uncle flap

Yes. Agree with Kirby, Sammy will be a stud and should be able to overcome EJ's weaknesses. And wrt the jump from college to the pros; Sammy isn't a one trick pony. He will be able to to adapt to the stiffer competition, IMO. Jboyst- Not exactly sure what the point is about OLBs. Like Third And Twelve alluded- he's already faster/shiftier/savvier than the best OLBs (and DBs for that matter) in college. It's possible, but I wouldn't expect that all of a sudden Sammy gets to the NFL and everyone else progresses except him. Obviously that's not true for everyone making the transition to the pros, but nothing I've seen from Sammy thus far says "bust." Basically, Sammy has excelled in every scenario he's encountered so far (including playing with a pedestrian QB), so I expect that excellence to continue. I think EJ will get better (or at least more consistent), and that should be enough for Sammy to shine. If the point is that EJ could hold Sammy back, well, there might be some merit to that. But I can't imagine EJ playing so poorly so that he'd render Sammy useless.

They couldn't just photoshop Sammy in there?

You're talking about his junior year when he got a 10 yard cushion because he had already proved in his freshman year that he can't be pressed and will roast DBs anywhere down the field. His freshman year highlights are a better indication of his all around skill set than the 2013 bubble screen highlights that seem so ubiquitous now. I agree it's unlikely that he'll make a living off those types of plays right off the bat, but Julio, AJ Green, and Megatron all catch most of their balls near the the line of scrimmage. Why? They get the same cushion that Sammy got last year. If they give you 5-7 yards each time because they're scared of getting burned downfield- you take it every time. Once Sammy proves he can take the top off of an NFL defense, he'll get back to catching those short throws we saw so much of at Clemson last year.

Watkins flourished with Tajh Boyd

Bradham was able to beat out Moats for a regular role by the end of last year. He was a different player in December than he was in September. I don't know what his ceiling might be, but perhaps the light turned on at some point last year... except it's one of those fluorescent bulbs that needs a little time to warm all the way up

Marrone and Hackett are running the closest thing to Kelly's offense in the NFL and lauded everywhere for it (besides this board, of course). Do you watch the games or just read box scores?

That doesn't make any sense. "We want to keep our jobs, so we better do something detrimental to our franchise." I know for a fact they were intent on going "balls to the wall" in the draft to get a playmaker long before Ralph passed. You can check with any of the posters here that get credible inside info and they will tell you the same. Drafting Watkins IS a part of building a solid franchise. You obviously don't think so, but that doesn't mean the FO agrees with you.

I am extremely confident, and it seems everyone is hearing pretty much the same stuff from their "sources" that I am. I'm just curious about the "other" bidder(s) - what could they offer that Pegula can't? What I've heard leads me to believe Pegula is a shoo-in wrt the owner's voting at their October meeting. ¡Viva El Pegual!

Do you have an idea who that might be? I'd guess the Buffalo guys that could be in the mix that aren't really talked about are Gundlach, Barry Snyder, and Chris Koch (New Era). Or is it someone that has no Buffalo connection?

Then I misunderstood your answer. It seemed you were saying Pegula didn't make all of the $1.75 B on that sale because there was another undisclosed company. I assume that HG Energy is the undisclosed company, which seems to also be owned by Pegula, which led me to believe he did get the full $1.75 B between East Resources and HG Energy. Therefore, I was wondering if you had some info that contradicted my assumption, since you said he didn't pocket the full amount.

Bumping my earnest ? to jw that got buried by el pegual and dual ownership ?s: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/168379-pegula-sells-land-for-175-billion-will-bid-on-bills/page__st__560#entry3156586

Bony is starting over Drogba (!)

Are you sure about that? I don't mean that in a sarcastic tone, just wondering why independent reports say Pegula sold 75,000 acres for $1.75 billion, and McClendon bought 75,000 acres for $1.75 billion. I'm assuming the "unnamed private company" is HG Energy, which shares addresses, contact info, and management tied to Pegula. Plus the respective acreages line up.

Actually browsing around a little more, it seems AEP initiated this and the wheels have been in motion for months. Not trying to be pessimistic, just saying if Pegula does buy the Bills, he likely would've been buying them anyway. The timing is fortunate for us/him if he is buying the Bills and possibly building a Stadium, but I think that's all it is, simply good fortune (no pun intended).

