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So you understand that in this country there is a difference between how the state can operate in relation to its citizens and how private parties can operate with each other based on their contractual agreements. In the American system we require the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a party is guilty before the state can exact penalties on the now found guilty party. However, in the case of private contracts such as employment, there is no right to an assumption of innocence until guilt is proven. The employer has the right to do things like fire you, suspend you (with or without pay) or exact other sanctions on you as they feel they can reasonably defend. You as a citizen has a right to sue your employer in a court of law if you feel that this private party sanction is inappropriate on some way. Are you innocent until proven guilty in this country. Yes, in terms of state sanction. Are you innocent until proven guilty in all cases in all relationships you are involved with in the US. Nope. Never have been and never will be. The NFL as a private party has the ability (and the right based on certain past practices and also by agreement with the NFLPA who after the current CBA was pit in place which guarantees the players a significant majority of the total gross receipts of the NFL) a player can be fired for violations of certain moral clauses in the agreement between owners and players. Players are routinely sanctioned for behaviors such as pot smoking, public drunkenness domestic violence, etc for which they have not been found guilty of in a court of law or that they were found guilty but paid their debt to society. The problem the NFL is suffering from right now is not simply that they are punishing players but that the punishments seem to be variable and out of character with general public desires. You may never have been formally found guilty of a specific crime but if you are reasonably judged by Riger Goodell and the powers that be to be bad for business and your presence hurts the brand you can be done (see Pac Man Jones for example). The owners and the players all agree to this because it makes them a bunch of $.

There is no objective record (yet) where one should lay this label on him as I try to apply an objective measurable stats to "earn" the dubious title of injury prone. To me I define injury prone as missing three or more games in a short order to injuries to different parts of the body. This player is prone to injuries by genetics, their style of play or whatever in that they prove to prone to get serious injuries to their body from playing the game. Rob Johnson was injury prone. In a single season he managed to miss games due to a series of sometimes bizarre injuries through normal game play. He got sacked and suffered a concussion and went to the bench. He got tackled and suffered an elbow injury which made it impossible to pass the ball. He once fell on the ball when he was tackled in some odd way and had a deep bruise to his sternum which benched him. His collarbone broke when he was tackled. This is injury prone. Objectively this does not fit Gilmore. He started 16 games as a rookie. The exact opposite of injury prone. He missed 5 games last year, but this was due to a single injury of a broken arm. It is true this injury lessened his play all season even after he came off IR, but I judge this as more like Jimbo's recurring bursa sack problem which he was incredibly gutsy in playing through even though the injury limited his effectiveness through the end of his career. This year seems to be a different problem with a groin pull. However, I do not think one can label him injury prone unless he gets injured again (and I would say twice more this season with other injuries from stuff like falling in the shower or changing directions while running.

This a big part of why the JBJ team did not get the Bills. The NFL in the end is all about what makes the current team owners the most money. Is there anyone out there who does not understand that the current NFL uberguys make the most money by getting their share of a $1.4 billion Bills franchise AND their share of a new Toronto franchise when they expand the league in not too many years from now. Small minds somehow calculate the deal as being either Buffalo or Toronto when it is clear that the NFL makes the most money from having both. if the Bills had moved to Toronto, the NFL would be giving up their share of 45.000+ season ticket holders, 25.000+ individual ticket buyers who routinely have given the Bills (and the other NFL owners for their share of the individual team take) their dollars. Add to that the 100s of millions in local commercial dollars and add to that 100s of million dollars in NY governments corporate welfare which is given to the Bills. This money does not travel with the team and even though it might probably be replaced by even larger amounts from buyers in the bigger Toronto market, the NFL does not tend to give away money and it is incredibly doubtful to me that they will. I think it should have been clear to anyone analyzing the game that the Bills were gonna remain here.

Yet another reason why Roger is a Dead Man Walking in terms of his fate as CEO of the NFL. If things remain bad next week (a week any thing like last week where each day seemed to produce a tragedy even worse than the day before) then Roger gets thrown under the bus right away. The best case for him though seems to me that the league is able to wait a year before rehabbing the brand and Roger merely reigns to spend time with his family. Either way, I think he is a goner.

