JohnC

The team that has quietly risen up from obscurity to being a highly competitive team is Arizona (as you noted). They hired a good coach, stabilized the qb position and upgraded their OL. To be candid I don't believe that the Bills have a playoff caliber team. A lot of attention has been focused on the qb position but I also have significant concerns with the OL. What I want out of this season is to know for sure whether EJ is capable of being a franchise qb. Regardless what the team's record is that is the question that needs to be answered. If he steadily gets better then I will be fine with that. If an organization knows what it is doing it can turn things around in three years. Although Pete Carrol is a lightethening rod as a HC he and his front office have done an incredible job in building a strong roster in a releatively short period of time.

Thank you. That clarifies it for me. The difference between the will and trust. Different rules governing different entities.

If a lawyer reviewed the will isn't there an ethical breach on commenting directly or anonymously on the will that is supposed to be confidential? I wouldn't be surprised that lawyers are giving their opinions on how they believe the will is structured from what is already known from the on going implementation of the franchise sale. But having a lawyer publicly or privately commenting on a document that he/she reviewed doesn't seem to me to be ethical. I don't doubt that your comments based on what you read is accurate. But my inclination is that the lawyer giving the opinion in the article didn't directly review the douments. The people involved with the estate sale have done a masterful job of maintaining confidentiality and in smoothly implementing the will.

I would never had guessed that you had proletarian tendencies. Are you sure that you are acting out of character in order to associate yourself with the common folk.There is no need for false modesty; go ahead and daintly sip your white wine.

The historical accumulation of bad drafts is both laughable and sad. In its history this organization has stuggled to attain a mediocre status. It's embarrassing. All hope is not lost. For me the Whaley/Brandon transition reflects a turn to a more modern and standard approach to running a franchise compared to what has previously been going on. It might not be reflected in the immediate record but the tide will eventually turn.

Cookie was a great football player that didn't get the recognition he should have. But regardless of the situation he was a very difficult person to deal with. He had a tough life that that formed him into being a very hard person to contend with. Lou Saban was simply someone who always felt the urge to move on from what he was doing. As the attached Wikipedia profile indicated he had 22 coaching jobs. He was nicknamed 2.2 because his average for staying in any one place was 2.2 yrs. The Bills wanted to put Cookie on the Stadium Wall but they were not confident that he would show up. Another issue the organization had with him was that he demanded money for the appearance which the organization was not about to do. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Saban

If this roster is special it would translate to W's. It's far from being there at this point. If the Bills can be an 8-8 team I would consider it a success. If we come out of this season, regardless of its record, learning that EJ is a legitimate franchise qb than I would consider this a successful season and something to build on.

WEO, I didn't bother to read the article because what you posted about the article told me more than enough that I needed to know about the substance of the article. You are searching for insight? What insight are you seeking? Keep searching for the illuminating thought that doesn't exist. When you find it I hope you will be kind of enough to point it out to me. 95% of the material written and spoken about the NFL by its so called experts is a rehash of the rehash. As I said in the first post cliches are simply the language of football commentators. My original point is that there is no football concept or analysis that is novel. It's not like theoritical physics or cosmic astronomy that is incomprehensible to most people. There is nothing about the game that is difficult to comprehend. Don't over-think the obvious. It simply comes down to talent and execution.

A juandiced eye can still see---only it sees things differently.

WEO, The author is discussing pro football not nuclear theory. Sometimes issues are not as complex as people self-servingly make it out to be. Too often the commentators and self declared analysts put a lot of effort into making an obvious observation into a brilliant discovery. Cliches are the language of football communication because so much of the game is simply basic. The game in itself is relatively simple; the execution, not brilliant strategies, is what makes the difference.

There are plenty of jobs that hold their employees accountable for off the job behavior. If you get in trouble off the job in most public sector jobs you will face on the job consequences. A policeman, teacher, principal, soldier, lawyer, doctor etc. can face trouble from their employers and oversight boards, ex legal and medical licensing board. There are also plenty of companies that won't tolerate unacceptable off the job behavior from their employees if it discredits the organization it works for.

