In addition to two new Bills Hall of Famers, there will be an entire roster of current Bills in Canton on Hall of Fame weekend as Buffalo has been chosen as one of the two NFL teams to play in the Hall of Fame game on Aug. 9. The Bills will face the Tennessee Titans in a Sunday night affair with kickoff set for 8 pm.
The Hall of Fame game will be played the day after the 2009 Hall of Fame induction class is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in an evening ceremony on Aug. 8. That includes first ballot Hall of Famer and former Bills defensive end Bruce Smith and Bills owner Ralph Wilson.
Buffalo has an 0-2 record all time in the Hall of Fame game with their only two appearances coming in 1974 and 1989. The Titans franchise is also 0-2 in Hall of Fame games, which came in 1971 and 1985 when they were the Houston Oilers.
In addition to 2009 Hall of Famer Bruce Smith, current Buffalo Hall of Famers, Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas played in the 1989 Hall of Fame game against Washington. Hall of Fame head coach Marv Levy obviously coached the Bills in that game as well.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame makes an effort to honor the team of at least one of the inductees in that year's Hall of Fame class, and with Smith and Mr. Wilson to be enshrined it appears that on the weekend of Aug. 8-9 Canton will be celebrating the Buffalo Bills.
It will also be a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the birth of the AFL. Buffalo and the Titans are two of the original eight AFL franchises that began play in 1960. The Titans are the former Houston Oilers.
Last year's Hall of Fame game was an all Washington weekend as former Redskins Darrell Green and Art Monk were enshrined the day before the Redskins faced the Colts in the 2008 preseason opener.
This year's Hall of Fame game will be televised nationally on NBC's Football Night in America.
