Buffalo Bills

For the American bison hunter, see Buffalo Bill. For other uses, see Buffalo Bills (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Buffalo Bulls, the collegiate team of the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Buffalo Bills
Current season
Established 1960 (1960)
First season: 1960
Play in and headquartered in Ralph Wilson Stadium
Orchard Park, New York, U.S.
LogoWordmark
League/conference affiliations

American Football League (1960–1969)

  • Eastern Division (1960–1969)

National Football League (1970–present)

Current uniform
Team colors

Royal Blue, Red, White, Navy Blue [1]

                   
Fight song "Shout," among others
Mascot Billy Buffalo
Personnel
Owner(s) Terrence Pegula and Kim Pegula
CEO Terrence Pegula
President Russ Brandon
General manager Doug Whaley
Head coach Rex Ryan
Team history
  • Buffalo Bills (1960–present)
Championships

League championships (2)

Conference championships (4)

Division championships (10)

Playoff appearances (17)
Home fields
formerly known as Rich Stadium (1973–1998)

The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area that competes in the National Football League (NFL). They are members of the league's East division of the American Football Conference (AFC). The team plays their home games at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. The Bills are the only NFL team that plays its home games in New York State (The New York Giants and New York Jets play at MetLife Stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey). The Bills conduct summer training camp at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York, an eastern suburb of Rochester.[2]

The Bills began play as an original franchise of the American Football League (AFL) in 1960. The club joined the NFL as a result of the AFL–NFL merger for the 1970 season. The 1964 and 1965 Bills were the only teams representing Buffalo that won major league professional sports championships ("back-to-back" American Football League Championships). The Bills are the only team to win four consecutive conference championships and are the only NFL team to lose four consecutive Super Bowls. The team was owned by Ralph Wilson from the team's founding in 1960, until his death in 2014 at the age of 95. After his death, Wilson's estate reached an agreement to sell the team to Terry and Kim Pegula, which was approved by the other NFL team owners on October 8, 2014.[3] The team has featured many of the league's most prominent and popular players, including QB Jack Kemp, FB Cookie Gilchrist, G Bob Kalsu, RB O. J. Simpson, DE Bruce Smith, QB Jim Kelly, RB Thurman Thomas, and WR Andre Reed. The Bills have the longest active playoff drought in any major professional sport: they have not made the playoffs since 1999 and are the only team that has not appeared in the NFL playoffs so far in the 21st century.[4]

History

The Bills began competitive play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League led by head coach Buster Ramsey and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.[5] The Bills won two consecutive American Football League titles in 1964 and 1965, but the club has yet to win a league championship since.

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.

Buffalo’s team in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in 1946 was the Bisons. In 1947 a contest was held to rename the team, which was owned by James Breuil of the Frontier Oil Company. The winning entry suggested Bills, reflecting on the famous western frontiersman, Buffalo Bill Cody. Carrying the "frontier" theme further, the winning contestant further offered the team was being supported by Frontier Oil and was "opening a new frontier in sports in Western New York." When Buffalo joined the new American Football League in 1960, the name of the city’s earlier pro football entry was adopted.[6]

After being pushed to the brink of failure in the mid-1980s, the collapse of the United States Football League and a string of high draft picks allowed the Bills to rebuild into a perennial contender in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, a period in which the team won four consecutive AFC Championships; the team nevertheless lost all four subsequent Super Bowls, records in both categories that still stand. The rise of the division rival New England Patriots under Tom Brady, along with numerous failed attempts at rebuilding in the 2000s, have prevented the Bills from reaching the playoffs since 1999, a 16-year drought that is the longest active playoff drought in the league. On October 8, 2014, Terry and Kim Pegula received unanimous approval to acquire the Bills during the NFL owner's meetings.[7]

Logos and uniforms

Bills logo, 1962–1973
Bills uniform, 1975–1983
*solid red socks were worn from 1982–1983
Bills uniform, 1986–2001
Bills uniform, 2002–2010
Bills uniform, 2011
Wordmark logo, 2011–present

The Bills' uniforms in its first two seasons were based on those of the Detroit Lions at the time.[8][9] The team's original colors were Honolulu blue, silver and white, and the helmets were silver with no striping. There was no logo on the helmet, which displayed the players' numbers on each side.

