Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bills
Current season
Established 1959 Play in and headquartered in Ralph Wilson Stadium Orchard Park, New York
Helmet Logo
League/conference affiliations
American Football League (1960–1969) Eastern Division (1960–1969) National Football League (1970–present) American Football Conference (1970–present) AFC East (1970–present)
Current uniform
Team colors	Midnight Navy, Red, Royal Blue, Nickel, White
Mascot	Billy Buffalo
Personnel
Owner(s)	Ralph Wilson
CEO	Russ Brandon
President	Ralph Wilson
General manager	Buddy Nix
Head coach	Chan Gailey
Team history
Buffalo Bills (1960–present)
Championships
League championships (2) AFL Championships (2) 1964, 1965
Conference championships (4) AFC: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993
Division championships (10) AFL East: 1964, 1965, 1966 AFC East: 1980, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995
Playoff appearances (17)
AFL: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 NFL: 1974, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999
Home fields
War Memorial Stadium (1960–1972) Ralph Wilson Stadium (1973–present) also known as Rich Stadium (1973–1998) also known as Bills Stadium (1998) Rogers Centre (2008–present) (1 game/year)

The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in Buffalo, New York. They play their home games in the suburb of Orchard Park, and since 2008 have played one home game per season in Toronto. They are members of the East Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Bills began competitive play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL merger.

The Bills won two consecutive American Football League titles in 1964 and 1965, but the club has not won a league championship since the merger. Buffalo is also the only team to win four consecutive American Football Conference Championships -- and the only team ever to play in four consecutive Super Bowl games. Since the NFL's expansion to 32 teams in 2002 the Bills are the only AFC non-expansion team to not make the playoffs.

The Bills were named as the result of the winning entry in a local contest, which named the team after the AAFC Buffalo Bills, a previous football franchise from the All-America Football Conference that merged with the Cleveland Browns in 1950. That team, in turn, was named after William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody. The Bills' cheerleaders are known as the Buffalo Jills. The official mascot is Billy Buffalo.

The Bills conduct summer training camp at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York, a suburb of Rochester.

They are the only NFL team to play their home games within New York State. Both the New York Jets and the New York Giants play in East Rutherford, New Jersey, near New York City. On October 2, 2005, the Bills played the New Orleans Saints in the first NFL regular-season game held in San Antonio, Texas. With the inception of the 5-year Bills Toronto Series deal in 2008 that is good through 2012, they are also the only team to play a home game in Canada. The franchise has tremendous support in the Western New York region.

On January 4, 2010 the Bills informed their entire coaching staff that they were free to seek employment with other teams, in an effort to renew and revitalize the struggling organization. On January 19, 2010, the Bills named Chan Gailey as their next head coach.

History

Logos and uniforms

Buffalo Bills uniform combination

Buffalo Bills uniform: 1975-1983
*solid red socks were worn from '82-'83

Buffalo Bills uniform: 1987-2001

In 1962, the standing red bison was designated as the logo and took its place on a white helmet.^[1] In 1962, the team's colors also changed to red, white, and blue. The team switched to blue jerseys with red and white stripes on the shoulders. the helmets were white with a red center stripe.^[2] By 1965, red and blue center stripes were put on the helmets.^[3]

The Bills introduced blue pants worn with the white jerseys in 1973, the last year of the standing buffalo helmet. The blue pants remained through 1985. The face mask on the helmet was blue from 1974 through 1986 before changing to white. Buffalo sporadically wore white at home in the 1980s, but has not since 1986.

In 1974, the standing bison logo was replaced by a blue charging one with a red slanting stripe streaming from its horn. In 1984, the helmet's background color was changed from white to red, reportedly in part to distinguish them more readily from three of their division rivals at that time, the Indianapolis Colts, the Miami Dolphins, and the New England Patriots, who all also wore white helmets at that point. (The Patriots now use a silver helmet while the Colts have since been realigned to the AFC South, though the New York Jets--who wore white helmets until 1978--have since switched back to white helmets.) Then in 2002, a darker shade of blue and nickel were introduced, along with red and white pipe trimming on the jerseys and pants. The original shades of red and blue, however, were contained as striping colors. They are also still used on their logos.

In the same year in 2002, as per the advice of Tom Donahoe, the Bills white uniforms went through a radical change. The white uniforms include a red stripe on the sides and are dark blue along the shoulders of the uniforms. The current white uniforms are worn for most Bills road games. The current helmet is deep red with one navy blue, two nickel, two royal blue, two white stripes, and white face mask. A new logo, a stylized B consisting of two bullets and a more detailed buffalo head on top, was proposed and had been released (it can be seen on a few baseball caps that were released for sale), but fan backlash led to the team retaining the 1980s-era running buffalo. The current helmet bison logo is royal blue, with a red streak, white horn and eyeball with a royal blue pupil.

In 2005, the Bills revived the standing bison helmet and uniform of the mid-1960s as an alternate uniform.

