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Buffalo Bills

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For the American bison hunter, see Buffalo Bill. For other uses, see Buffalo Bills (disambiguation).
North tonawanda Bills
Current season
Established 1959
Play in and headquartered in Ralph Wilson Stadium
Orchard Park, New York
North tonawanda Bills logo
North tonawanda Bills logo
Logo
League/conference affiliations

American Football League (1960–1969)

  • Eastern Division (1960–1969)

National Football League (1970–present)

Current uniform
Team colorsRoyal Blue, Red, White      
MascotBilly Buffalo
Personnel
Owner(s)Ralph Wilson
CEORuss Brandon
PresidentRalph Wilson
General managerBuddy Nix
Head coachChan Gailey
Team history
  • North tonawanda Bills (1960–present)
Championships
League championships (2)
0
Conference championships (4)
Division championships (10)
Playoff appearances (17)
  • AFL: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966
  • NFL: 1974, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999
Home fields

The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the East Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Bills are the only team to win four consecutive conference championships, and are the only NFL team to play in four consecutive Super Bowl games, all of which they lost. They have had one owner, Ralph Wilson, and in their fifty-three years of existence, they have featured many prominent and popular players, including Jack Kemp, Cookie Gilchrist, Bob Kalsu, O.J. Simpson, Bruce Smith, Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, and Andre Reed. The team is currently led by head coach Chan Gailey and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Since 1973, the Bills have played home games in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park. The Bills are the only NFL team to play their home games within New York state. (Both the New York Giants and New York Jets play in East Rutherford, New Jersey.) Since the 2008 NFL season the Bills have played one regular season home game per season in Toronto as part of the Bills Toronto Series.[1] The team is one of only two to play regular home games outside of the United States (the Jacksonville Jaguars is the other). The Bills conduct summer training camp at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York, an eastern suburb of Rochester.[2]

History

Main article: History of the Buffalo Bills
Main article: List of Buffalo Bills seasons

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 in 1970.[3] The Bills won two consecutive American Football League titles in 1964 and 1965, but the club has not won a league championship since then.

Once the AFL–NFL merger took effect, the Bills became the second NFL team to represent the city; they followed the Buffalo All-Americans, a charter member of the league. Buffalo had been left out of the league since the All-Americans (by that point renamed the Bisons) folded in 1929; the Bills were no less than the third professional non-NFL team to compete in the city before the merger, following the Indians/Tigers of the early 1940s and another team named the Bills in the late 1940s.

The Bills were named as the result of the winning entry in a local contest by Michael Doucas (son of legendary NFL star Sam Davies), which named the team after the AAFC Buffalo Bills,[4] a previous football franchise from the All-America Football Conference that merged with the Cleveland Browns in 1950. That team was named after a male bison or "Billy". The name was chosen from a contest that was won by Bill Keenan. The similarity to famous Wild West showman Buffalo Bill Cody, while used as a play on words in the previous Bills team's iconography, is not (nor has it ever been) used by the current team. The Bills' cheerleaders are known as the Buffalo Jills. The official mascot is Billy Buffalo.

Logos and uniforms

File:AFC-Throwback2-Uniform-BUF.PNG
Buffalo Bills uniform: 1975-1983
*solid red socks were worn from '82-'83
File:AFC-Throwback-Uniform-BUF.PNG
Buffalo Bills uniform: 1987-2001
File:AFCE-Uniform-jersey pants combination-BUF.PNG
Buffalo Bills uniform 2002-2010

The Bills' uniforms in their first three seasons were based on the Detroit Lions' colors.

In 1962, the standing red bison was designated as the logo and took its place on a white helmet.[5] 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.[6] By 1965, red and blue center stripes were put on the helmets.[7]

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.

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, primarily to help Bills quarterback Joe Ferguson 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. Ferguson said that "Everyone we played had white helmets at that time. Our new head coach Kay Stephenson just wanted to get more of a contrast on the field that may help spot a receiver down the field."[8] (The Patriots now use a silver helmet, the Colts have since been realigned to the AFC South, and the New York Jets, who switched to green helmets after the 1978 season, have since switched back to white helmets.)

In 2002, under the direction of general manager Tom Donahoe, the Bills' uniforms went through radical changes. A darker shade of blue was introduced as the main jersey color, and nickel gray was introduced as an accent color. Both the blue and white jerseys featured red side panels. The white jerseys included a dark blue shoulder yoke and royal blue numbers. The helmet remained primarily 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 running bison logo. The helmet logo adopted in 1974—a charging royal blue bison, with a red streak, white horn and eyeball—remained unchanged.

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

The Bills usually wore the all-blue combination at home and the all-white combination on the road when not wearing the throwback uniforms. They stopped wearing blue-on-white after 2006, while the white-on-blue was not worn after 2007.