In 1962, the standing red bison was designated as the logo and took its place on a white helmet.[10] In 1962, the team's colors also changed to red, white, and blue. The team switched to blue jerseys with red and white "LSU" stripes on the shoulders. the helmets were white with a red center stripe.[11] The jerseys again saw a change in 1964 when the shoulder stripes were replaced by a distinctive stripe pattern on the sleeves consisting of four stripes, two thicker inner stripes and two thinner outer stripes all bordered by red piping. By 1965, red and blue center stripes were put on the helmets.[12]

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.[13] The face mask on the helmet was blue from 1974 through 1986 before changing to white.

The standing bison logo was replaced by a blue charging one with a red slanting stripe streaming from its horn. The newer emblem, which is still the primary one used by the franchise, was designed by aerospace designer Stevens Wright in 1974.[14]

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 Baltimore Colts, the Miami Dolphins, and the New England Patriots, who all also wore white helmets at that point. Ferguson said "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."[15] (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 1977 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.[16][17]

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. Since 2011, the Bills have worn white for a home game either with their primary uniform or a throwback set.

On November 12, 2015, the Bills and the New York Jets became the first two teams to participate in the NFL's Color Rush uniform initiative, with Buffalo wearing an all-red combination for the first time in team history.

Playoffs

Players

Retired numbers

Buffalo Bills retired numbers
No. Player Position Tenure Notes
12 Jim Kelly QB 1986–96[19] Previously worn by Joe Ferguson, QB, 1973–84, and Daryle Lamonica, QB, 1963–66.

The only number officially retired is the #12 worn by Kelly, although the Bills have other numbers no longer issued to any player or in reduced circulation:[19]

Unofficially retired:
Reduced circulation:[19]

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.' In the first three decades of the team's existence, the number 31 was only seen once: in 1969, when reserve running back Preston Ridlehuber damaged his number 36 jersey during a game, equipment manager Tony Marchitte gave him the number 31 jersey to wear while repairing the number 36. 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.

Number 15 was historically only issued sparingly after the retirement of Jack Kemp,[19] but is apparently now in general circulation; but no one currently wears the number.

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Distinguished Service Award Recipients

Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame

Pro Football Hall Of Fame

All-time first round draft picks

Recent Pro Bowl selections

CSVA Sports Film and Video Hall of Famers

Coaches of note

Head Coaches

Current Staff

Buffalo Bills staff
Front Office
  • Owner/CEO – Terry Pegula
  • Owner – Kim Pegula
  • President – Russ Brandon
  • General Manager – Doug Whaley
  • Senior Vice President of Football Administration – Jim Overdorf
  • Director of Football Administration - Don Purdy
  • Director of Football Operatons - Kevin Meganck
  • Director of Analytics - Michael Lyons
  • Director of Player Personnel – Jim Monos
  • Director of College Scouting – Kelvin Fisher
  • Director of Pro Personnel - Rob Hanrahan
  • Special Assistant - Ron Hughes
  • Special Assistant - Buddy Nix
Head Coaches
Offensive Coaches
  
Defensive Coaches
Special Teams Coaches
Strength and Conditioning
  • Head Strength and Conditioning – Eric Ciano
  • Assistant Head Strength and Conditioning – Hal Luther
  • Strength and Conditioning Assistant – Jason Oszvart
  • Strength and Conditioning Assistant – Dan Liburd
  • Strength and Conditioning Assistant - Mark Loecher

→ Coaching Staff
→ Management
→ More NFL staffs

AFC East
BUF
MIA
NE
NYJ
North
BAL
CIN
CLE
PIT
South
HOU
IND
JAX
TEN
West
DEN
KC
OAK
SD
NFC East
DAL
NYG
PHI
WAS
North
CHI
DET
GB
MIN
South
ATL
CAR
NO
TB
West
ARI
LA
SF
SEA

Current roster

Buffalo Bills roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists
  • Currently vacant


Rookies in italics
Roster updated May 3, 2016
Depth Chart • Transactions
89 Active, 0 Inactive

→ AFC rosters → NFC rosters

AFC East
BUF
MIA
NE
NYJ
North
BAL
CIN
CLE
PIT
South
HOU
IND
JAX
TEN
West
DEN
KC
OAK
SD
NFC East
DAL
NYG
PHI
WAS
North
CHI
DET
GB
MIN
South
ATL
CAR
NO
TB
West
ARI
LA
SF
SEA

Radio and television

The Buffalo Bills Radio Network is 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. (The Syracuse affiliations were later picked up by Galaxy Communications.)

