kit. They have not worn blue on white since 2006, while the white on blue has not been worn since 2007.
Players of note
Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame
Inductees
Pro Football Hall Of Fame
Retired numbers
- 12 Jim Kelly, QB, 1986–96
- 12 Joe Ferguson, QB, 1973–84
Unofficially retired
- 32 O.J. Simpson, RB, 1969–77
- 34 Thurman Thomas, RB, 1988–99
- 78 Bruce Smith, DE, 1985–99 (although guard Ruben Brown used 78 as his practice jersey; he wore 79 on the field)
Since the earliest days of the team, the number 31 was not supposed to be issued to any player. The Bills had stationery and various other team merchandise showing a running player wearing that number, and it was not supposed to represent any specific person, but the 'spirit of the team.' The tradition was broken in 1969 when reserve running back Preston Ridlehuber was issued number 31 for one game while his normal number 36 jersey was repaired by equipment manager Tony Marchitte. The number 31 was not issued again until 1990 when first round draft choice James (J.D.) Williams wore it for his first two seasons. The number has since been released for use by any player and was most recently worn by backup running back Dwayne Wright.
Other notable alumni
All-time first round draft picks
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Recent Pro Bowl selections
- 2008 Season - Jason Peters (Starting Offensive Tackle), Marshawn Lynch (Running Back - Injury Replacement)
- 2007 Season - Jason Peters (Offensive Tackle), Aaron Schobel (Defensive End - Injury Replacement)
- 2006 Season - Aaron Schobel (Defensive End), Brian Moorman (Punter)
- 2005 Season - Brian Moorman (Punter)
- 2004 Season - Brian Moorman (Punter), Mike Schneck (Need Player)
- 2003 Season - Takeo Spikes (Line Backer), Ruben Brown (Offensive Guard)
- 2002 Season - Drew Bledsoe (Quarterback), Ruben Brown (Offensive Guard), Eric Moulds (Wide Receiver), Travis Henry (Running Back - Injury Replacement)
Coaches of note
Head coaches
Current staff
Radio and television
The Buffalo Bills Radio Network is currently flagshipped at WGRF 96.9FM, with games also available on WEDG 103.3FM. John Murphy is the team's current play-by-play announcer; he was a color commentator alongside and eventually succeeded longtime voice Van Miller after Miller's retirement at the end of the 2003 NFL season. Mark Kelso serves as the color analyst. The Bills radio network has over twenty affiliates in upstate New York and one affiliate, CJCL 590AM (The Fan) in Toronto.
During preseason, most games are televised on Buffalo's ABC affiliate, WKBW-TV channel 7, with several other affiliates in western New York. These games are simulcast on sister stations WTVH in Syracuse, WICU in Erie, WHAM-TV in Rochester, and beginning in 2008, CITY-TV in Toronto. Ray Bentley, a former Bills linebacker and current AFL on ESPN analyst, does play by play, while CBS analyst and former Bills special teams player Steve Tasker does color commentary on these games. WHAM-TV sports anchor Mike Catalana is the sideline reporter. Since 2008, preseason games have been broadcast in high definition.
In the event that regular season (or preseason) games are broadcast by a cable outlet (ESPN or NFL Network), WKBW-TV carries the ESPN or NFL Network feed.
See also
External links
|
| |
|
|