The Bills usually wear the all-blue combination at home and the all-white combination on the road when not wearing the throwback kit. They have not worn blue on white since 2006, while the white on blue has not been worn since 2007.

Players of note

Current players

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Distinguished Service Award Recepients

Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame

Pro Football Hall Of Fame

• O. J. Simpson (1985)
• Billy Shaw (1999)
• Marv Levy (2001)
• Jim Kelly (2002)
• James Lofton (2003)
• Joe DeLamielleure (2003)
• Thurman Thomas (2007)
• Bruce Smith (2009)
• Ralph Wilson (2009)

Retired numbers

• 12 Jim Kelly, QB, 1986–96^[6]

Unofficially retired

• 32 O.J. Simpson, RB, 1969–77
• 34 Thurman Thomas, RB, 1988–99
• 78 Bruce Smith, DE, 1985–99 (although guard Ruben Brown used 78 as his practice jersey; he wore 79 on the field)

Since the earliest days of the team, the number 31 was not supposed to be issued to any player. The Bills had stationery and various other team merchandise showing a running player wearing that number, and it was not supposed to represent any specific person, but the 'spirit of the team.' The tradition was broken in 1969 when reserve running back Preston Ridlehuber was issued number 31 for one game while his normal number 36 jersey was repaired by equipment manager Tony Marchitte. The number 31 was not issued again until 1990 when first round draft choice James (J.D.) Williams wore it for his first two seasons. The number has since been released for use by any player and is currently being worn by starting free safety Jairus Byrd.

All-time first round draft picks

1960s^[7]

1970s^[7]

1980s^[7]

1990s^[7]

2000s

¹ In addition to their own pick (11th overall), the Bills received the 28th overall pick, as well as a fourth-round pick (121st overall) in the 2009 NFL Draft and a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, from the Philadelphia Eagles in a trade for OT Jason Peters

Recent Pro Bowl selections

• 2009 Season - Jairus Byrd (Safety)
• 2008 Season - Jason Peters (Starting Offensive Tackle), Marshawn Lynch (Running Back - Injury Replacement)^[8]
• 2007 Season - Jason Peters (Offensive Tackle), Aaron Schobel (Defensive End - Injury Replacement)^[9]
• 2006 Season - Aaron Schobel (Defensive End), Brian Moorman (Punter)^[10]
• 2005 Season - Brian Moorman (Punter), Mike Schneck (Need Player)^[11]
• 2004 Season - Takeo Spikes (Line Backer), Ruben Brown (Offensive Guard)^[12]
• 2002 Season - Drew Bledsoe (Quarterback), Ruben Brown (Offensive Guard), Eric Moulds (Wide Receiver), Travis Henry (Running Back - Injury Replacement)^[13]

Coaches of note

Head coaches

Current staff

Radio and television

The Buffalo Bills Radio Network is currently flagshipped at WGRF 96.9 FM, with games also available on WEDG 103.3FM. John Murphy is the team's current play-by-play announcer; he was a color commentator alongside and eventually succeeded longtime voice Van Miller after Miller's retirement at the end of the 2003 NFL season. Mark Kelso serves as the color analyst. The Bills radio network has over twenty affiliates in upstate New York and one affiliate, CJCL 590AM (The Fan) in Toronto.

Buffalo is also one of eight teams that is contracted with Compass Media Networks to syndicate selected games nationwide.

During preseason, most games are televised on Buffalo's ABC affiliate, WKBW-TV channel 7, with several other affiliates in western New York. These games are simulcast on sister stations WTVH in Syracuse, WICU in Erie, WHAM-TV in Rochester, and beginning in 2008, CITY-TV in Toronto. Ray Bentley, a former Bills linebacker and current AFL on ESPN analyst, does play by play, while CBS analyst and former Bills special teams player Steve Tasker does color commentary on these games. WHAM-TV sports anchor Mike Catalana is the sideline reporter. Since 2008, preseason games have been broadcast in high definition.

In the event that regular season (or preseason) games are broadcast by a cable outlet (ESPN or NFL Network), WKBW-TV carries the ESPN or NFL Network feed.

Training camp sites

• 1960-1962 Roycroft Inn, East Aurora, New York
• 1963-1967 Camelot Hotel, Blasdell, New York
• 1968-1980 Niagara University, Niagara Falls, New York
• 1981-1999 State University at Fredonia, Fredonia, New York
• 2000-present St. John Fisher College, Pittsford, New York^[14]

In popular culture

In the X-Files episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", the titular character, a member of a shadowy government cabal, states that the Buffalo Bills will not win a Super Bowl while he lives.

The Buffalo Bills were featured on the direct-to-TV movie, Second String and in the Vincent Gallo drama Buffalo 66.

Notes and references

See also

• List of American Football League players
• List of Buffalo Bills seasons
• Major North American professional sports teams

External links

• Official website

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