If one wants to acknowledge reality then you have to also see whether h is found guilty in court and whether he is subject to some level of sanction by the NFL. It is clear that with a guilty verdict or not, a decision by a judge or a jury, once indicted, the NFL can suspend him WITH pay if it chooses. In fact, there is past precedent of teams suspending a player who has merely been accused (either in the legal process and even in the court of public opinion) without pay. In fact, Goodell has stated that he has the authority to sanction a player in order to defend the precious brand of the NFL even without an official verdict. Traditionally, the NFLPA used to reflexively take a stance opposing NFL sanctions against one of its members. However, the situation changed, first when the owners essentially accepted the NFLPA as a partner as embodied by the CBA created in the late 80s and early 90s. Further. in the next renegotiation of the CBA which gave the players 60.5% of tital receipts the players are the majority partner. This change was reflected in how the NFL sanctioned idiot PacMan Jones for repeated infractions. The NFLPA not only did not oppose this discipline as it reflexively would have in thee past, NFLPA leadership publicly encouraged this discipline were made as protecting the brand is actually a clear primary fiscal interest of the players. His guilty verdict is obviously related to league action, but it does not drive or restrict the process. Court findings make it easier to sanction him but legally and by precedent is not essential.

Actually part of the reason the NFL and Goodell are being hoist on there on petard is that in the past two years or so when Goodell was declared judge, jury and executioner on cases involving protecting the brand, the practice has been that Goodell could lower the boom on a miscreant player even if there was no conviction yet in the case if the Commish felt the league brand was in danger. With Tagliabue and a majority of the owners forcing Ralph, the Packers (the only negative votes) and a few other holdouts who eventually voted for the new CBA which Gene Upshaw dictated even before negotiations that the designated gross was gone and the salary cap would need to be determined as a % of NFL gross receipts and that the player share needed to start with a 6, after the owners agreed to a 60.5% share for the players it became clear that the players were not only partners rather just simple employees of the teams (and arguably the majority partners actually), things changed. The NFLPA went from their old stance where they reflexively opposed all decisions by the NFL to discipline players. The NFLPA not only refused to protect idiots like PacMan Jones but in fact encouraged disciplining and suspension of him for hurting the brand which had brought unprecedented wealth to the players. My guess is that the player leadership is working hard to figure out how to get O'Neil dropped like a hot potato. Goodell has done his job so badly that its mostly a question of whether canning him now would stop the bleeding or the better strategy is to hold on to him for a year or so while things di down and then he can graciously resign to spend more time with his family. Either way Goodell is really a Dead Man Walking.

He is a Dead Man Walking. His bosses will have no problem firing him immediately if it is shown he saw the tape. Alternately there is a pretty clear conclusion of at best willful ignorance for not using their extensive contacts and power to see the tape before judging Rice. Whether it is now to blunt charges of evilness or within a year to separate from incompetence at doing his job of protecting the brand, Goodell is a very rich dead man walking.

Poking what hornets nest. The words are what the words are. If one believes in the 2nd amendment and one also insists on a literal reading of the words, the Constitution calls for regulation of militias. The words of the Constitution makes this an essential element to exist before stating Congress shall make no law. The words are clear that anyone who insists on adherence to the clear words of the Constitution is also endorsing a well-regulated militia.

Look, groups routinely pick and choose what parts of the Constitution they want to emphasize and then build whole ethos of thinking and alleged ways of life around their partial reading. For example, if the NRA truly based its thinking and actions on the words of the Constitution, a real adherence to the second amendment would start with making sure that we had a well-regulated militia. NRA seems to emphasize the later parts of the amendment without a focus on the fact that as best as I can judge we do not have the well-regulated militia in this country that all of the later clauses in the second amendment clearly are dependent upon existing before the later clauses are even relevant. Even the biggest proponents of close adherence to the words of the Constitution seem happy to ignore the words in the Constitution which they find inconvenient. Ultimately it is this adherence to convenience which tends to undermine the faith of normal folk in what I think is one of the greatest written documents in human history.