For the 2011 season, the Bills unveiled a new uniform design, an updated rendition of the 1975–83 design. This change includes a return to the white helmets with "charging buffalo" logo, and a return to royal blue instead of navy.

Buffalo sporadically wore white at home in the 1980s, but stopped doing so before their Super Bowl years. On November 6, 2011 against the New York Jets, the Bills wore white at home for the first time since 1986.

Playoffs

  • Playoff record 10 wins, 16 losses [9]

Players

Current Roster

Buffalo Bills roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists

Practice squad


Rookies in italics

Roster updated September 7, 2024

53 active, 5 inactive, 16 practice squad (+1 exempt)

→ AFC rosters → NFC rosters

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Distinguished Service Award Recipients

Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame

Pro Football Hall Of Fame[15]

Retired numbers

Unofficially retired

Reduced circulation[17]

Since the earliest days of the team, the number 31 was not supposed to be issued to any other 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. Byrd had used number 32 in college, but switched to 31 because the team does not issue Simpson's former number 32.[17]

Number 94 is also in reduced circulation, and for reasons unknown went unissued until the 1987 season, when two replacement players wore the number during the players' strike that year. It has traditionally been reserved for quality defensive players; among those that have worn it include special teams standout Mark Pike, defensive end Bryce Fisher, defensive end Aaron Schobel, and current user, defensive end Mario Williams.[18]

All-time first round draft picks

Main article: List of Buffalo Bills first-round draft picks

Recent Pro Bowl selections

Coaches of note

Head coaches

Main article: List of Buffalo Bills head coaches

Current staff

Buffalo Bills staff
Front office
  • Owner/CEO/president – Terry Pegula
  • Owner – Kim Pegula
  • General manager – Brandon Beane
  • Assistant general manager – Brian Gaine
  • Director of player personnel – Terrance Gray
  • Senior advisor to the GM/football operations – Jim Overdorf
  • Senior executive – Lake Dawson
  • Senior personnel advisor – Malik Boyd
  • Co-director of pro scouting – Chris Marrow
  • Co-director of pro scouting – Curtis Rukavina
  • Assistant director of pro scouting – Asil Mulbah
  • Vice president of football administration – Kevin Meganck
  • Director of football operations – Brendan Rowe
  • Director of college scouting – Matt Bazirgan
Head coach
Offensive coaches
  
Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
  • Special teams coordinator – Matthew Smiley
  • Assistant special teams – Cory Harkey
  • Director of team administration – Matt Worswick
Strength and conditioning
  • Head strength and conditioning – Eric Ciano
  • Assistant strength and conditioning/performance development – Will Greenberg
  • Assistant strength and conditioning – Hal Luther
  • Strength and conditioning assistant – Nick Lacy
  • Strength and conditioning assistant – Jason Oszvart

→ Coaching staff
→ Front office
→ More NFL staffs

Radio and television

Main article: List of Buffalo Bills broadcasters

The Buffalo Bills Radio Network is currently flagshipped at WGR, AM 550 in Buffalo. 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 approximately seventeen affiliates in upstate New York and one affiliate, CJCL 590AM (The Fan) in Toronto. As of early 2012, it is composed mostly of WGR, Entercom's sister stations WCMF (96.5 FM) and WROC-AM 950 in Rochester, and a fleet of independent AM and FM stations across upstate New York from Jamestown east to Albany. Previous flagship Citadel Broadcasting was purchased by Cumulus Media, who in turn ceased carrying Bills games at the end of the 2011 season, leaving the network without affiliates in Syracuse, Binghamton, and Erie.

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

During the 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, should the situation arise, postseason games are broadcast by a cable outlet (ESPN or NFL Network), the Bills' local broadcast outlet beginning in the 2012 season will be WBBZ-TV, whose upstart sports department is under the supervision of former Empire Sports Network general manager Bob Koshinski.

Training camp sites

[26]

Mascots, cheerleaders and marching band

The Bills' official mascot is Billy Buffalo, an eight-foot tall, anthropomorphic blue American bison who wears the jersey "number" BB.

The Bills' cheerleaders are known as the Buffalo Jills. The Jills are not owned by the Bills, but instead are a separate organization funded primarily by the Buffalo Bills Radio Network, a subsidiary of Entercom.

The Attica High School Marching Band is the official marching band of the Buffalo Bills. Along with the Baltimore Ravens and the Washington Redskins, the Bills are one of only three teams in the NFL to designate an official marching band. The Marching Band performs yearly pregame.

In the bone-chilling winter, it is not uncommon to see shirtless fans painted with Bills decals, especially the "B-I-L-L-S" lettering.

Buffalo's rivalry with the Miami Dolphins is referenced on Steve Martin's 1979 album Comedy Is Not Pretty on the track "How To Meet A Girl." On the track Martin simulates chatter about football at a party and one "partier" expresses disbelief that Buffalo could beat Miami - at the time of the album's release the Dolphins had won 18 straight over the Bills.

