There's weather. Then there's Buffalo Bills' weather.
Wednesday, I hooked up with my cameraman Rick and we headed off to One Bills Drive in Orchard Park, NY to do some stories on Trent Edwards and the boys. Everything was going fine until we neared the Buffalo border. As we approached the Peace Bridge, the snow and wind was downright brutal. By the time we hit the Bills practice facility, the snow was coming in sideways. Fortunately, the football gods were smiling down upon us as the Bills have a beautiful indoor fieldhouse where they hold their practices in bad weather.
Needless to say, it is very well used.
In two weeks, the 6-and-5 Bills will take on the Dolphins at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Believe me, before the Bills start devising ways to squish the Fish; they're focusing all of their energy on beating the 49ers that Sunday at "The Ralph".
After practice, Rick and I walked past the Bills enormous weightroom so we could head into the lockerroom and talk to the players. Rookie Leodis McKelvin is a very polite, and a very fast young man who is making an impact on the Bills league-leading special teams. He told me a funny story how his older teammates really gave him the business when they noticed on film that the Raiders chunky kicker, Sebastian Janikowski , made a tackle to prevent him from scoring a touchdown.
I found Trent Edwards to be in a very serious and intense mood. Don't get me wrong, Trent is a nice guy by nature. It's just you get the sense that he realizes just how serious every practice and every game will be for the Bills from here on in. The Bills are definitely saying all the right things about taking the 49ers seriously and wanting to get out to an early lead.
After our interviews it was time to tape what is known in the business as a "stand up". It was so cold and windy that Rick was forced to place two sandbags on his lightstand to prevent it from blowing away. That barely worked. His camera was attached to a heavy, steel tripod and that was rocking in the wind. Once you are standing outside of Ralph Wilson Stadium in that kind of weather, you realize that the Miami Dolphins are the luckiest team in the AFC. Instead of Chad Pennington and the Dolphins freezing their butts off at "The Ralph", they will be all cozy and warm at Rogers Centre.
Advantage Pennington and the Dolphins.
Next week, I will be in Miami to talk to Pennington, Ronnie Brown and the rest of the Dolphins as they prepare to face the Bills in Toronto. My guess is that the weather in South Florida will be a little nicer than it is in Western New York.