which would be Dead Man Walking. My sense looking at things is that though there are myriad options for Roger's bosses that in the end, the bottomline is that he has a critical element of his job is to at least protect the NFL brand and preferably increase the measurable profit from this enterprise. Like it or not. while Ray Rice clearly deserves the full blame for his actions and virtually any fiscal penalty he gets for knocking out the mother of his child, Goodell's job he was hired to do by the NFL is to protect the NFL brand and maximize profits fir the NFL. Goodell has done a demonstrably bad job at this assignment. To me his ultimate employment seems to be a question of whether his bosses profit more from firing him later (probably) or firing him now (possibly if it is shown or strongly suggested the NFL had access to the whole tape months ago. Goodell seems to have either two choices. He has done evil things and deserves to be canned now. Or the institution he us runs has been incompetent and thus he deserves to be canned but probably it does more harm to the NFL to can him now. I started a new thread on this point because the old threads center on Ray Rice or Janay and this is on the different though related issue of Goodell. I do not feel sorry for Goodell as he has the portion of the $44 million annual salary he has earned already and whatever golden parachute he can negotiate for his canning. However, I think it is likely a question of whether it is better for his bosses to wait til things settle down a bit or to throw him under the bus now.

I think it will be interesting to see what (or even if) the impacts are of the sale to the Pegulas will be. I actually think this will be a significant positive. I doubt there will be any substantive positives as Pegula has not even had the time to do anything. However, 1. the fan base will be psyched and happy. Bills rooters have a tangible good in terms of a tentative deal having been struck with a Buffalo based rather than Toronto based or whatever based owner. One of the real measurable advantages in NFL games is homefield advantage. I think this comes from factors like familiarity, lack of travel burden or other factors the sale has no impact on. However, I think there also are advantages for the home team which stem from fan excitement and making noise strategically to momentum from positive feel. The fans will feel downright giddy and I think the better feelings will be a plus for the team. 2. We simply need a better FO and again it is too early in the Pegs regime to have any personnel impact. However, I think the uncertainty was a negative that now is moving toward real resolution. Apparently there may have been a blow-up btw Brandon and Merrone. If this did happen or even if it did not but the press believed it and either wat I think the uncertainty weighs on the braintrust. 3. I'd rather all involved only to have to worry about the opponent and not be distracted. We're moving toward that I think all of this will be worth 1-3 pts against Miami

Folks are worried about getting fired (and specifically Goodell) because they have not done a good job for their bosses at specifically their jobs and what they were hired to do. Goodell was hired by the team owners to make them money. That is his job pure and simple. The Commish obviously does this in a number of ways. Keeping the game good by doing thins like working with the rules and competition committee is an essential function he does and covers a lot of on field stuff which appears to appeal to you. However, make no mistake work on on-field issues such as decisions impact of whether Rice will be able to play for Balt or not are necessary for the Commish to make they are not sufficient as far as what he was hired to do. Goodell was hired to increase profits for his bosses and to enhance the brand. A primary job of Goodell was to increase the appeal of the game to one its fastest growing demographic groups, women. For example, in the past year or so we have seen players become prominent in not-for-profit activities that appeal to many women such as the Susan B. Komen breast cancer research effort. This effort has nothing to do with on-field performance but the Commish and others have devoted a lot of time and effort to this cause. If I had told you that the primary presentation of the game to its fans was going to revolve around all these real men wearing pink for one week, 5years ago you likely would have said Huh? The color we wear has nothing to do with performance. Yet, reality has seen a lot of time and the central presentation of the game surround these issues which are designed ti appeal to women. Goodell has already admitted in his mea culpa on the "mere" 2 game suspension he blew it. He know has to deal with the real rancor of the emergence of the full tape with the simple fact few believe that the NFL did not acquire the full tape when Goodell gave a punishment that he already admitted was to lax in how they presented the product to the fastest growing demographic. In my mind Goodell is actually simply "Dead Man Walking" as far as his job. The NBA Commish did his job well in the way he led to disciplining a rogue owner Donald Sterling. He got out ahead of a recorded grievous act by an owner and ran even a fellow owner out of the league for simply saying something morally offensive when it made little difference to him in terms of play of the game. Goodell blew it in that he did not protect the brand in the way the NBA Commish did. Goodell is gonna get canned over his failure to do his job well. It is simply a question of whether he leaves his $40 million a year job in a year or so when this issue is quiet and he quits to spend more time with his family or instead he gets thrown under the bus in the next few weeks, because in reality the situation calls for a head to roll to show the NFL sees the female demographic demands his head to show that the NFL really cares about this issue which is important to may its voewer targets.

