NFL Capsules: Bills owner in no hurry to add games in Toronto

GROSSE POINTE SHORES, Mich. - Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson is in no hurry to have his team play more than one annual regular-season game in Toronto.

Wilson told The Associated Press on Sunday he'd prefer waiting "two or three years" to determine whether the northern experiment is a success before he'd consider reworking the contract reached last year with Toronto-based Rogers Communications. The Bills are locked into playing five regular-season - one a year - and three preseason games in Toronto under the agreement which runs through 2012.

Rogers officials have expressed interest in adding at least one additional regular-season game a year, particularly if the NFL goes forward with a proposal to expand its regular-season schedule to 17 or 18 games.

Wilson said an expanded schedule wouldn't make a difference at this point.

"I'm sure they want another game. And who knows?" Wilson said in an interview conducted at his home outside Detroit. "I don't know whether they'll get another game or not. We'll have to see how it works out up there."

The series kicked off last year to mixed results as the Bills became the NFL's first team to play annual regular-season games outside the United States.

High-priced tickets averaging just under $200 were considered a major reason why Toronto organizers experienced difficulty selling out Buffalo's regular-season game against Miami on Dec. 7. There were also thousands of empty seats for Buffalo's preseason game against Pittsburgh in August.

Organizers have already attempted addressed that concern by lowering prices by 17 percent, including pricing 11,000 tickets at less than $100. Last year, only 4,700 tickets were priced at under $100.

Another disappointment for the Bills was how the game lacked a "home" atmosphere. Aside from being played inside the domed Rogers Centre, rather than in the wintery outdoors at Ralph Wilson Stadium, there was also a large contingent of Dolphins fans in attendance for Miami's 16-3 win.

The Bills "host" another AFC East rival, the New York Jets, in this year's game at Toronto,scheduled for Dec. 3. Buffalo is not scheduled to play a preseason game in Toronto until next summer.

The Bills were interested in playing in Toronto in a bid to expand their market and tap into the revenue-generating potential of Canada's largest city and financial capital. Toronto is considered part of the Bills' market, and located about a 90-minute drive east of Buffalo.

The deal is already paying off for the Bills, who are getting $78 million - more than double their calculated 2006 operating income - to effectively lease their games to Toronto organizers.

The Toronto group was led by Rogers CEO and founder Ted Rogers, who died the week leading up to the Bills game against Miami. Rogers Communications, which also owns the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Centre, remains committed to the series following Ted Rogers' death. Another member of the group is Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors.

Rogers and Tanenbaum were eager to use the eight-game series to show that Toronto and it's regional population of about 5 million can support its own NFL franchise.

Bills fans have persistently expressed fears that the series is the first step in the permanent relocation of their small-market franchise.

Not so, Wilson reiterated Sunday.

"We're doing this to keep the team (in Buffalo)," Wilson said. "I could see why people think that this is just the first step of moving the team. But they don't realize how difficult it is to compete against the Cowboys and all these new stadiums."

Though he didn't have the exact figures, Wilson said the team has noted a significant increase in Canadian-based fans purchasing season tickets this year.

Fisher winds up using only 12 of 14 allowed days

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Titans have wrapped up their offseason, and coach Jeff Fisher wound up using only 12 of the 14 days allowed for what are called organized team activities. None involved a mandatory minicamp.

It's all part of a plan to make the Titans want to be around on their own.

"My personal feeling is if you have a commitment to the offseason program, there's no need to take advantage of the mandatory minicamp. I do not know why you would take a professional athlete in the middle of the offseason and make him practice twice a day. I think it's a setback," Fisher said.

"If you were to go ahead and have a mandatory minicamp, I think our attendance would drop off in the weeks to follow, and that's not the intention. What we want is a commitment to the program four to five days a week, and we're getting it."

The Titans had pretty thorough participation in 2008, and they wound up going an NFL-best 13-3. Fisher changed up his final OTA on Friday with an hourlong session he called an "unorganized" team activity, then turned his team loose until the Titans report back July 30 for the start of training camp.

