Archives for March 2009

‘”It will be a backdrop,” said Calderone. “I don’t know how much of Buffalo will be in it. The show is in a tailspin. It was going to be filmed in Dallas and Miami [where Owens lives] now it is Miami and Buffalo.”‘

‘Owens will also help the Bills make key decisions concerning Lee Evans and Trent Edwards. If Edwards can’t get the job done with two big threats, maybe he isn’t the guy for Buffalo. If Evans can’t put up big numbers with or without T.O., he may not have a job a year or two down the road.’

‘Here’s another reason to believe Owens will have a productive 2009 season for the Bills: he’s never had a better complementary receiver than Evans. He’s always been the undisputed main man. He’s liked it that way. It will be interesting to see if he can adjust to sharing the ball with a receiver as gifted as Evans.’

‘And he knows the Bills are as much our team as Lackawanna’s and we’re just 90 minutes away.’

‘Why do people really hate this man so much? Is it the fact that he has become someone you have to watch even when you don’t want to do so? Maybe it’s because he’s going to go down in history as one of the best receivers to ever play the game despite having a me-first personality.’

‘Considering that the franchise dates to 1960, I’d go as far as to say they’re the most bland franchise in pro football history.’

‘The least we can do is offer an operator’s manual on how the Bills can best survive a season in T.O.’s World.’

‘”Don’t like him but I love the move. Hey, it’s one year, what’s the harm?”‘

‘Not all the calls were from local sponsorship partners. Guelli has been talking with national sponsors who are suddenly looking at the Bills in a new light. “The team made a football decision that is definitely helping us on the marketing side,” Guelli said. “This is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”‘

‘My understanding after talking with a source inside the Bills organization is that Jauron’s absence was somewhat strategic in the sense that the Bills did not want to invite an obvious question right from the start of what has the potential to be a wild and crazy ride: How will Owens, who has had issues dealing with some of the coaches he encountered in three previous NFL stops, and Jauron get along?’

‘Still, it seems T.O.never gets the ball thrown to him often enough, as he often points out. It’s always all about T.O. Considering that he complained about talented quarterbacks Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia and Tony Romo in Dallas, how long will it be before he becomes frustrated with the likes of Trent Edwards and J.P. Losman in Buffalo?’

‘In support of National Reading Month and Read Across America Day, Buffalo Bills linebacker John DiGiorgio visited with students at the Country Parkway Elementary School in Williamsville, NY on March 2nd. DiGiorgio read, Oh the Places You Will Go, by Dr. Seuss, signed Dr. Seuss books, and enjoyed green eggs and ham with the students for breakfast.’

‘In the end, it’s not just the Bills taking the risk; it’s T.O., too, even if he doesn’t know it. If he hurts the team, he hurts the community. Bills’ football isn’t Orchard Park or Buffalo; it’s Batavia and Olean and Rochester and Pittsford and Niagara Fallas and Perrysburgh. These are towns that get up in the morning, work hard at a place with dwindling prospects and turn on the tube Sunday for a reason to believe.’

‘”It happened so quick,” Schonert, the Bills offensive coordinator, told SI.com Tuesday in his first public comments since Buffalo signed the ex-Cowboys receiver. “Dick called and said we need you to come in. He didn’t even tell me who I was coming in to meet, just that I was to be on alert. But I was in by 2:15, and by 2:30 I was sitting down with Terrell and [agent] Drew Rosenhaus and telling them about our system and how we were going to use him, where we are and where we think we’re going, all those issues. It sounded like he liked what he heard, because we got a deal done with him soon thereafter.”’