No one expects that you or most fans will boycott the game. However, one of the fastest growing demographics in the game are women. Even though there also will be any effective organized boycott by women, Goodell admitted error in moneymaking strategy when he suspended Rice for a mere two games for his admitted fiancé abuse when a pot violation produces a 4 game suspension. You ,ay be right about what impacts the game more, but its not simply the individual games its the sport as whole that is the issue about moneymaking. Goodell did mot do his job well which is protecting the brand of the sport. He will lose his job because of this (immediately if throwing him under the bus will allow for ignoring rather than restirring this wound or immediately if throwing him under the bus is needed to get past this issue. It is simply naïve to focus only on what is good for the game and not to realize that what really drives decision-making is not what is good or fair in an individual game but instead what makes the team owners and other stakeholders the most money. Your though that this should be handled by the team and coach is cute and quaint. The real deal is that the NFL has a commissioner who has been empowered by the owners to make decisions on issues such as this with profits as the guiding principle, not some sense of morality that you or I might agree with.

I disagree that this will be bad news for the Bills necessarily for a range of reasons: 1. Its basically a question of marketing and selling a product. Yes, I can easily see that this makes it harder or impossible to sell this product to you, but the good new for the Bills is that it sounds like given the rationale you describe that I easily see a significant market of folks the Bills should be able to attract to the games. Yes, there are many casual fans who likely will react the way you do (I do not know if you consider yourself casual or not but I think the reaction you express is one the casual fan would have) but what the Bills are selling is not simply the game but THE NFL EXPERIENCE. In this world,, the keys to selling the product revolve more around making it easy to tailgate, copious parking, ease of road access to and particularly from the stadium are far more important than the blackout or not. 2. Rather than lamenting the trip to the stadium turning into simply a trip to the TV studio the key I think is for the game experience to be turned into making it an even better TV studio. I could easily see building a new stadium downtown, and actually reducing the gate size from the current 70,000+ Ralph size to as little as 45,000. The new stadium would be built to facilitate driving down and parking for a tailgate experience and then moving into the stadium (maybe even indoors) to watch the game. 45,000 people would actually be enough to provide the communal fan feel that makes going to the game a different deal and fun compared to watching on TV but actually be small enough to allow getting in and out of the area easily. The important thing to realize from a business perspective is that in the old AFL days, ticket purchases is where you made money for your business. Today, the vast majority of the money comes from the networks so it is quite reasonable for the game to be set-up to feed the market.

My sense is that the blackouts made some marginal economic sense for the local owner as a mechanism to control supply of your product as you manage demand. However, it makes less economic sense if you are the true cashcow for the NFL the TV nets. In the big picture, TV coverage is really just a 3+ hour commercial for the team and the blackout is just simply bad business for the NFL product.

This will be interesting. From what I see studies pretty clearly show that ifone has a dollar to invest as a municipality you would not get as good a ROI putting the dollar into a new stadium. However, looking at this from the city of Buffalo and WNY resident standpoint. It is not my last dollar I am talking about here. If its OPM )other people's money we are talking about I would love to see someone else spend a few bucks to build a Bills stadium. This includes NYS putting $ into a new sports authority to fund a downtown stadium. Yes, I am a NYS taxpayer as well, but the truth is that by far the lionshare of NYS tax dollars are provide by the vast majority of NYS taxpayers who live downstate and by Wall St. where a ton of profits are made. Further, I really doubt that NYS $ are going to spent in WNY unless something extraordinary like keeping the only team which plays in NYS in NYS. As a Buffaloanian I would be happy to see NYS make a big investment in a downtown Buffalo stadium as I doubt that NYS would make other investments which might even be better for WNY.

