Archives for April 22, 2009

‘His responsibilities in Buffalo will include overseeing corporate sales and the team’s regionalization strategy, which includes the Bills playing annual regular-season games in Toronto.’

‘”It’s a critical year,” said Brandon, who also serves as Bills chief operating officer. “As I told everyone at the conclusion of last year, 7-9 is not good enough, and we need to get back to where our fans expect us to be, and that’s playing football in deep January. Obviously, the draft is an important layer to making this football team better.”‘

‘Popko comes to the Bills from the worldwide sports management firm, International Management Group, where he served as a vice president the past four years.’

‘The Bills were a poor pass rushing team after end Aaron Schobel was hurt early last season, and the Draft’s best remaining pass rusher could be the target with the newly-acquired No. 28 pick.’

‘Orakpo has the best measurables in terms of height and weight for a 4-3 end, and went against some of the best competition in the Big 12. But is he what Buffalo is looking for?’

‘Perhaps the reason why more teams weren’t involved is because they had some of the same concerns the Bills had in regards to Peters. The Bills have had Peters on their roster for the past five seasons and thus have more information about both his talent and work ethic than anyone and yet they could not compel themselves to offer him the $10 million a year he was seeking. He had begun to show too many of the bad habits that caused a 340-pound athlete running a 4.8 40-yard dash out of college to go undrafted and that made such a sizable investment too much to stomach.’

‘Whether parting ways with the pricey Peters equates to financial prudence is secondary to the core issue, which is that the front office can’t build an offensive line.’

‘Owens will be paired with model Joanna Krupa when the competition gets under way in the Bahamas on June 23 (8 p. m., Ch. 7). The eight teams will compete weekly in events including swimming, biking, running and kayaking. One team will be eliminated each week in the six-week series, leading up to the finals.’

‘Looking forward, this may not be the year for the Bills to think about the Lombardi trophy; what they might want to think about is a new head coach at the end of this season.’

‘But both teams are gambling that they made a good deal. The Bills better hope that whoever replaces Peters can get the job done. They also need to make the most of their nine draft choices by adding more impact players.’

‘Jason Peters’ trade to the Philadelphia Eagles means the Bills almost certainly will spend one of their first-round selections — either the 11th or 28th overall — on a college tackle. That’s not necessarily a plus for a team sorely in need of a run-stopper to pair with defensive tackle Marcus Stroud and a playmaking pass rusher.’

‘The six-episode series premieres June 23 on ABC.’