Archives for March 10, 2009

‘Best-case scenario for Buffalo: That Owens models exemplary behavior on and off the football field, mentors Buffalo’s young receivers and steps up with an All-Pro-caliber season. He’s quiet, humble and great in the community. Worst-case scenario: Owens never gets on page with Edwards and becomes a disruptive jerk. Fans seated at Ralph Wilson Stadium begin pelting him with snowballs as he leaves the field. Bridges are burned. Feelings are hurt.’

‘Does the signing say more about the team or about the player? Have the Bills decided to step up and get themselves an impact player? Or has Owens’ reputation for making trouble become such a problem for him that the only place he could find work was in western New York state?’

‘We’re hearing multiple stories on this, but I was actually at the Stanford Business School this past week and was sitting in my hotel room. It was at the end of the seminar and I had seen on TV just like you guys had seen on TV, and we had a couple receivers come in that we were considering offering contracts and they went other places, and I had been in touch with Russ all offseason and we share a pretty close relationship when it comes to that. It was just kind of a question thrown out there, if we were considering him, if he had known anything about it, just sort of an inquiry to see where he was at. I just said, ‘what about T.O.?’ That was really about it.’

‘Before I go any further, think about this… When was the last time a Bills jersey lead the league in sales?’

‘I don’t believe they are at all interested at bringing in a free agent, so a pass catching tight end is a big need in the first three rounds of the draft.’

‘This is far bigger, as I’m sure all Bills fans are already realizing, than the signing of one controversial, selfish, me-first player who will now be playing for his fourth team in seven years after literally being run out of the other three cities. COO Russ Brandon is a marketing sensation but rookie football gm who, if nothing else, has created a buzz about Buffalo and the Bills that didn’t seem possible until Saturday night.’

‘”The other thing too is that we would probably get a lot of leadership out of him too. That’s what the receivers need and what the offense needs and he’s been playing this game for a long time and doing it every Sunday for over 10 years now. You gain a lot of respect sitting in the locker room and meeting room bringing that experience to the table every day.”‘

‘”On the field, he’s going to create, or need, a lot of attention by the defense,” Edwards said. “That’s going to take a lot of pressure off of Lee, a lot of pressure off of our other backs and tight ends. I think he’s going to help a lot in terms of raising our competitive level off the field, too.”‘