That's not to say Fisher doesn't understand why other NFL coaches use the mandatory minicamps. Chris Johnson did some workouts on his own in Orlando early this offseason before joining the Titans in Nashville. Veteran linebacker Keith Bulluck chose to vary his work by spending about a month in California running up hills.

"Clubs are having mandatory minicamps around the league so they can see a player they haven't seen all offseason. That's not the case here," Fisher said.

CHECK OUT THE HAT

If you see a man driving around Nashville wearing a shiny black cowboy hat, it just might be linebacker Keith Bulluck. Especially as he says, if it's a black man.

Bulluck received the hat from country star Tim McGraw last week about a year and half after sitting behind the singer at a music awards show.

"It's not too often you get an opportunity to speak to a guy like that and meet him. I asked him, 'Where can I get a hat like that?' Tim has style about himself. I myself feel I have style too, so two stylish men I need to see where I could get a hat like that," Bulluck said.

The hat arrived in a Resistol box with a note reminding Bulluck to have a great season and apologizing for the delay. Bulluck said he's learning fast to take care of the crease in the top. The linebacker said the hat now is his official interview hat when he's talking with reporters.

And he does plan a thank-you for McGraw of his own.

"I'll come up with something good. I'm a good gift giver," Bulluck said.

KING OF THE ONE-LINERS

Linebacker Keith Bulluck is calling himself the king of the one-liners, and coach Jeff Fisher admits the veteran has come up with a few nice ones over the years.

"He had one (Wednesday) during the two-minute drive, when the offense dropped two of Vince's passes. He said, 'Why don't you just throw it to them underhand?' I mean, he comes up with things all the time," Fisher said.

That's just Keith being Keith. He also kidded Chris Johnson during one minicamp session for setting the goal of winning the NFL's MVP. Why? Well, how was Johnson going to win it when Bulluck plans on winning it?

"He's going to talk, and he makes it fun," Fisher said. "If he wasn't doing everything he's supposed to do and hadn't been in the position that he's in from production and games missed and things like that, it would be different. But you know he's always going to be there."

Bulluck has started 113 consecutive games for Tennessee, the most consecutive for any current player on the team. He has led the Titans in tackles six of the last seven seasons.

HAUL IN THAT FISH

Want to see someone haul in a 650-pound marlin? Well, coach Jeff Fisher's son caught the unexpected fish on a recent fishing trip, and the proud father caught it all on video camera. The video is expected to be posted on the Titans' Web site soon at www.titansonline.com.

QUOTABLE

Jeff Fisher when asked about Chris Johnson's Twitter account: "I thought Twitter was a cartoon character on Tweety Bird. I don't know what Twitter is."

-- Teresa M. Walker, The Associated Press

Former Chiefs lineman in accident that kills 1

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Richard Baldinger, a former lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs, was involved in a traffic accident that left a woman dead.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Marilyn Walters, 61, of Grain Valley was killed when the car she was in collided with a car driven by the 49-year-old Baldinger. The accident happened about 2:15 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of U.S. 40 in Blue Springs.

The patrol said two people in Walters' car were injured. Baldinger was not listed as injured.

The accident was under investigation.

Baldinger was an offensive lineman for the Chiefs from 1982-93. He has also worked as a television analyst. The Chiefs' Web site says Baldinger would be handling sideline reports for preseason games.

Elsewhere

Ex-Vandy QB Nickson dropped by CFL team

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Former Vanderbilt quarterback Chris Nickson has been dropped by a Canadian Football League team.

The Montreal Alouettes released Nickson on Thursday afternoon after a two-week trial.

Nickson threw for 545 yards and eight touchdowns and rushed for another 542 yards and six scores for the Commodores last fall while battling a shoulder injury. In Montreal, Nickson was working at receiver. He played receiver briefly during his redshirt freshman season, then shared the starting role at quarterback over his final three years.

For his career, Nickson was eighth all-time at Vanderbilt with 3,406 passing yards and 29 touchdowns while rushing for 1,463 yards and 17 TDs. His 4,869 total offensive yards are sixth in Vanderbilt history.