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All: The new Billszone site with the updated software is scheduled to be turned on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The company that built it, Dynascale, estimates a FOUR HOUR shut down, from 8pm Pacific, (5pm Eastern) while they get it up and running. Nobody will be able to post in any forum until they are done. Afterwards, you may need to do a web search for the site, as old links will not work, because the site is getting a new IP address. Please be patient. If there are bugs, we will tackle them one at a time. Remember the goal is to be up and running with no glitches by camp. Doing this now assures us of that, because it gives us all summer to get our ducks in a row. Thank you!
Since the numbering system was implemented in 1973, only two major changes have been made. In 1984, the NFL allowed defensive lineman and linebackers to wear jersey numbers in the 90–99 range, since more teams were making use of the 3–4 defense and thus were quickly exhausting numbers for linebackers, who previously were only allowed to wear numbers in the 50–59 range. (Before this change, the NFL had outlawed the 90–99 range for regular season use since it was rarely issued before 1973, but did permit it for the preseason; Lawrence Taylor wore his college number 98 his rookie training camp with the Giants in 1981 before switching to his more familiar 56 before the start of the season.) The other change occurred in 2004, when the NFL allowed wide receivers to wear numbers 10–19 in addition to the 80–89 range; this was due to several NFL teams retiring 80-range numbers as well as teams employing more receivers and tight ends in their offense.
While the NFL does allow teams to retire jersey numbers, the league officially discourages retiring numbers, for fear of teams running out of numbers. As a result, a few NFL teams do not retire jersey numbers.
Buffalo
For many years, the Buffalo Bills never officially retired uniform numbers. This changed when Jim Kelly's number 12 was officially retired by the Bills in the early 2000s (although Joe Ferguson also prominently wore the number, and the team also honors the 12th man). O. J. Simpson (32), Bruce Smith (78), Cookie Gilchrist and Thurman Thomas (both 34) and have not had their numbers issued since those players' retirements. Jack Kemp (15), Elbert Dubenion (44), Billy Shaw (66), and Andre Reed (83) have seen their numbers used only in limited situations; wide receiver Lee Evans (full name Lee Evans III) sought explicit permission to use the 83 number, as it was the only way to preserve the number 3 somewhere in his jersey number (the league had not opened up the 10–19 numbers at the time of his debut).[13] Like Dallas, Buffalo has a "Wall of Fame" honoring some of their great players.
One number that was unofficially retired for most of the team's history was 31, which was reserved as a generic number for promotions and to represent the "spirit of the franchise". This policy was reversed in 1990 when the number was awarded to James "J.D." Williams; it has since been re-released to all players (in part due to the withdrawal of 32) and is currently worn by free safety Jairus Byrd, who moved from his college number of 32 to his current 31.
Number 1 has only been issued sparingly in the team's history (kicker Mike Hollis was the last to wear it), possibly out of deference to Tommy Hughitt, who wore the number with the early-era Buffalo teams in the 1920s. The team does not officially acknowledge any special deference to the number, but acknowledges that other numbers besides the ones mentioned above may be set aside.
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