Adrian Montgomery | 
05 7th, 2008| 
Now that the ticket drawing registration has closed, we can begin the process of actually selling the tickets for the Bills Toronto Series. We knew we would have great interest in the games and in tickets, but we had no idea how amazing the response would be.
So it seems the man with the Kevlar hair, ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr., isn’t a big fan of the Buffalo Bills draft. Mr. Kiper gave the Bills a C+ for their efforts this past weekend.
Mel, I am a big fan, but you’re wrong on this one.
In the first round, the Bills did as I expected and selected a cornerback. Not the man I thought they were going to take, mind you. But the entire Bills organization had to be completely amped up when they saw that Leodis McKelvin of Troy was still on the board when it was their turn to pick at number 11. McKelvin is blessed with great speed, has solid coverage skills, and is a kick returner. Any way you look at it, McKelvin is a player with a big upside and adds a nice dimension to the Bills secondary.
In the second round, the Bills selected wide receiver James Hardy from Indiana. Hardy is six foot five and, because he’s such a big target, could prove to be very productive in the red zone. Hardy has a few off-the-field character issues hovering in his background, but if he can stay out of trouble, he could give Trent Edwards and the Bills offence a great target to throw to in the red zone.
In the sixth round, the Bills took a little-known running back who played his college ball at Division 2 Northwest Missouri State. Xavier Omon ran for an incredible 2,337 yards and scored 37 touchdowns in 2007. That’s right—the dude scored 37 touchdowns in a single season. Omon has the potential to be a great steal in the late rounds for the Bills.
With all due respect to Mel and his bulletproof hair, no one can properly grade the Bills draft until these kids get into training camp. Russ Brandon, Tom Modrak, Dick Jauron, and the entire Bills football operations department spent an insane amount of time researching the draft. C’mon Mel, give them a little credit.
The real litmus test will come on September 7 at Ralph Wilson Stadium when the Bills host the Seahawks in week one of the regular season. If McKelvin and Hardy are in the starting line-up, and Omon makes the 53-man roster; then the Bills can say they had a hell of a draft.
NFL Network analysts Jamie Dukes and Adam Schefter take a quick look at the Week 14 matchup at Rogers Centre: Dolphins vs Bills. Note: despite what Adam says, the game, of course, will be December 7, not December 2!
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
The prelude to the 2008 NFL draft got more intriguing with Tuesday’s news that the Miami Dolphins signed their number one pick; Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long. With the highly touted Long in Miami, the rest of the draft dominoes are set to fall. Exactly how they fall is still a big mystery. While the general thinking is that the St Louis Rams will select Howie Long’s son, Chris, with the second pick, nothing is ever a sure thing in the NFL draft.
All of this could turn out to be very good news for the Buffalo Bills. Selecting 11th, the Bills could easily find a number of interesting players fall into their lap. Like all teams in the NFL, the Bills are immersed in what is commonly known as “The War Room.” Not to be confused with the special room in the Pentagon, the NFL’s war room is no less tense in the days leading up to the draft.
Basically it’s a room filled with scouts, coaches, player personnel people and anyone else who might have a say in who should be drafted. Talking to the Bills this week, they explained the methodology of their war room and why they feel it works best for them. The Bills have an entire wall filled with what they call a “Draft Board.” On the board, the Bills rank players at every single position based on their own exhaustive research in terms of talent and ability. The Bills know they have next to no shot at Darren McFadden, but likely have him ranked as their number one running back prospect nonetheless.
The Bills philosophy is to draft players they feel will make the team better. Meaning the Bills try not to get too locked in to only worrying about drafting a player at a certain position. Scott Berchtold, the Bills VP of Communications, points out that nobody had the Bills selecting a quarterback in the buildup to last year’s draft. So what did they do? They picked Stanford’s Trent Edwards in the third round and he turns out to be their starter. The Bills admit they weren’t even thinking about taking a quarterback, but when Edwards was still on the board in the 3rd round, they picked him.
That leads us to this year’s draft, and the debate about the Bills should be about the 11th pick. Depending on what mock draft you read and what day of the week you read it, the Bills could be picking a wide receiver or a cornerback.
If he’s still on the board, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, the lightning-fast corner from Tennessee State, would be my pick. I am not convinced Oklahoma receiver Malcolm Kelly is worthy of being picked as high as 11th.
Now having said all that, what if someone like USC linebacker Keith Rivers was available? I would think Dick Jauron would be downright giddy at the thought of having three linebackers like Paul Posluszny, Kawika Mitchell, and Rivers.
The wild card in the entire draft is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. I still think he would love to trade up so he can take Arkansas running back Darren McFadden. If that happens, it could completely alter what teams do the remainder of the draft.
All the fun gets underway Saturday at 3 p.m. from New York City when Roger Goodell announces that the Dolphins are on the clock. After Miami announces Jake Long is their man, I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Hockey legend Jim McKenny and Citytv take to the streets of Toronto to talk Bills football with locals, and get their reaction to the team’s foray into Canada and the December 7 Dolphins/Bills game.
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
With the white smoke pouring out of Roger Goodell’s office, the NFL announced their 2008 regular season schedule on Tuesday, April 15. Since it’s my anniversary I should have no trouble remembering the day the NFL announced the schedule.
On Sunday, December 7, the Bills’ seventh home game of the season will be played at Rogers Centre in Toronto. Their opponent will be none other than their long-time bitter rivals, the hated Miami Dolphins. The rallying cry of “squish the fish!” has echoed through good old Ralph Wilson stadium in Buffalo for decades. This year, Torontonians will get chance to see one of the AFC’s great rivalries up close and personal.