There's been another 3-4 billion in land sales in those shale basins in the last week. I dont know if Pegula needing/wanting money for the Bills was the catalyst for this, or, fortunately for us, if it is simply a matter of American Energy Partners going on a buying spree. Some have speculated the latest EPA ruling may be a factor, since natural gas is cleaner than coal. http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/98636-american-energy-in-425b-multi-basin-buying-spree http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2014/06/09/american-energy-partners-buys-75-000-acres-of.html

My apologies, I glossed over your point about Chandler. I'm not sure those were designed screens, but I'd have to go back and look for them. I know he caught a lot of balls in the flat as a dump off. I agree and also don't like using Chandler as the primary option when running a route to the flat. I'm just not really sure that was the case. If memory serves, they were the result of EJ not allowing the play to develop, and/or simply taking a higher percentage throw when a better option was available downfield. Here's some good analysis on Chandler and his targets, but it doesn't exactly address what other routes were available nor whether or not Chandler was the primary option. The author agrees sending Chandler to flat isn't the most efficient way to use him. Part 1: http://www.buffalorumblings.com/buffalo-bills-analysis-all-22/2014/4/8/5590978/scott-chandler-stats-targets-routes-from-2013-season Part 2: http://www.buffalorumblings.com/buffalo-bills-analysis-all-22/2014/4/25/5648456/scott-chandler-stats-targets-routes-from-2013-season Based how the offense looked as a whole, I'm less inclined to pin Chandler catching so many balls in the flat on Hackett as I am EJ. I'm going to assume that Hackett was hoping that EJ would find someone downfield on those plays, and that Chandler was the second or third option on those plays.

Conflicted on this. On one hand, I don't think there should be replay at all. To me it is agonizing to see a play overturned when it requires a frame by frame breakdown to determine when a player's knee is down, for example. I think if it looks like a catch or a fumble or whatever in real-time, the official needs to make a call on what HE saw, not what a camera captured. On the other hand, since the cat's already out of the bag, they should make every play reviewable. I agree with many of the salient points already made in this thread. I think after a rocky season of having everything reviewable, there would be more standardization of how rules are interpreted. I would expect the wording of PI, Illegal Contact, and Holding penalties to be emended, since there would seem to be a conflict with using replay to review what amounts to a judgement call.

The short completions were his bread and butter his junior year moreso because defenses were scared of Watkins getting down the field. Watch this video of his freshman year, and you'll see he was used in a wide variety of ways. Basically, if defenses are worried about a guy like him and consistently give safety help over the top, then of course you're going to defer to simply getting it in his hands ASAP. Look at how AJ Green is used now. He gets the bombs and downfield stuff called often enough, but 60 percent of his catches were within 10 yards. Just like we saw with Sammy, defenses are more willing to give up a short completion and force him to beat the D with the ball in his hands than they are to let him run under a deep ball and try to catch him from behind.

I will be surprised if Mike Williams doesn't get himself into trouble that leads to him being benched or cut. I voted Woods for catches and yards, and Watkins for YPC.

To the bold: I saw the same thing but have a different interpretation. EJ himself wasn't letting it rip. See here: http://www.buffalobi...f1-8a9e70fa53bd Now, take a look at this analysis, especially Section III. Reads: http://www.buffaloru...t-play-accuracy There's a photo gallery that highlights numerous times where EJ checked down too early, among other issues. To bring it back to the Chandler passes you mentioned, when you look at this photo, does this look familiar to you? Does it look like EJ or Hackett is the "problem?" http://www.buffaloru...y-reads#4041067 Furthermore, I've linked the following and similar articles a lot over the past season, but I think it still bears repeating when Hackett is being knocked for being too one-dimensional. http://grantland.com...ption-football/ The read option stuff is not as simple as read the DE/OLB, then decide to hand it off or keep it. If EJ is playing with a risk aversive mentality, perhaps he's going to hand it off more often than he should. Then again, in theory, handing it off most of the time should open up other options. If the D cheats to the RB, EJ should still be able to take advantage of the other 2-3 options available. If QB doesn't take advantage of what the D is giving him, then I'm going to side with the OC. The thing is, sometimes EJ would make the right read, even if the right read is a 3-5 yard pop to Chandler. Other times, and IMO, far too often, he left a ton of yards on the field. Those 1-2 yard runs up the middle shouldn't be a problem if EJ makes the D pay when they key in on Spiller. Defenses dared EJ to beat them, and EJ couldn't consistently deliver, so they kept keying in on Spiller and the running game. Based on Hackett making generally great halftime adjustments, and EJ continuing to develop, I'm confident that some of these issues will be ironed out. Like I said upthread, Hackett isn't perfect, but I expect him to continue to grow with experience, just like we hope EJ will. They were both NFL rookies last year, and I don't think it's crazy to think they'll both improve.

In all likelihood, if EJ doesn't show significant improvement this season, EJ's walking. Hackett's offense at Syracuse put up staggering numbers with essentially a bunch of scrubs. Hackett isn't perfect, but last year's issues had a whole lot more to do with execution than they did play calling and scheming.

Florio likes the Bills. It's Michael David Smith or one of the other pft bloggers that likes to take shots.

Nice OP! I think Quinn might've linked to this article in one of the ones you linked, but if not, here's some more on the same concepts: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/packaged-plays-and-the-newest-form-of-option-football/

hopefully it's just weed and nothing serious

Agreed... you're giving too many teams too much credit. Needs some craziness! I kid, I think it's pretty much spot on Disagree.. sort of. I think Mosley is a three down player, but agree that the amount of flashier talent is pushing him down the board. Plus, we aren't privy to teams info/evaluations regarding his health, and I think injury concerns knock him down a little too. If the Bills medical staff cleared him, I'd have no problem with them taking him at #9 depending how the top 8 went.