CANTON, Ohio -- What is there about Ralph Wilson that he would grant final approval for his beloved Buffalo Bills to take on T.O.?
Wilson is here only hours away from induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is 90. He has led the Bills for 50 seasons.
And all along the way, his Bills leadership has been known for a steady, measured hand, an emphasis on class, less risk than shock, more trust than theatrics.
T.O. has been a mixed bag of those traits. But his exits in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Dallas left more of what Wilson would abhor than embrace: Bridges burned and teams in turmoil.
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Actually, T.O. addressed this on Friday afternoon in a media session after practice. He said: "Well, you know, I'm just making a joke off the fact that people always say that with me everything starts rosy and then somewhere it kind of falls off and I throw my quarterback under the bus, something like that."
Yeah, something like that.
So, Wilson was asked, why did he do it, take on T.O., and if it was an act of inspiration or desperation?
"A lot of changes come in life and have come during my ownership," Wilson said. "Things are changing all of the time. You have to embrace it. You have to listen to people you trust and do the things that are right for your team and your franchise. I believe this will be something good for us. It already has been."
So far, so good.
That's the thing about Wilson.
Even when it is all about him -- like his induction into pro football's hallowed halls -- he makes it about others. About the Bills.
"Ralph has had guys who would get in his ear and under his skin before: me, Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, Darryl Talley," said BillsHall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. "You know, they once called us the bickering Bills. But we fit. We fit in the framework of teamwork. That remains to be seen if T.O. can do that. I sure hope so. I see good signs. But when it first happened, I found it hard to believe."
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So did Wilson's fellow 2009 Hall of Fame class inductee, Bills defensive end Bruce Smith.
"I don't think Ralph is a big risk taker" Smith said. "This is a risk. When I think of Mr. Wilson and I think of T.O., I'm shocked by it. But I like it. I'm hoping for the reward part of it."
Former Bills coach Marv Levy said he "blinked'' when he heard T.O. was a Bill.
"I do know this: Ralph would not make a move out of desperation," Levy said. "He had to be convinced by people he trusts, I believe. And you have to give T.O. this: He is not a guy who has been caught up in drugs or guns or domestic violence. He is known for practicing, training and working at incredible levels. All of the other stuff, we'll see."
This we already know -- Wilson has reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame because throughout his 50 years of Bills ownership he has adapted to different eras and made tough decisions, whether it was league mergers or franchise relocation or collective bargaining deals. Wilson has always made it about the Bills, about Buffalo, about winning football.
Hall of Famers here have embraced him, stood up in private meetings and saluted him, complemented him in ways that has made Wilson wear one huge, continuous smile.
The Green Bay Packers' Willie Davis, from the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 1991, captured Wilson and his T.O. connection this way:
"I think T.O. is a credit to the game. I know a lot of stuff he does is for publicity and entertainment and I wouldn't do it; it wouldn't be good for me. But I think Ralph Wilson can look beyond a man's faults and see something worth having. I think he's done that all of his life. He's done that in the NFL. He has been that kind of guy to all teams and for all seasons. He has handled change in the NFL as well as anyone."
