SCOTT JACOBS

Leodis McKelvin was a good yard or two deep inside his own enzone, his Bills, an 11.5 point underdog going into the game, holding onto a 24-19 lead, and basically needing just one more first down to stun the Foxboro faithful in Tom Brady’s long awaited return.  Instead of just taking a knee, and leaving the game up to Trent Edwards and the offense, he took the ball out, and dashed towards the onslaught of Patriots defenders.  It was a bad mistake.  And the ensuing fumble that came of it, eventually recovered by Pats kicker Stephen Gostkowski, was even worse. 

Buffalo, which started out last season 4-0, not only failed to get a win in Foxboro, they failed to end a horrid streak, losing their 12th consecutive game to the Pats, this one in agonizing fashion.  They lost a game they had seized complete control of, because a hard lucked mistake, by a very good player, who usually just makes big plays.  But McKelvin’s ill timed decision to make a hero play instead of just a smart one was a critical mistake.  And when the ball popped loose from his grip, and the Patriots recovered, you could almost feel Buffalo saying under their breath, “we must be cursed.”  T.O. or no T.O. the Bills have yet to figure out how to beat the mighty Pats, who for much of this night looked like an average football team.

Aaron Schobel’s spectacular interception, and just as impressive 26 yard touchdown scamper ignited the Bills to a 14-7 lead, and for much of the night Buffalo looked like a good bet to end a bad streak, one that no one wants on their resume.  But a breakdown in common sense cost Buffalo, and a gutty comeback win, by a very gutty Patriots team, dressed nicely in their old AFL duds, was the difference in the thrill of victory or for Buffalo, the agony of defeat.

As for Brady?  Well, he didn’t exactly look like the Brady of old for much of this night, but that didn’t stop New England from putting the game in his hands, as they pretty much abandoned their running game for a passing attack that saw Brady light the sky with 53 passes.  Mr. Cool completed 39 of those for 378 yards.  But it wasn’t until late where he found Benjamin Watson for a pair of similar back of the endzone touchdowns, that he looked like vintage Brady.

Fortunately for Patriot Pat that’s all New England needed.

As for Buffalo, well they get another crack at ending this absurd streak on December 20th.  In the meantime, they need to use this tough loss as motivation, so that when they play the Pats, not only will they be playing to end a streak, but playing to take part in January.

Afterall, it’s still September.  Hope springs eternal.  Well, unless you’re the Rams.

SCOTT JACOBS

It’s amazing that Terrell Owens has never had his own reality TV show.  But when you consider that his football career has basically been one big soap opera, maybe he never really needed one.  The pushups in his driveway while his agent robotoically chimed “no comment,” the summers of T.O. love that ESPN cameras devoted, the decrying of former team-mate Jeff Garcia as gay, and the constant Donovan McNabb bashing, well let’s just say it all added up to one ridiculous little platter for the world to chew on.  That’s basically what a reality TV show is right?

So it seems only fitting, and typical of T.O. that on the downside of what has been a whacky, productive, and very dramatic career, the legendary talent and even more memorable ego would make one last reach out to the people that made him larger than life: citizens of planet earth.

Starting in July, your weekly dose of T.O. may no longer come via ESPN.  Thanks to a new reality TV show with VH1, Owens will have a new home on your television to go along with his new home on the football field.  Owens scrutinized divorce (well, cut actually) from the Cowboys was well documented, and his signing with the small market, desperate for press Buffalo Bills has been thoroughly dissected.  So what’s left?  Seeing all the madness, edited for your viewing pleasure, play out in neatly assorted episodes.

(No word yet on what the name of the show will be, though I have a hunch ESPN might have some beef were the name to be T.O. Center, which is what Sportscenter was a handful of years ago one summer).

The craziest part?  I think I’ll watch it, or at least give it a fair shot.  With Brett Favre once again hogging every sports channel where they even mention the word football, I’ve become so sick of the obviously washed up quarterback and his 345 unretirements that T.O. in comparison almost comes across as a good samaritan.  Which he has been this off-season and with good reason.  Despite his talent– even at the age of 35 he can still play–Owens’ act has wore thin with three NFL teams, and opportunity number four could be his last.  Make it should.  But with the Raiders still in the league (do they still count as a pro team?) it’s hard to say that a failed stint with the Bills could be his final strike.