Howard University's mascot, the Bison, is designed identically to the Buffalo Bills' "charging buffalo" logo.

In the 1996 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. The Buffalo Bills are mentioned in the 1995 movie Heavyweights. The character Josh (Shaun Weiss) says, "Perkis caved like the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl", referring to their string of four straight Super Bowl losses in the early 1990s.

On the show "Malcolm in the Middle", you can spot a Buffalo Bills 'football field' rug in the boys' bedroom.

In the 1996 Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman episode S04E01, "Lord of the Flies", Clark picks up a blue Buffalo Bills hat with the Charging Buffalo emblem in the center and uses it to help disguise himself. Dean Cain, who played Clark Kent/Superman, had previously tried out for the Bills. In a later episode, he lets it be known that the Metropolis Mammoths were playing the Bills.

The Bills are one of the favorite teams of ESPN announcer Chris Berman, who picked the Bills to reach the Super Bowl nearly every year in the 1990s. Berman often uses the catchphrase "no one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills!" Berman gave the induction speech for Bills owner Ralph Wilson when Wilson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009. The Bills were also a favorite of late NBC political commentator Tim Russert, a South Buffalo native, who often referred to the Bills on his Sunday morning talk show, Meet the Press. Actor Nick Bakay, a Buffalo native, is also a well-known Bills fan; he has discussed the team in segments of NFL Top 10.

In an April 2011 episode of the television series 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy discovers that, in an alternate future, he would not only be wealthier and more successful, but he would also be the owner of a "New York football team." He later is disappointed to learn that the team is not the New York Giants or New York Jets, but the Buffalo Bills.

Several former Buffalo Bills players have earned a name in politics after their playing careers had ended, almost always as members of the Republican Party. The most famous of these was quarterback Jack Kemp, who was elected to Congress from Western New York almost immediately after his playing career ended and remained their for nearly three decades, serving as the Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States under Bob Dole in 1996. Kemp's backup, Ed Rutkowski, served as county executive of Erie County from 1979 to 1987. Former tight end Jay Riemersma, defensive tackle Fred Smerlas and defensive end Phil Hansen have all run for Congress, though Riemersma lost in a primary and Smerlas withdrew; Hansen's campaign is, as of 2012, ongoing. Quarterback Jim Kelly and running back Thurman Thomas have also both been mentioned as potential candidates for political office, although both have declined all requests to date.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ "Five-year extension of Buffalo Bills' Toronto series approved". NFL.com. NFL.com. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  2. ^ "Training Camp". Buffalobills.com. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  3. ^ "History: History of NFL franchises, 1920-present". Profootballhof.com. 2010-02-07. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  4. ^ "Buffalo Bills History". BuffaloBills.com. NFL.com. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  5. ^ "Elbert Dubenion - 1960". Hometown.aol.com. Retrieved 2010-12-30.[unreliable source?]
  6. ^ http://hometown.aol.com/bkbubco/62-Buf.html[dead link]
  7. ^ Billy Shaw & Tom Sestak - 1965[dead link]
  8. ^ "Untold uniform stories: Fergie behind helmet color change". Buffalo Bills. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  9. ^ NFL Record and fact Book ISBN 978-1-60320-833-8
  10. ^ By Mark Gaughan
  11. ^ "Bruce Smith named to Bills Wall of Fame". BuffaloBills.com. NFL.com. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  12. ^ New Wall of Famer named
  13. ^ Steady Hansen will go on Bills' Wall of Fame
  14. ^ Polian named Bills 28th Wall of Famer
  15. ^ "Bills Pro Football Hall of Fame Players". Buffalobills.com. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  16. ^ Buffalo Bill Retired Numbers
  17. ^ a b Brown, Chris (2011-06-17). The untouchable numbers. BuffaloBills.com. Retrieved 2011-06-17.
  18. ^ Gaughan, Mark (May 22, 2012). Super Mario will wear No. 94 with Bills; fresh uniform start for Buffalo's prized free-agent acquisition. The Buffalo News. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  19. ^ Maiorana, Sal (Jan 7, 2011). "Buffalo Bills DT Kyle Williams named to Pro Bowl". rocnow.com. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
  20. ^ Brown, Chris (Jan 29, 2009). "Lynch headed to Pro Bowl". Buffalo Bills.com. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  21. ^ "2008 Pro Bowl rosters". Nfl.com. 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
  22. ^ 3:37 a.m. ET (2007-02-10). "2007 Pro Bowl rosters". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2010-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ "2005 AFC Pro Bowl roster". ESPN. 2006-02-07. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
  24. ^ "2004 Pro Bowl Roster - AFC". Football.about.com. 2010-06-14. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
  25. ^ "AFC Pro Bowl squad". ESPN.com. 2003-01-31. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
  26. ^ Buffalo Bills Training Camp History
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