Archives for March 2009

‘The Buffalo Bills late Sunday night confirmed Rogers Communications’ interest in taking a second regular-season Bills game to Toronto for 2010, 2011 and 2012 – a move that, if approved, would have the team playing 25 percent of its home games away from Ralph Wilson Stadium.’

‘”Terrell in the past has not been involved in all of those things,” Bills coach Dick Jauron said recently when asked if Owens would be in attendance. “My hope is that he’s here. He knows how important it is for us, particularly in his first year with us.”‘

‘We’re also aware that our hosts have conducted a survey as part of their internal process of evaluating whether to propose an expansion of the series. We have an agreement to play one regular season game for the next four seasons. We have no agreement, nor has there ever been one, to play an additional regular season game in Toronto.’

‘Rogers Communications, the company responsible for marketing and running the Bills game in Toronto, confirms to 2-On-Your-Side that they’re asking fans for their reaction about the possibiliyt of three additional Bills regualar season games in Toronto – one in each of the 2010, 2011, and 2012 seasons.’

‘Within a week of Terrell Owens proclaiming he was coming to play for "North America’s team," a survey conducted on behalf of Bills in Toronto organizers suggests the intention to move two regular-season Bills games to the Rogers Centre, starting as early as next year.’

‘In six career games with the game-time temperature at 35 degrees or below, Owens’ teams went 1-5. He averaged 3.5 receptions for 52.0 yards and 0.17 touchdowns. In two playoff losses he averaged two catches for 20 yards.’

‘Ryan served on the Bills scouting staff for 30 years.’

‘”He’s athletic, experienced, which was important for us because we thought we had to have an experienced guy for what we do and what we want to do and the difficulty of that position,” said Bills head coach Dick Jauron. “Our position is so tough on centers because of the 3-4 (defenses) and the quality of the nose tackles in our division. He played against a lot of quality players. He’s young enough to be around for what we hope will be a long time and a good run.”‘

‘At the same time, Crowell had the unfortunate tendency to operate like he didn’t need 10 teammates to end plays. Specifically, he often darted out of his assigned gap while attempting to make devastating stops. That maverick strategy rarely works for extraordinary players, much less for those who are merely above average. In that light, Crowell was more Aquaman than Superman.’

‘Thomas started the fist nine games at middle linebacker for Kansas City last season before suffering a hamstring injury that kept him out of the next four games. He finished the campaign with 54 tackles, a half-sack and two passes defensed, appearing in 12 games overall.’

‘Thomas appeared in 12 games with nine starts during the 2008 season with Kansas City and had a career-high 54 total tackles (39 solo). In his four-year career, Thomas has played in 30 games with 10 starts and has 61 tackles (49 solo).’

‘Whether Buffalo is done addressing the linebacker position with respect to free agency remains to be seen. Free agents Cato June, Freddie Keiaho and Jamie Winborn have all visited One Bills Drive this spring.’

‘The fans wanted to see some out-of-the-box thinking. They wanted to see some real creativity and some real aggressiveness in the free-agent market. That’s what the Bills have done. It’s really exciting the fans. People are pretty pumped up. It’s also going to translate into putting more people in the stands for the Bills.’

‘The Bills have already taken on Owens; do they really want a complainer throwing to an agitator? It’s a connection they don’t need.’

‘”I’ve never been a real big vocal guy to come out and speak on the things I do positively or negatively, but like I said, it’s time for a change for me. So after the meeting with the commissioner, like I said, it kind of sunk in to me and I felt this was the next step to letting you guys know that there will be a change.”‘