It serves the public good in that it will for a short term put a stop to his interminable stupid tweets. Maybe breaking all of his knuckles so that he couldn't tap out his never ending inane tweets from his expensive device would have been an appropriate punishment. I'm not against corporal punishment if it serves the public.

Doesn't Lou Saban have a daughter who lives in western NY?

The best thing that happened for his well-being is that he got arrested for his serious drug addiction problem. He was on a road to killing himself and possibly hurting innocent bystanders by driving with drugs in his system. A relative of mine was told by a friend who worked at a hotel that Irsay would get a room in an upscale California hotel and have a table full of prescription drugs. He's lucky he didn't over dose. This addict is lucky that he didn't get hurt on the street with so much cash on him.

The new CBA resulting from opening the former CBA deal enhanced the financial position of the owners. Although the players got less of a share percentage wise from the expected increase in the revenue from TV and "tech devices" the players will still see more revenue than with the prior deal. The players can't complain because the owners are for the most part assuming a greater responsibility for the facilities that they are playing in. In addition, there are looming health care costs associated with the "crash" sport that the league knew that they would be responsible (liable) for. The looming health repercussions for current and former players was a great fear of the league and the commissioner. It was a ticking time bomb for the legal side of the business. It is a very complicated issue for a sport that is inherently dangerous. In my opinion Goodell has navigated this tricky road fairly well.

I'm sure he will also be heavily fined along with him not being allowed to be involved with team functions. He's a drug addict who dealt with legal and job consequences. What more do you want done to him? Stoned in the public square?

The point that WEO has convincingly made is that Wilson was not being financially penalized by staying in the western NY market. He was very much accommodated on his facility needs and whatever financial requests he made to the various public authorities. The storyline that he was mostly being benevolent to his long term market at a great financial sacrifice is not an accurate portrayal of the situatiion. Ralph Wilson was a tough businessman. No one can dispute that. But in general he was fair. The truth of the matter is that he adjusted his business (tighter internal cash/flow) to the market and the market made accommodatiions for him. My major criticism of the owner doesnt relate to his business management of the franchise. From a business standpoint the Littman model served him very well. The majority of my criticisms of him related to how he managed the football operation. If the football people he selected to run the franchise were half as competent as the business people he had run the business this franchise would have been more successful on the field.

Ed Kilgore was a member of the selection committee for the Wall selectiions. According to Kilgore Wilson was adament that he would not approve of Saban being on the Wall as long as he was alive because he felt that Saban twice walked away from the teamm, which he did. But Kilgore also stated that Ralph told the members that he after he passes the committee had the right to select him for the Wall. Whether you agree with Wilson or not his position was not unreasonable or should be categorized as being spiteful. There certainlywas a basis for his position.

The issue isn't how much money Pegula has overall so much as the business entity by itself having enough money to cover the costs of the opersation. Pegula invested in Canalside not to lose money even though he could sustain some losses without it having a major affect on his wealth. Even with the hockey operation I don't expect that he will be losing money, although in the short term he did infuse the operation with money that was ill spent. That profligate approach now has changed.

It will be interesting to see if the new owner sells the naming rights for the current stadium or if he waits another couple years before doing so out of respect to the departed owner? Or if there are plans to build a new facility wait until a new facility or the current facility is updated before selling the naming rights?

The Toronto series concept was not a mistake. It was a reasonable attempt to expand the boundaries of the market. Did it expand the Canadian fan base? Somewhat. The failure of those games had a lot to do with the unattractive product on the field. It would have been interesting to see how the Toronto market would have responded if a Kelly/Polian era type winning and entertaining team was showcased there instead of the poor product that they were exposed to. You know what my views are on the departed owner and how he managed this franchise. There is no need to belabor that issue. So you can't say I fall in the category of a devotee. You and I are in accord that as much as many people claim that he could have just as easily moved to another market it made little sense to do so because he was doing very well in the market he very often complained about. The bottom line is that the terms of the lease that he agreed to (as you noted) and the composition of the trust members are critical reasons why the team will probably stay in western NY. So it is appropriate to give him credit for doing the right thing, an act that he was not obligated to do.

