Archives for May 9, 2008

‘Xavier Omon falls to his knees. Soon, he’ll cry. The man on the other end of the phone is a Buffalo Bills executive. Omon has just been drafted. What happens next? Elizabeth Merrill takes you inside the life of an NFL rookie in his first week on the job.’

‘Did the Bills wait too long in the recent NFL draft to take a tight end that can help spark their 30th-ranked passing game? Club officials don’t believe so.’

‘The Bills are getting almost $8 million a year in additional revenue from Toronto interests and even after profit sharing will have a significant amount of new money to invest in their roster if they so chose.’

‘The Bills have added two more quarterbacks to their roster to round out the competition heading into offseason workouts and training camp. They are Matt Baker, who has spent time with Miami, Houston, Arizona and New Orleans the past two seasons and college free agent Luke Drone of Illinois State. That gives Buffalo five quarterbacks with Trent Edwards and J.P. Losman firmly entrenched as No. 1 and 2. More players at the position gives the Bills some wiggle room if they do decide to move Losman in a trade, something they continue to deny they are seeking.’

‘Spygate isn’t a valid excuse for having your team get outscored by 228 points by another club over a 14-game period, and Bills fans would be wise to accept that.’

‘The last part of the formula is about the long term. Once they pack the expensive house for these games, promoters will put themselves on the fast track for a full-time franchise. Then will come the plan to build an 80,000-seat stadium, using the lottery list as a starting point for personal seat licences. They know what they’re doing, all right, and they’re about to let the buying begin.’

‘”It’s something I’ve always wanted. I still had the skills and knowledge of college fresh in my mind, so I didn’t want to wait,” he said.’

‘About the only thing that Buffalo has going for itself is the absence of a stadium in Toronto that would meet the NFL’s standards, but this too could change. When teams begin to follow the money, construction cranes and, eventually, moving vans are likely to follow.’