1 - Fan donations over $35K for Eric Wood's foundation
A popular trend, started by Bills fans this season, has been fans donating money to foundations supported by NFL players. In the latest case, the foundation of Bills center Eric Wood has been on the receiving end.
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As of Monday afternoon, the Eric Wood Fund received over $35,000 in donations. This is in wake of Friday's news that Wood can no longer play football due to a severe neck injury. The goal is to raise $70,000 to match his No. 70 jersey.
Most donations have also come in 70-dollar increments.
Bills fans have been demonstrating their generosity throughout the season. One of the more recent examples is with Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton. When he tossed a last-minute touchdown to send Buffalo to the playoffs, donations poured in at a rapid rate. Bills fans ended up giving over $350,000 to the Andy Dalton Foundation.
Buffalo's General Manager, Brandon Beane, spoke about the league-wide generosity after Wood's press conference on Monday.
"It's unbelievable. You mentioned Andy Dalton, that was amazing. All the money that was raised was a cool deal," said Beane. "And now, I heard about it Monday morning, that people put a lot of money into Eric's fund. That's cool. You like to see the foundations get money, because generally they're all for very good causes, people in need. It shows the support of this community and this fan base. What they did for Andy Dalton, now they're doing it for Eric. Very happy to see."
In Wood's nine-year career in Buffalo, he was consistently committed to the community. He was twice the team's nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.
The goal to reach $70 thousand for Wood's fund is looking extremely likely. Fans are more than halfway there. The goal was set less than a week ago and there's 356 days left to reach it.
Throughout his time as a Buffalo Bill Eric Wood has made a significant impact on the community. Relive some of the most memorable moments from his past nine seasons.
2 - Bills Dawson scheduled to interview for Panthers GM job
The connection between the Buffalo Bills and Carolina Panthers continues. In 2017, Buffalo's head coach and general manager came from Carolina's organization. A year later, it appears the Panthers future GM could be within the Bills organization.
Bills Assistant Director of College Scouting, Lake Dawson, is interviewing to be the Panthers GM, according to Ian Rapoport. That interview is slated to take place on Friday.
Dawson has 23 years of experience as both an NFL receiver (six years) and in college and pro scouting (17 years). However, 2017 was his first season in Buffalo. In 2016, he was a National Scout for the Cleveland Browns. Prior to that, he had a nine-year stint in the Tennessee Titans front office.
Dawson's lengthy tenure in the league explains why this isn't his first time interviewing for a GM job. In fact, he previously interviewed to be the Panthers GM in 2013. In addition to that, he interviewed for GM jobs with the Buccaneers and Dolphins in 2014 and the Bears in 2015.
3 - Buffalo battled the NFC better than most
The Bills squared off against NFC opponents four times in 2017. They won half of those games, which was better than 10 other AFC teams.
Buffalo was one of six AFC teams with two or more wins against the NFC this season. Those teams include: The Patriots (3-1), Steelers (3-1), Chargers (3-1), Bills (2-2), Chiefs (2-2), and Ravens (2-2). The 10 remaining AFC teams finished either 1-3 or 0-4 against the NFC this season.
The Bills two non-conference wins came against the Buccaneers and Falcons. In Week Four, Buffalo traveled to Atlanta and beat them by a score of 23-17. In Week Seven, Tampa Bay came to town and fell short 30-27.
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