Luca Celebre: The "Fantennial Experience” is here in Toronto this weekend, what can fans attending expect at the event?
Darryl Talley: The Fantennial is huge. Think about this, 100 years of football. Football has been around here 100 years already and some teams have been around 60 years, so we’re celebrating that with the Buffalo Bills. The Fantennial here (Toronto), Montreal, and Vancouver. The other thing is it’s also free for fans to come see and it is located at 639 Queen Street West.
LC: Like you mentioned, 100 years of NFL football, what was your favourite memory as a player?
DT: My favourite memory was playing in the very first Super Bowl I ever played in in 1990. Our country was at war and we had blackhawk helicopters flying around. Whitney Houston sang the National Anthem. My hair on my arms stands up when I think about it every time because when else could you play a football game and you’ve got everybody in the world watching. It’s not like baseball, it’s not like basketball where you’ve got 7 games. You’ve got one shot and if you don’t make it, you do what we do, you have 4 bad bites of the apple.
LC: I still can’t believe that, no breaks on 4 bad bites of the apple.
DT: It’s crazy. It took a lot of fortitude to do it. It took a lot of commitment, but we would all line up and do it again twice on Sunday. That’s just the way we were. We had a great group that is still very tight to this day.
LC: That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day right?
DT: It’s all about your teammates and the guys in which you played with and how you fostered those relationships.
LC: What evolution of football over the years from when you were playing until now has kinda surprised you the most about today’s game?
DT: It’s not the evolution of football, it’s that they continue to give the offence all of the breaks. I’m a defensive guy, so that’s the thing, they handcuff the defence and therefore you’ve got to be a better athlete because they know where they’re going, we don’t know where they’re going. We have to figure out where they’re going and then get there before them and we got less time.
The biggest change I’d say, we were at the tip of the spear when it came to spreading offenses out and making defensive guys do different things. We were at the tip of the spear on that because all four of our linebackers could be interchanged. We could play multiple sides, our offence was one of the first offenses that spread everybody out and made everybody be accountable and made guys have to be accountable for playing in space that were of size to play. Now what I see happening to the NFL is I see somebody getting ready to start running the football and the way they’re going to do it is with two tight ends.
LC: Packers did that a lot against the Bears.
DT: That’s what the league’s ready to go back to. Why? Because they shrink the size of linebackers. You’ve got a small linebacker in the middle of the field that you think is going to deal with a guy 200 or 310, 330 pounds and that guy’s not going to be able to deal with him.
LC: That makes perfect sense because now they’re focused more on coverages and matching up in passing situations.
DT: See, that’s the thing. The only people that have gotten faster are the offensive and defensive lineman. No matter what you look at, 4.40 is 4.40 on the clock. I don’t care who it is. Most running backs or wide receivers, that’s where they’re at, but the difference changes when you get to the offensive lineman because you’ve got 330 pounds moving at an abnormally fast pace and that’s what causes a lot of problems for a lot of folks.
LC: Bills Mafia, best fans in football probably. I want to ask you, was it like that back when you were playing, too?
DT: Oh no. The Buffalo Bills fans from Toronto to Buffalo have always been the same. They are rambunctious. They know their football and they’re going to come support their teams. That’s what it’s always been about. That’s the way it’s always been.
LC: Did they do crazy stuff like smashing through tables back then?
DT: They didn’t do that back then, they did other things back then, but we can’t talk about those things (laughs). I actually got to go see that (Bills fans smashing through tables). I got to go to the playoff game in Jacksonville and I saw that for the first time and wow, that’s fun. I grew up in Cleveland so we have maniac fans there as well. I say Buffalo fans, Cleveland fans, and Kansas City fans were the ones that were really raucous and could really cause a lot of problems for the offence not being able to hear.
LC: I have to ask you about this current Bills team, what are your expectations for this team?
DT: My expectations? This oughta be a really good year. They’ve got a great young nucleus of guys and my thing is, now it’s just on them taking onus and holding each other accountable.
LC: What do you think of Josh Allen in his second year? What steps do you want to see him take?
DT: I hope (knocks on wood) he doesn’t have a ‘sophomore slump’ as everybody says, but here’s the thing, Josh is a good quarterback. I like the way he does things, he attacks downfield. He’s a strong-armed quarterback. He’s a better athlete than the guy we had, Jim (Kelly), and you know what, for me to say that about 12 is saying a lot because I love him to death. He’s a strong-armed quarterback that we need in Buffalo because you have to throw in the wind here and you have to be able to play in weather, which he’s done.
LC: Wyoming back in his college days.
DT: Wyoming ain’t no nice place to play.
LC: No haha, it’s not sunshine and rainbows there.
DT: You’re right (laughs), you don’t get a pack of skittles.
LC: Alright, Super Bowl prediction for the 100th year, who do you think is going to be playing in the big game?
DT: Honestly, I like Chicago. I know a lot of people have problems with that one because you’ve got the Rams and Eagles, you’ve got a lot of good teams in the NFC. I just think they’ve got the right mix. And I’m not gonna outvote us (the Bills). We’re due for some experience, we’re gonna get some this year. Here’s the thing, if you’ve got a bunch of hungry, young guys which is what they have, it’s just a matter of time before they learn how to flip that switch. Once they learn that and get that togetherness about them, then I think we’re going to be a formidable team. I think they’ve got a chance, I really do. You’ve got the things you need, a good defence, a running game, and being able to get the ball down the field.
