Archives for August 17, 2008

‘”No, no, no,” Royal said. “I’m just trying to stay modest and just remember that it’s still a very long season and I don’t want to look at things more than what they are. Right now, it’s still early.”‘

‘”Toronto wants an NFL franchise, and it feels its best shot is to go after the one in Buffalo,” Phillips said. Toronto has the SkyDome. It also has an economy that is considerably more robust than the one in Buffalo.’

‘”They were sharp,” Jauron said. “As I said, we didn’t get the silly unforced penalties that we got a week ago in the game, so we didn’t hurt ourselves in that regard. Let’s face it, the Steelers are good enough to hurt you on their own. We blocked OK, we ran it okay, it was a nice kind of combination, that first group.”‘

‘Edwards is never going to be ranked with the cannon arms of the NFL, but he demonstrated once again that his blending of quick decision making and quick release of the football produces the required results. Thursday’s case in point was the 90-yard touchdown drive against Pittsburgh’s formidable defense.’

‘”I don’t have mixed emotions; my loyalty is with the Bills in western New York,” he said. “I think it’s important, though, to establish relationships with some major people up here, because who knows what the future holds. I’ve had discussions with Mr. (Ralph) Wilson (team owner), and he knows my agenda. He talks about people up here with money, but I tell him I know 15 or 20 people (in the Buffalo market) with money, too.”‘

‘But the cold fact for Ted Rogers and the promoters of NFL in Canada (who paid the Bills $9.75 million US per game for the honour) is that 5,000 seats went unsold, and a lot more might have gone begging had platoons of fans from Pittsburgh not ventured to Toronto for the experience. Apparently, the scalpers outside the Rogers Centre were taking $20 for a face value of $300-a-pop for tickets to a glorified controlled scrimmage. Maybe those reports of Torontonians losing their collective minds over the NFL in Toronto were a tad exaggerated.’

‘The Bills are getting $9.7 million a game from the event organizers and Buffalo fans are afraid that Toronto is going to steal their football team. They should be a lot happier about the empty seats than the empty win. Step one in the potential move to The Great White North was a dismal failure.’