With the first quarter of the 21st century complete, it's a good time to look at some of the best players and coaches over that span, and two former Buffalo Bills are outstanding candidates in this regard.
Former Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens and head coach Wade Phillips were named to ESPN's NFL All-Quarter Century Team by statistical analysts Aaron Schatz and Seth Walder.
Owens only played for the Bills in 2009, but he still led the team with 109 targets, 55 receptions and 829 receiving yards.
Owens, a 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, was arguably the most decorated receiver in the NFL in the 2000s, making first-team AP All-Pro five times and finishing second in AP Offensive Player of the Year voting in 2004 with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Phillips coached the Bills from 1998 to 2000, but only the last of these years counts in this case. Even though the Bills didn't make the playoffs in Phillips's last season as the head man, his defense ranked third in yards allowed, one of nine times that his defense ranked in the Top 10 of the NFL in yards allowed since 2000.
Phillips won the Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos as the 2015 AP Assistant Coach of the Year and coached for seven different teams in the 21st century before retiring at the end of the 2019 season.
With the Bills being one of the more dominant NFL teams over the last half-decade, some players and coaches from this time may be recognized as some of the greats of the 21st century come 2050.
