Buffalo Bills

Who are the Buffalo Bills?

Buffalo Bills is an American team of professional football players based in Orchard Park of New York. The team plays in the NFL (National Football League) and represents the AFC (American Football Conference) East division. The club’s home stadium is the Bills Stadium situated in Orchard Park, New York, and the club’s mascot is the ‘Billy Buffalo.’

The club is supported and cheered with the fight song ‘Shout,’ a popular song originally written by the Isley Brothers in 1959. The team got currently owned by the billionaire business couple Terry Pegula and Kim Pegula. The general manager for the club is Brandon Beane, and the head coach of the Buffalo Bills is Sean McDermott.

History

Buffalo Bills was established as a football club back in the year 1959 on 28 October. They officially started playing in the American Football League in 1960 and were led by Buster Ramsey, the head coach. The club was later ruled by coach Lou Saban when they won two consecutive American Football League championships in 1964 and 1965. The club has not won a title ever since.

The club’s history was not that impressive during the 1970s, and the club was struggling to maintain a good record. They lost four Super Bowls and were almost failing as a club. Still, they regained hope when players like Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, and Darryl Talley helped the Buffalo Bills win four consecutive American Football Conference (AFC) Championships.

The team could not enter the play-offs for 17 years, making it the longest playoff drought in all significant sports history during that time. It came to an end when they secured a place on 31 December 2017. The club’s ownership then got transferred from the team founder and American businessman, Ralph Wilson, to the billionaire business couple, Terry and Kim Pegula, on 8 October 2014.

Name Origin, Logo and the Uniform

The Buffalo Bills got renamed from the club’s former name, ‘AAFC Bisons.’ It was supported and owned by the Frontier Oil Company’s James Breuil. The original name was replaced by the Buffalo Bills when it won the contest to rename the club. The winning contestant explained the term as a combination of the famous western frontiersman, Buffalo Bill Cody, and the fact that the Frontier Oil Company supported it. The competition made the name Buffalo Bills official, and the club has been carrying that name ever since.

The Buffalo Bills’ original logo featured an all-red standing bison, their official logo from 1962 to 1974 when it was changed and redesigned by aerospace designer Stevens Wright. He introduced a blue charging bison, which had a red slanting stripe originating from its horns. This design has been the official logo of the Buffalo Bills ever since.

The official jersey of the Buffalo Bills got produced by the sporting giant Nike in the year 2012. The club’s primary colors represent a blue shirt with red and white stripes around the sleeves with white pants with stripes down the side. The club also has a white jersey with red and white stripes around the sleeves blue pants with stripes down the sides. The club’s alternate jersey is an all-red jersey with lines around the sleeves and down the pants’ sides. The helmet features a blue charging bison logo of the Buffalo Bills on a white background.

Club Statistics

1960-1970

The Buffalo Bills got led by the team’s first head coach, Buster Ramsay, for 28 games. Under his coaching, the club maintained a .407 winning percentage with 11 wins and 16 losses, and one tie, and they could not make it to the play-offs.

Buster Ramsay was replaced by Lou Saban in 1962 and coached for a total of 56 games. The club gained massive success under Saban with a win percentage of .679 and a record of 36 wins, 17 losses, and three ties. The team made it to the playoffs, where they won 2 games and lost one game. Lou Saban won the UPI AFL’s Coach of the Year award for two consecutive years in 1964 and 1965. The club introduced Joe Collier as the new coach after Lou Saban.

Collier coached the club for 30 games with a win percentage of .448 and a total of 13 wins, 16 losses, and one tie making to the play-off but lost the game. The 1968 season of the Buffalo Bills got coached by Harvey Johnson and was one of Bill’s worst seasons’ club history. He coached for 12 matches in which the club won a single game with a single tie and ten losses. Harvey was replaced by John Rauch, who helped the club regain a little bit of bait with seven wins, 20 losses, and a tie during the 28 games coached by Rauch.

1971-1982

The club faced another season of losses when Harvey Johnson returned to the club in the year 1971. He coached for a short period of 14 games in which the club won a single game with 13 losses. The club made it to the play-offs and maintained a decent record when the club’s ward-winning coach  Lou Saban, returned in 1972. He coached the club for 61 games during his second time with the Bills and managed to win 32 times with 28 losses and one tie.

He was replaced by Jim Ringo, who coached the Bills for a total of 23 games where the club won 3 games and lost 20. He was replaced by Chuck Knox, who coached the Buffalo Bills for a total of 73 games. The bills had a decent record of 37 wins and 36 losses during Chuck Knox as a coach, and they also made it to the playoffs where they lost two matches and won one. Chuck Knox was named the AP NFL Coach of the year, Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year, and Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the year 1980.

1983-1997

The 1983 season of the Buffalo Bills started with Kay Stephenson as the head coach who coached for 36 games. The club won 10 games and lost 26 games. He was replaced by Hank Bullough in the year 1985 and coached for a total of 21 games. The club won only four games and lost 17 games. The light of success shone brightly for the Buffalo Bills when Marv Levy coached them from 1986 to 1997. He coached for 182 games in which the Buffalo Bills won 112 games with 70 losses. They also did it to the playoffs, where they won 11 games out of 19.

Marv Levy led the team in winning four back-to-back AFC Championships from 1990 to 1993. He was the Sporting News NFL Coach of the year 1988 and was the UPI NFL Coach of 1988 and 1993. 

1998-2016

After Marv Levy, the Buffalo Bills were coached by Wade Philips, who coached f8 games, winning 29 games with 19 losses. They made it to the playoffs, where they lost two matches, and it was the last play-off before their drought started. He was replaced by Gregg Williams, who coached for a total of 48 games with a total of 17 wins and 31 losses. He was replaced by Mike Mularkey, who coached for a total of 32 games with 14 wins and 18 losses. Dick Jauron replaced Mike, who coached for 57 matches with 24 wins and 33 losses. Perry Fewell coach for a total of 7 games where he won 3 games and lost 4.

2017-Present

Likewise, the team saw coaches like Chan Gailey, Doug Marrone, Rex Ryan, and Anthony Lynn before the limelight shone again for the Buffalo Bills when Sean McDermott got introduced as the head coach. He started coaching for the Buffalo Bills in the year 2017 and has been coaching ever since. He has coached for 48 games in which he has won 25 games and lost 23. The Buffalo Bills also made it to the playoffs ending their 17-year-old drought but lost two matches.

Training Campsites

The Buffalo Bills got trained in the Roycroft Inn, which is in East Aurora, New York, from 1960 to 1962. They coached from 1963-1967 in the Camelot Hotel, Blasdell, New York, and from 1968 to 1980 in Niagara University in Lewiston, New York. The State University of New York at Fredonia became the new training campsite for the Bills from 1981 to 1999. From 2000 till date, St. John Fisher College In Pittsford, New York, has been the Bills training camp.

Social

Buffalo Bills are active on social media platforms. Their Instagram account (@buffalobills) has over 700 thousand followers, and their Twitter account (@BuffaloBills) has over 1 million followers. Their official Facebook page (@BuffaloBills) has over 800 thousand followers, with over 900 thousand likes. Moreover, their official website (www.buffalobills.com) posts the latest updates about their recent matches, upcoming matches, current team rankings and schedules, and a gallery of the Buffalo Bills.

Achievements

Buffalo Bills have won two League Championships in the years 1964 and 1965. They have won four AFC Championships for continuous times from 1990 to 1993. They have been the AFL Eastern Division champions three times in 1964-1966 and the AFC East division champions seven times in 1980, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1995.

Net Worth

The team Buffalo Bills have a net worth of approximately $2.05 billion.