But enough about that.  This is T.O.’s shot to resurrect his image, and maybe even make amends for some of the fans he’s alienated over the years with his selfishness and petty behavior.  Maybe this show can display Owens as more then just a me-first receiver who just wants to milk the last 30 seconds of fame he has left in his body. Maybe this show can portray a lighter side of T.O., a funnier side, a caring side, and a relate-able side.

Whatever the case may be, filming for the Buffalo portion of the show starts this Sunday, precisely one day before the Bills open mini-camp (ahem, T.O. Awareness Week).  Interestingly enough shooting for the show began the week Owens was cut from Dallas, leaving me to wonder aloud if T.O. actually staged his exit, you know, for the cameras.  Okay, I wasn’t serious about the last part, at least I don’t think I was.

You know the Bills have to be loving this too. For a team that went 0-6 within their own division last year, erasing a 4-0, and 5-1 start, Buffalo is relevant again.  For now at least.  And so is T.O.  So maybe this is a match made in heaven, or maybe this is a nightmare just waiting to be written.  Whatever happens, starting in July we can watch the drama unfold.

T.O.’s getting a reality show.  A real one too.  Sports purists run for cover while you still can.

Photo: AP

SCOTT JACOBS

The Buffalo Bills are a small market, smart budgeted, family owned team that does things the right way (usually that is).  They are very careful about who they sign, very methodical about how they do their business, and are generally a team chalk full of blue collar players, much like the city itself.

So it was only fitting that the Bills made the most stunning free agent signing in recent memory when they inked franchise killer Terrell Owens to a one year deal worth a working man’s $6.5 million today.  Did we mention the entire contract is guaranteed?

Talk about your, ‘holy bears where did that come from’, story of the day, month, offseason.

Or should we go for the more appropriate line in this instance: Holy bleeping Bills!

The Bills just don’t do this.  They sign players who fit their system, they stay safe in who they bring into their organization.  They don’t bring in malcontents.  Go ahead, I dare you, name someone the Bills have signed since the free agency period started that mirrored anything like T.O.?

I got nothing.

But back to T.O.: Let it be known, this is his last absolute chance.  There is no more second chances left after this one, even in the NFL where second chances are handed out like Monopoly cards.

Either T.O. and the Bills are going to be a match in heaven or this thing is going down in flames.

I’m trying to make sense of this.  Buffalo started out last season like wild fire, racing out to a 4-0 start.  But then Trent Edwards got knocked out in a game against the eventual NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals (still sounds funny), and the Bills never recovered.  They got slammed in the desert, and amazingly ended up winless in their own division.  The Bills finished 7-9, and last place in the AFC East.

Apparently, their thinking is that T.O. puts them over the top?  Maybe…?

Here’s my instant analysis: I’m intrigued by the pairing of Lee Evans (a wicked fast receiver) and Owens who himself demands a double team every time he gets down the field.  Evans caught 63 receptions for 1017 yards and three touchdowns last year, but he didn’t have that sidekick to really further extend the field.  That’s where T.O. comes in.

Assuming Owens can be on his best behavior this is a heck of a ballsy/brilliant move by the Bills.  With Marshawn Lynch running the ball, and Owens and Evans spreading out the field, the usually invisible Bills offense should be at least middle of the pack next year if not potent.  Add that to a solid defense, and who knows right?

Of course Owens and his behavior is always the X-Factor.  On team number four T.O. cannot screw up.  Some small part of me says that while he’s absurdly cocky, he’s not totally stupid.  He realizes now that at 35, and on the downside of his career he’s playing for not only pride, but a Super Bowl title that has forever eluded him.

And whether it’s fair or not, maybe just maybe, T.O. actually (cough cough) helps teams win?  Afterall, every team he’s ever been on (49ers, Eagles, Cowboys) has made the playoffs.  So maybe Buffalo sees Owens as that final piece to get their team into the playoffs so they can end a playoff drought that dates back to 1999 (only for him to then tear the locker-room apart and make life for Bills coach Dick Jauron a living hell).  Yes, the Bills are 0-the century. They are clearly desperate.  Owens is very desperate.  Either they’re going to be a match in heaven or this thing is going down in flames.