Buffalo is one of ten teams 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. CBS analyst and former Bills special teams player Steve Tasker does color commentary on these games; the play-by-play position is rotated between his CBS partner Andrew Catalon and Rob Stone. WHAM-TV sports anchor Mike Catalana is the sideline reporter. Since 2008, preseason games have been broadcast in high definition.

In the event regular season games are broadcast by ESPN, WKBW-TV will also hold the broadcast rights to that contest, with the station having won back the rights to cable games after WBBZ-TV held the rights for 2012 and 2013.[29]

Training camp sites

[30]

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 currently do not have cheerleaders. The Bills employed the Buffalo Jills, an independent organization, from 1967 to 2013; the Jills suspended operations prior to the 2014 season due to legal actions.[31]

The Bills are one of six teams in the NFL to designate an official marching band or drumline (the others being the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins, New York Jets, Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks). Since the last game of the 2013 season, this position has been served by the Stampede Drumline.[32] The Bills have also used the marching bands from Attica High School, the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University at home games in recent years.

The Bills have several theme songs associated with them. One is a variation of the Isley Brothers hit "Shout", recorded by Scott Kemper,[33] which served as the Bills' official promotional song from 1987 through 1990s. It was officially replaced circa 2000 with "The Power of the Bills," although "Shout" remains in use. The Bills' unofficial fight song, "Go Bills," was penned by Bills head coach Marv Levy in the mid-1990s on a friendly wager with his players that he will write the song if the team won a particular game.[34]

Supporters

The Bills Backers are the official fan organization of the Buffalo Bills. It has over 200 chapters across North America, Europe and Oceania.[35] Also notable is the Bills Mafia, a collection of Bills fans organized via Twitter beginning in 2010.[36]

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 the favorite team 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. (His son, Luke, is also a notable fan of the team.) CNN's Wolf Blitzer, also a Buffalo native, has proclaimed he is also a fan.[37]

ESPN anchor Kevin Connors is also a noted Bills fan, dating to his time attending Ithaca College. Actor Nick Bakay, a Buffalo native, is also a well-known Bills fan; he has discussed the team in segments of NFL Top 10. Character actor William Fichtner, raised in Cheektowaga, is a fan, and did a commercial for the team in 2014.[38] In 2015, Fichtner also narrated the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the Bills four Super Bowl appearances, "Four Falls of Buffalo".

In popular culture

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 Buffalo could beat Miami – at the time of the album's release, the Dolphins had won 18 straight games over the Bills.

In the 1996 X-Files episode "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", the titular character, a member of a shadowy government cabal, states 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.

Actor Dean Cain was briefly a member of the Bills. Because of this, references to the Bills have appeared in the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, in which Cain played the title character. The first episode of season four, titled "Lord of the Flys", Clark picks up a blue Buffalo Bills hat with the Charging Buffalo emblem in the center and uses it to help disguise himself. In a later episode, he lets it be known the Metropolis Mammoths were playing the Bills.

In an April 2011 episode of the television series 30 Rock, titled "100", 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 the team is not the New York Giants or New York Jets, but the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills are the team that eventually unseats the Orlando Breakers, the fictional NFL team that serves as the focus of the sitcom Coach in later seasons, in the playoffs.