With a rookie quarterback and a brutal run defence, the Bills still managed to go 7 and 9 in 2007. Trent Edwards is a year older and the Bills signed defensive tackle Marcus Stroud and linebacker Kawika Mitchell in the offseason. Assuming they don’t suffer as many injuries as they endured last year, the Bills should be a dangerous team to play against. After going an embarrassing 1 and 15, the Dolphins are hoping they can rise from the ashes of an abysmal 2007. The “Big Tuna” — the legendary Bill Parcells — is running the show in South Florida, and highly touted Cowboys assistant Tony Sporano is his new head coach.
When it comes to the quarterback position, the Dolphins have about as much depth as my first girlfriend. Don’t ask. The Dolphins won’t suck as much as they did last year, but they’re still in rebuilding mode.
I spoke to Bills coach Dick Jauron on Tuesday’s conference call, and he is hoping the Bills-Dolphins game —the 13th of the year for the Bills — in Toronto will mean something to his team. Jauron said, “hopefully at that time it will be a critical game for us.”
Buffalo Bills defensive end Chris Kelsay made a good point when I asked him if playing a “home game” on the road would affect the team. The big man from Nebraska said, “We have a lot of followers from Canada and Toronto, it will be a home atmosphere for us.”
The Dolphins have a ton of fans in Toronto and the Southern Ontario region as well. That means the Bills are going to have to establish “home field” advantage early and often and take what will likely be a massive contingent of Dolphins fans out of the game. Here’s hoping Mayor David Miller and Toronto city hall wake up and realize that it’s 2008 and allow NFL fans to have a few beers in the parking lot before the game.
I love it — here it is April, and I am already geeked up about an NFL game that isn’t going to be played until December!
However, before Jauron and the Bills can even start thinking about the upcoming regular season, they have to pour all their energy into the upcoming NFL draft. With that in mind, I will have more on the Bills and some of the drama surrounding this year’s NFL draft before Roger Goodell announces that the Miami Dolphins are on the clock Saturday, April 26.
Jim Lang of Sportsnet.ca
On Sunday, December 7 at 4:00 p.m., the Bills will host the Miami Dolphins at Rogers Centre for the first regular season NFL game EVER to be played in Canada. This announcement excites us because it further demonstrates our commitment to the fans and to ensuring the most exciting matchups for the Bills in Toronto Series.
The rivalry between the Bills and the Dolphins goes back decades. These two AFC East rivals have often battled in the post season (remember the 1992 AFC Championship game, when the Bills intercepted Dan Marino twice, crushing the Dolphins 29-10?), and their regular-season matches are always crucial in determining who’s on top come playoff time. While the Toronto area is home to thousands of Bills fans, the Dolphins also have a lot of local fans, and the passion evoked by this end-of-season matchup should be intense.
This historic game to be played in Toronto will continue the storied tradition between these two teams, and the excitement in Rogers Centre will be electric. Stay tuned for more updates and information. And as always…
Go Bills!
Now that we know the Bills will face off against the Steelers in the pre-season matchup at Rogers Centre, we’re hearing a lot of “who’s the regular season opponent going to be?”
Short answer: We don’t know yet. But we do know the Bills are excited about playing a game at Rogers Centre and we’ve heard the same sentiment from other potential teams. They are excited about the venue to be sure, but they are also excited because of the enthusiasm already shown by the Canadian fans.
Proof? We’ve had over 3,500 DAILY ticket requests! This is an exciting time for sports and football in Canada and for us, as we show this league and the rest of the world that the greatest sports fans live right here.
Keep checking back because as soon as we know who the opponent is, you’ll know.
Go Bills!
So, it’s OFFICIAL! The Pittsburgh Steelers will be heading to Toronto to play the Buffalo Bills in a pre-season game at Rogers Centre on Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. EST.
The “Black and Gold” will be an unbelievable opponent, as they are massively popular in these here parts. Between the Buffalo Bills fans AND the Pittsburgh Steelers fans, Rogers Centre will be loud, full of energy, and THE place to be!
When we started this initiative, we promised to work hard with the NFL to make sure Canadian fans get to see the very best the NFL has to offer. Naturally, we are excited with this first step! And stay tuned for the announcement of our regular season opponent…
We’ve been so excited by the fan response, and it’s only gotten better, so don’t forget to sign up (and bug your friends to sign up) for a chance to purchase tickets. But do it fast — we’re closing the registration for the chance to purchase Bills in Toronto tickets on April 24!
Go Bills!
Welcome to the Buffalo Bills in Toronto blog! We’re just getting started, but we wanted to get our blog up and running to share our enthusiasm for the upcoming series of NFL games to be held in Toronto. We also wanted to engage fans and the public, and have conversations about this historic series of games.
We set up this blog for fans of the Bills and NFL football! We want you, the fans, to have a direct line in giving input into the series, information about the events surrounding the series and participate in ways beyond the games themselves. This is about sharing the enthusiasm we all have for football in Canada.
And really, that’s our larger goal. We want to see football in Canada thrive on all levels, from grassroots, to high school, college, university, CFL, and the NFL. It’s not about either or, but ALL of the above. To demonstrate this one of our first acts will be to add more social media modules to www.billsintoronto.com as a platform for football players and fans from all across Canada to share their love for the game, whether 3 downs or 4, touch or tackle.
This is fun stuff. So you can expect this blog will be written with excitement and anticipation for the months ahead. Stay tuned for the appearance of a mystery celebrity blogger, and upcoming announcements about events and activities surrounding the series. Go Bills!