We haven’t even touched on Trent Edwards, who will enter his second year as a starter in 2009.  Edwards, is just a third year quarterback out of Stanford and a very easy going and hard working guy.  But he’s never played with T.O. or anyone like him.  Edwards has had the chance to get comfortable in a Buffalo offense that still hasn’t quite found its identity. He’s never had a big ego that demands the ball. He gets the pigskin out to whoever is open.

That all changes now.

With Owens in the fold, Edwards will have pressure on him like never before to keep his star receiver happy (and we’re not talking about Evans here)!  Will T.O. be gentle on the young QB?  Or will he be just as brutal on him as he has been to guys like Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, and Tony Romo?  Those are the questions.

This isn’t rocket science.  Buffalo is taking a one year risk on a player who could be a huge find or a major nightmare.  Owens could turn the Bills into a Wild Card contender overnight or he could set Edward’s self esteem back five years.  But hey, what’s the worst that could happen right?

It’s only T.O.

Photo:  Reuters Pictures

SCOTT JACOBS

Hello Buffalo! We’re going to play a little game today. It’s called sell out your fan base for the greener grass on the other side (a $78 million deal for five years to play in Canada’s biggest city). It’s played in a tug of war style between one really big city (Toronto) and one very little city (Buffalo) hanging on for dear life of its beloved football team.

Here’s how it works. You take a struggling city, one proclaimed by Forbes as one of the 10 most dying cities in the U.S. and you take a few of that NFL city’s games and put them in Canada. Toronto, to be exact. You take out the wintery weather conditions that have made Buffalo synonymous for rough and tumble, hard nosed snow games, and you lock their team inside a pretty ole dome.

The final thing: you come up with a dainty little logo to celebrate the occasion of the beginning of potentially ripping the roots of a team that has been around since 1960 out of the ground by selling t-shirts and hats, and whatever else the devil people buy nowadays.

Ah sports. Once upon a time you could watch games for a buck fifty. Now thats the cost of cheese, if you want it on your burger.

Loyalty? That’s a pipe dream.

“Show me the money” teams are screaming. “Show me the money” or we’ll leave town.

There’s a great line on a Buffalo Bills message board:

“I would only share my wife if the other guy shared his wife and daughter. (Raptors, Blue Jays).”

But it doesn’t work like that. There is no give and take. There’s give, as in hand over the keys to the franchise and we’ll slowly break your fans hearts. There’s take, as in we’ll buy your team and leave over-night. But there’s no “and.”

In a what have you done for me now world, the Bills are frozen in a Buffalo landscape that just isn’t up to snuff. Their economy is in the crapper, their population is declining, and the depressing freezing cold winters aren’t going away any time soon. The city isn’t exactly a beacon of hope right now. But its not their fault. There are a lot of cities with issues. Even big ones like Cleveland, OH.

But this isn’t about Cleveland, it’s about Buffalo.

It’s about the only true NFL New York team. The only NFL team that actually plays in New York, but is widely disregarded by the national media because they’re in western New York.

They haven’t made the playoffs in seven years, and the team is more known for their heartbreak and heartache then anything. The Music City Miracle? That was against Buffalo. Scott Norwood wide right? That was the Bills. Four straight Super Bowl losses? Who else but the Bills, in one of the most unbelievable happenings in sports history.

But they sellout their games, and they have classic rivalries established with the Patriots, Jets, and Dolphins.

Who cares.

When Canada’s biggest city is just a little while from you, who needs loyalty, when you can play the Dolphins in Toronto.

The Bills are one of the great over-looked franchises in sports. Their fans are some of the most passionate in the game. They sit through blizzard conditions just so they can watch their beloved Bills crush Miami one more time.

But now it’s the Bills. Buffalo and Toronto’s team. Of course, Buffalo still gets seven home games a year under this new arrangement, but its got to feel a little gloomy for a city looking for some hope, not extra despair.

Ralph Wilson is 90. Once he goes the team could too.

It’s a shame. It really is.

And Buffalo wants to market that? On their home page nonetheless? It’s not right.

Not now. Not in this economic crisis.

If you want to give them a Toronto fan base, fine. Just don’t rub it in Buffalo’s face.

They’ve done too much to support that team.

Besides, die hard CFL fans don’t even want them there. Yeah I said it, there are actually die hard CFL fans.