hondo in seattle

Generally speaking, you need a good QB to win in the NFL. Fitz isn't good. We've seen too much of him to know his limitations. EJ might be good. I'd rather go with the guy with unproven potential than the guy with proven mediocrity.

As a partner in a Taco Bell franchise, I can tell you that your first statement isn't even remotely true. Your second statement is interesting. The annual revenues generated by a NFL franchise don't justify the high price to purchase a club. You only really make money when you sell the team. It's an odd way of doing business and it requires you to gamble on the NFL remaining a hot commodity. As noted, however, there is other value (beyond annual returns) in being a NFL owner. If I had Pegula's assets (what a dream!), I'd bid too!

Thanks for the link. As mentioned in the article, many business people use factors of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) to determine the value of a business. For example, smaller restaurants may sell for 2x EBITDA while higher volume restaurants belonging to thriving chains might sell for 6x EBITDA. The Bills EBITDA last years was $38 million. Even if we value it at 10x EBITDA, the value of the Bills would still only be $380 million. Strictly business wise, that ought to be (roughly speaking) the sale price. Obviously, the true value of any commercial venture is the price the market will bear. But it's kind of amazing that business people will pay so much for an enterprise that nets so little. It would take Pegula a 34 years or so to make a $1.3 billion investment back. Buying a Taco Bell franchise has an immensely better ROI.

+1

You are right. My first reaction to the deal was "ridiculous." But then I thought how rare even good QBs are. The deal actually makes sense.

Wow. I'm surprised by the negativity from some of the posters. I'm not sold on EJ as the franchise QB of the future. But, then again, I'm not going to condemn the guy because of seven passes in two series of work. Hackett and some players say EJ has taken a big step forward this year. Maybe it's just happy talk. I don't know. But two series doesn't prove the optimists wrong.

This was a very good article for a national media guy. But, in fact, I don't expect to learn much about the Bills from the national media. Trying to follow 32 teams, they just won't know as much about the Bills as we do here on TBD. The analytics websites sometimes have interesting stuff. But when I read or watch SI, ESPN or most other national media outlets, it's usually because I'm curious how the Bills are being presented. I'm not expecting to learn anything new.

There "should be" but there won't be. However, if you start a petition, I'll sign.

Great reporting, Astro. Living 2600 miles away makes it hard for me to keep up with the Bills this time of year. Your camp notes are objective and informative.

EJ is still unproven. We need to move the ball somehow. The more good backs, the better.

Good post. We won't declare war on Canada after all.

Quite possibly true. Maybe wrongly so - but I was surprised to read there were only 3 bids submitted.

There were reports that other candidates - besides the ones we all knew about - were quietly putting together bids. Apparently this turned out to be way wrong. Incidentally, on June 19 I predicted Pegula at $1.27B. Got my fingers crossed that I'll win the Final Sale Price Contest. Far more importantly, though, I'm hoping Pegula wins his contest! http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/168509-bills-final-sale-price-contest/page__hl__bids

ON ANY GIVEN SUNDAY

For the past 14 years, I've been hanging my hopes on those 'someones.'

I remember this game well... at least that final drive. Roland Hooks, what a hero that day! The catch before the Hail Mary was indeed "spectacular."

I guess I'm one of the few here old enough to remember that game. Awesome memory.

I agree. The OL struggled to open holes, or to get any push in short yardage situations. The production we did get was mostly due to the fact we ran more than most teams and had two good backs lugging the ball. Offensive scheming and play-calling could have been better too. I know CJ had a high ankle sprain last year but it also seemed like Hackett just didn't know how to create space for EJ. Gailey was much better at it.

Thanks b2henning. That's a great find and, as you say, a fair and informed evaluation of EJ. But I've also heard this general comment from a lot of NFL personnel guys: no college QBs are NFL ready. They all have stuff to improve. And that's why NFL scouts are so often wrong - because it's a guessing game who's going to continue developing and who won't. I'm personally going to guess the observers in this article are no better at prognosticating future NFL success than NFL scouts, and probably worse. EJ at 20 or 22 isn't necessarily EJ at 25 or 30. I'm going to assume that - like a lot of other QBs - he didn't reach his peak in college. Nor in his rookie NFL year. How much improvement he'll show this year, I don't know, but my fingers are crossed and I'm hoping for the best.

LaCanfora is just guessing, as he often does. I think he's guessing wrong, as he often does. (I may be wrong myself, but isn't LaCanfora the guy who earlier this year reported the Browns were about to hire Schwartz as their DC?)

I get what you are saying about keeping complimentary a skill set. But the opposite POV has validity. If Sammy, Goodwin, or another speedy WR goes down, TJ is a good backup because he has similar speed. We wouldn't have to change the play-calling much or, worse, throw out the game plan.

As a reminder, in Schwartz's first press conference with the Bills media, he said this about the Wide 9: "Mostly that's thrown around by people that couldn’t line it up if they wanted to. That’s no disrespect to those people, but there’s 32 teams in the NFL, and all 32 of them line up in a Wide 9. Not all of them are called Wide 9 teams, but that’s just the way it goes. That sort of developed because it fit our personnel [in Detroit], and it fit what our opponents did. You can dictate some things on defense with it, make it hard on offense. There’s some things that you need to constantly work because, like anything, it has strengths and it has weaknesses. It’ll certainly be part of our scheme here, but it won’t define our scheme."

I'm curious... what is Schwartz's scheme with the Bills? He's run different schemes over the years. I'm not sure what scheme he's using with the Bills. If you know, please share. Here's what Schwartz himself said about his scheme: “You can’t put it in a box. It’ll be opponent-specific and multi-dimensional. We are an attack scheme.” http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/01/27/jim-schwartz-were-going-to-be-an-attack-scheme/ As vague an answer as that is, it sounds good to me. What it will look like on the field, I'm not sure anyone actually yet knows.

Yeah, I've wondered about this too. What does it entail and how hard is it? Failures are uncommon so I'm guessing it's reasonably easy to pass.

These media reports aren't making Kluwe look very good. I actually read the report by the 3rd party investigators - it pretty much exonerates the Vikings and makes you wonder if Kluwe is just an attention whore with too much imagination.