In a March 2014 episode of the television series Family Guy entitled "3 Acts of God", Peter Griffin—along with his family and friends—attends a game between the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which the Bills win. The episode also features Bills players Mario Williams and C.J. Spiller guest starring as themselves.[39]

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 the U.S. House of Representatives from Western New York in 1971—two years after his playing career ended and remained there for nearly two decades, serving as the Republican Party 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 all three either lost or withdrew from their respective races. 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

References

  1. ↑ "Buffalo Bills Team Capsule" (PDF). 2015 Official National Football League Record and Fact Book. National Football League. July 21, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Training Camp". Buffalo Bills. September 1, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  3. ↑ Sessler, Marc (8 October 2014). "Bills sale to Terry, Kim Pegula unanimously approved". NFL.com. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  4. ↑ http://espn.go.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/21143/bills-now-have-longest-current-playoff-drought-among-major-sports
  5. ↑ "History: History of NFL franchises, 1920–present". Pro Football Hall of Fame. February 7, 2010. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  6. ↑ http://www.profootballhof.com/history/nicknames.aspx#sthash.fZkeALva.dpuf
  7. ↑ Sessler, Mark (October 8, 2014). "Bills sale to Terry, Kim Pegula unanimously approved". NFL.com. National Football League. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  8. ↑ Ferrara, Kyle (November 11, 2015). "A look back at Bills uniform changes". Buffalo Bills. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  9. ↑ Warner, Gene (April 8, 2013). "Bills logo was artist's crowning achievement". The Buffalo News. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Elbert Dubenion – 1960". Hometown.aol.com. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  11. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20031008083555/http://hometown.aol.com:80/bkbubco/62-Buf.html. Archived from the original on October 8, 2003. Retrieved September 30, 2003. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/bills.html
  14. ↑ http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9682706/uni-watch-remembering-stevens-wright-created-buffalo-bills-logo-much-more
  15. ↑ "Untold uniform stories: Fergie behind helmet color change". Buffalo Bills. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
  16. ↑ Brown, Chris (June 24, 2011). "Bills put charge in new uniforms". Buffalo Bills. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Fashion forward: Bills unveil brand-new uniforms for 2011". National Football League. June 24, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  18. ↑ NFL Record and fact Book ISBN 978-1-60320-833-8
  19. 1 2 3 4 Brown, Chris (June 17, 2011). "The untouchable numbers". Buffalo Bills. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
  20. ↑ BMark Gaughan (August 6, 2010). "The billboard: A daily dose from Bills training camp". The Buffalo News. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  21. ↑ "Bruce Smith named to Bills Wall of Fame". NFL.com. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
  22. ↑ New Wall of Famer named
  23. ↑ Steady Hansen will go on Bills' Wall of Fame
  24. ↑ Polian named Bills 28th Wall of Famer
  25. ↑ Pollock, Chuck (May 18, 2014). Time for Van to join Bills’ Wall of Fame. Olean Times Herald. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
  26. ↑ Bills honor late coach Lou Saban. Fox Sports. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  27. ↑ "Bills Pro Football Hall of Fame Players". Buffalobills.com. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  28. ↑ "Congratulations to Chad Bunn from BYU and Henry Kunttu from the Buffalo Bills.The newest CSVA Hall of Fame inductees!". CSVA/Twitter. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  29. ↑ http://www.buffalonews.com/columns/alan-pergament/whither-the-weather-coverage-in-western-new-york-20150809
  30. ↑ Buffalo Bills Training Camp History
  31. ↑ http://bigstory.ap.org/article/buffalo-bills-cheerleaders-halt-season-after-suit
  32. ↑ Kwiatkowski-Radlich, Jane (September 13. 2014). With no Jills to lead cheers, the job of drumming up fan excitement falls to the Stampede. Buffalo Bills. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  33. ↑ http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/09/12/he-makes-you-want-to-shout-meet-singer-of-famous-bills-jingle/
  34. ↑ Mooshil, Maria (December 1, 2006). "10 more things to know about Bears fight song". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  35. ↑ Bills Backers info page on BuffaloBills.com
  36. ↑ BillsMafia information page.
  37. ↑ Why I'm a Fan: Wolf Blitzer at BuffaloBills.com
  38. ↑ Buffalo Bills This Is Our Time 2014 via YouTube
  39. ↑ "Bills make primetime appearance on Family Guy". buffalobills.com. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.

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