Bills DT Dareus suspended for Week 1

The Bills will be without Pro Bowl defensive tackle Marcell Dareus for their season opener against Indianapolis after he was suspended on Thursday for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

Dareus was arrested last May and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia in an Alabama traffic stop. Dareus is in a pretrial diversion program that will make the criminal charges go away, but that’s still not good enough for the league.

“Last year, I made a mistake involving possession of a banned substance,” Dareus said in a  carefully worded statement. “The NFL’s discipline for this conduct is part of the drug policy, and I apologize to my family, my teammates, the entire Bills organization and Bills fans that I will miss one game as a result of my mistake. I will work intensely that week and will be extremely happy to contribute to a win in week two for the Bills.”

Dareus probably did not help his cause last year when he was pulled over for drag racing against teammate Jerry Hughes.

He has been on his best behavior in the 12 months since, so the Bills are not too worried beyond not having him on the field for the first game of the year.

“I think the maturity we saw this year has us feeling that unless he has a relapse soon, that we’re pretty comfortable that he’s taking that step for him as a professional — to be more professional -— he’s taking those steps,” Bills GM Doug Whaley told ESPN in March.

Revis calls out Brady, Pats for history

Now that he’s no longer one of them, Darrelle Revis can say anything he wants about the Patriots. Which is exactly what he did in an interview with the New York Daily News published on Thursday.

“If (the NFL) feels he did the crime or he did something and they want to penalize them, then that’s that,” Revis told the paper. “(The Patriots) have a history of doing stuff. You can’t hide that. … Tom was there when they did that stuff in the past.”

Revis, who won a Super Bowl last season in his only year with New England, was a rookie for his first stint with the Jets when the Patriots were caught up in the “Spygate” scandal in 2007.

“New England’s been doing stuff in the past and getting in trouble,” Revis said. “When stuff repeatedly happens, then that’s it. I don’t know what else to tell you. Stuff repeatedly happened through the years. You got Spygate, you got this and that and everything else. Obviously in those situations in the past, they had the evidence. So they did what they needed to do.”

Revis pointed out that he would be in just as much trouble as Brady if he violated league rules.

“If I fail a drug test, then I fail a drug test. If I get a DUI, I get a DUI,” Revis said. “If Tom gets caught with a DUI, it’s a DUI. … If they are saying that he did what he’s done, then the suspension is the suspension. I’m not the commissioner and don’t make the rules. If they want to change (the suspension) based on new information or new evidence, then OK, but it should have nothing to do with Tom being the face of the NFL.”

NFL sets date for Super Bowl LI

No home team has played in the first 49 Super Bowls, and that remains a fairly safe bet for the next two editions.

On Thursday the NFL officially announced the date for Super Bowl LI, which will be played in Houston, as Feb. 5, 2017. The setting of the date was a formality since Houston was already awarded the game two years ago.

“We are excited to now know the date, and the Houston Super Bowl LI host committee is proud and eager to lock in the countdown to kickoff,” Houston host committee chairman Ric Campo said in a release. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to showcase Houston as the forward-looking, global city that it is, as well as come together as a community and have a great time.”

This upcoming Super Bowl will be hosted at the 49ers new home field, Levi’s Stadium, in Santa Clara.