Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). They play their home games in the suburb of Orchard Park, and since 2008 have played one home game per season in Toronto. 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.

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 in either conference to play in (and lose) four consecutive Super Bowl games.

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; Cody is not used in the team's iconography at all.

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, nine miles outside of their headquarters in New York City. The Bills actually play their home games further away (11 miles) from their headquarters in the city of Buffalo. 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.

Logos and uniforms
[[Image:AFC-Throwback2-Uniform-BUF.PNG|thumb|left|150px|Buffalo Bills uniform: 1975-1983 [[Image:AFC-Throwback-Uniform-BUF.PNG|thumb|left|150px|Buffalo Bills uniform: 1987-2001]] [[Image:BuffaloBillsOldLogo.png|right|thumb|The Bills logo from 1962 to 1973; still used as an alternate logo today.]] In 1962, the standing red bison was designated as the logo and took its place on a white helmet. 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. By 1965, red and blue center stripes were put on the helmets.
 * solid red socks were worn from '82-'83]]

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, the Colts have since been realigned to the AFC South, and the New York Jets, who wore white helmets until 1978, 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 feature red side panels. The white jerseys include a dark blue shoulder yoke and royal blue numbers. The current helmet is 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 current helmet logo adopted in 1974- a charging royal blue bison, with a red streak, white horn and eyeball- remains unchanged.

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

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

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Distinguished Service Award Recipients

 * 1986 - Ben Williams


 * 1987 - Joe DeLamielleure
 * 1988 - Steve Freeman
 * 1989 - Jerry Butler
 * 1990 - Tim Vogler
 * 1991 - Joe Ferguson
 * 1992 - Ken Jones
 * 1993 - Booker Edgerson
 * 1994 - George “Butch” Byrd
 * 1995 - Tony Greene
 * 1996 - Frank Lewis


 * 1996 - Roland Hooks
 * 1997 - Jim Ritcher
 * 1997 - Charley Ferguson
 * 1998 - Stew Barber
 * 1998 - Ed Rutkowski
 * 1999 - Fred Smerlas
 * 1999 - Reggie McKenzie
 * 2000 - Darryl Talley
 * 2000 - Ernie Warlick
 * 2001 - Steve Tasker
 * 2001 - Kent Hull


 * 2002 - Don Beebe
 * 2003 - Thurman Thomas
 * 2004 - Paul Maguire
 * 2005 - Frank Reich
 * 2006 - Phil Hansen
 * 2007 - Lou Piccone
 * 2007 - Denny Lynch
 * 2008 - Mark Kelso
 * 2009 - Andre Reed
 * 2010 - Ruben Brown

Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame

 * 1980 - O.J. Simpson
 * 1984 - Jack Kemp
 * 1985 - Patrick J. McGroder
 * 1987 - Tom Sestak
 * 1988 - Billy Shaw
 * 1989 - Ralph C. Wilson Jr.
 * 1992 - The 12th Man
 * 1993 - Elbert Dubenion
 * 1994 - Mike Stratton


 * 1995 - Joe Ferguson
 * 1996 - Marv Levy
 * 1997 - Joe DeLamielleure
 * 1998 - Robert James
 * 1999 - Edward Abramoski
 * 2000 - Bob Kalsu
 * 2000 - George Saimes
 * 2001 - Jim Kelly
 * 2001 - Fred Smerlas


 * 2002 - Kent Hull
 * 2003 - Darryl Talley
 * 2004 - Jim Ritcher
 * 2005 - Thurman Thomas
 * 2006 - Andre Reed
 * 2007 - Steve Tasker
 * 2008 - Bruce Smith
 * 2010 - Booker Edgerson

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

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

1970s

1980s

1990s

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

 * 2010 Season - Kyle Williams (Defensive Tackle - Injury Replacement)
 * 2009 Season - Jairus Byrd (Safety)
 * 2008 Season - Jason Peters (Starting Offensive Tackle), Marshawn Lynch (Running Back - Injury Replacement)
 * 2007 Season - Jason Peters (Offensive Tackle), Aaron Schobel (Defensive End - Injury Replacement)
 * 2006 Season - Aaron Schobel (Defensive End), Brian Moorman (Punter)
 * 2005 Season - Brian Moorman (Punter), Mike Schneck (Need Player)
 * 2004 Season - Takeo Spikes (Line Backer), Ruben Brown (Offensive Guard)
 * 2002 Season - Drew Bledsoe (Quarterback), Ruben Brown (Offensive Guard), Eric Moulds (Wide Receiver), Travis Henry (Running Back - Injury Replacement)

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

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 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 Citadel Broadcasting.

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.

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.