Which team other than the Bills was going to take him in the first round? It's my opinion (can't be proven) that no other team was going to take him in the first round. My feeling on drafting a qb is if you identity your qb prospect and have a strong conviction about him then you should take him sooner rather than later. It is difficult to prove but I heard stories that there were teams interested in taking him near the top of the second round, so a team in a lower draft position could trade up for a high second round pick in order to take him. One "rumor" was that Philly and the new HC, Kelly, were interested in him. , As most people know Nix was very transparent (as he usually is) that he was going to get his franchise qb in that draft year, his last draft. The focus of the scouting department was weighted toward the qb position. When the evaluation process was concluded EJ was the organization''s consensus pick. Only time will tell whether it was a wise decision or not.

You are missing WEO's point. The team that didn't have such a critical need for a qb because of the Flynn acquisition drafts a qb in the third round while the Bills who had a desperate need for a qb not only doesn't take the talented qb who was short but instead moves up to draft a "track" receiver in the same round who ends up being cut after two years of ineffective play.. Nix had three years to address the qb issue. He claimed that it was more important to upgrade the roster before addressing the qb issue. Then in the year he was leaving he was determined to find his qb in a draft year in which it was a weak qb class. In my view he got the roster rebuilding process backward. The priortiy for any franchise, rebuilding or not, is to make it a priority from day one to get a legitimate franchise qb. If a prospect doesn't work out then you continue with your search. Aggressiveness, not passibity is the approach to take when seeking to change the trajectory of a historically dismal franchise upward. The point is that one organization (Seattle) made multiple attempts to upgrade and find their franchise qb while another franchise (Buffalo} took a more passive approach in finding their franchise qb. The results speak for itself.

We have had this discussion for a very long time so I apologize for the repetition. Most analysts considered EJ to be a raw prospect who was going to take 3-4 yrs of grooming before being ready to start. Taking him in the first round was a major reach by Buddy/Whaley. Nix lost qb prospects he was interested in such as Wilson and Cousins by waiting too long to make the selection. So Nix who knew he was leaving was determined to draft a qb in his las draft when the caliber of prospects was not nearly as good as prior years. The mistake that this staff made was not having a veteran qb such as Cassell or Schaub to bridge the learning period for the raw prospect they drafted. What EJ demonstrated in college is that the more he played the better he got. It's apparent to me that he is not the type of qb who is going to quickly make the quantum leap forward. At this juncture the best that one can hope for is that he gets steadily better the more he plays. I don't have as much concern about his ability to read plays as you do. With more experience he should get better at that aspect of the game. My major concern with him is his accuaracy level. My view on the accuracy issue is that you either have it or not. Watching him I am very troubled at that part of his game. Even with swing passes to the backs his ball placement is very erratic. The Jauron/Levy/Nix eras were replete with many bad if not peculiar decisions that damaged this franchise. When you make a bad decision on the qb position you set your franchise back by years. Not having a backup plan at the qb position was not only foolish but it was reckless.

The fear wasn't so much that Jacksonville was going to draft TJ as it was that another team desirious of him was going to trade up with Jacksonville and snatch his "coveted" player away. No matter how you look at the Graham pick it was a bad pick from a talent rating standpoint. He probably would have been available it the next round. Buddy Nix followed the same peculiar drafting evaluation when he selected Torrell Troup in the seoond round. TT was an undersized NT with a history of back problems who was taken in a round or two higher than he should have. Buddy Nix was a checkers player competing with chess players. He was in over his head. His W/L record is an accurate reflectiion of his job performance. Bypassing Russell Wilson for a qb starved team for TJ Graham had a profound affect on the franchise. It was a powerful kick in the nuts that kept this franchise reeling in pain.