One step at a time. Fans are simply happy to change from a situation of great uncertainty (what happens when Ralph dies) to far greater certainty (a well heeled owner who is committed to WNY sports( that how can folks not be happier. Perhaps the biggest difference as well is that there is undeniably one common denominator of activity in our decade and a half of failure to make the playoffs. Mr. Ralph. You gotta love him for the relationship this Detroiter has built with Buffalo. He easily could have collected a boatload of $ if he had moved the team to another town at opportunities in the 70s and 80s and he kept them here. However, there were a number of personal mismanagement decisions which he had every right to do as an owner but also were bas football decisions which impacted this team. 1. Misjudged how long Jimbo would last 2. Made a sweetheart deal with RJ which led to DF QB disaster 3. Mishandled relationship with Butler 4. Mishandled relationship with Wade Phillips 5. Had to rush into hiring Donahoe because of Butler situation and then fire TD 6. Moshandled Mularkey situation. We love Ralph for keeping the Bills here but fans cannot help being happy about a new owner

The odd thing is that I began to realize a few months ago that it was pretty certain this team was going nowhere. The key factors were: 1. The NFL and not the Trust had final say on the new buyer. This was contractually agreed to by Ralph when he agreed that the approval of any sale would need the approval of 75% of all owners. 2. The NFL owners have a large bias toward what makes them the most money. While the individual buyer of the Bills might make mire $ in a larger city than Buffalo, only a greatly diluted portion of any extra franchise profits filters down to the other owners. When one takes into account that not only is the return from moving of marginal return of increased profits of marginal return to the other owners they actually have to give up the already proven returns of Bill season ticket holders, proven individual ticket sales ability, hundreds of millions in local advertiser sales amd 100s of millions in corporate welfare local govt spends on improvements to the Ral[h etc. The NFL tends not to giveaway money and a franxchise move to a new town might be larger but the other team owners get their 1/32nd slice and the current Bills $ are real while a new franchise even if larger would have to be developed. 3. Also, for the other owners why give up Buffalo to get marginally higher but diluted share of Toronto when actually by leaving Buffalo in place AND ALSO expanding into Toronto when you expand the NFL (which they already announced is the plan) gives you BOTH markets. When Ralph also signed a deal which locked Buffalo here for six or seven years even if sold, the Ray Rice bad story would be followed with several years of sad stories and reporting about WNY mourning the loss of the Bills. In the end, the real cash cow is the TV nets They really care very little about individual records of franchises as the product they are buying will have a .500 record guaranteed. If anything have the smaller cities be the bad teams fits their needs best. The Bills always were gonna stay right here.

Not to worry on this point as my understanding is that NFL rules do prohibit ownership of franchises in other sports but make an exception for owning stakes in other sport franchises in the same town. I read this interpretation in an article which explained why the uber rich Jeremy Jacobs who owns the Bruins could not also own the Bills. However even in this clear case there seemed to be exceptions which would be doable such as Jacobs getting a working junior partnership with the Bills not by buying into the team which is prohibited but by buying the stadium. It was also though about Jacobs brother using shared family wealth to buy into the Bills if needed but Jeremy would be the true owner. The lessin to be learned here is that even if there were some rule standing in Pags way, he is sitting on over a billion bucks which can find a way.

There is also some commentary from national media (on ESPN and NPR) which is not only questioning whether Rice got off light but that: 1. The team is liable for censure ship for waiting so long before taking incredibly light action on Rice. The team is also liable for censure ship for participating in the media staging of this as an event where the beaten wife is sent out to apologize for her part in this (she used her face to attack Rice's hand) 2. The district attorney failed to do his job when he did not charge Rice with an aggravated assault when he punched his fiancée unconscious 3. The NFL and Goodell are liable for censure for taking the actions they already acknowledge were wrong. It ain't over for a bunch of folks who may lose their jobs over the way this was managed. This includes imho, members of the teams press operation which allowed Rice to lie that his actions were in anyway justified and cooperated in his fiancé taking any blame for this. This group can include PR flacks ir maybe the HC. A victim might be the DA for not charging Rice with aggravated assault A victim might be Goodell.

Why is anyone surprised by his actual play results which clearly suck about as bad as you want to judge them to be this preseason. The answer is that: 1. He is by any rational judgment an athlete who was tremendously successful with a very talented teams in college and his size and the specific measures he racked up at the combine indicate he was a special college player. 2. Those who looked in depth at his college play did find a good guy and a solid team leader. However, he was also though rarely bad was a pretty inconsistent [layer in his great college career. When drafted he will provide a high potential upside for his new team, but make no mistake he Is an incredibly talented project. Being inconsistent with making the right read, relying on his feet and strength to run out of trouble is something he could do (and even prosper with) in college but will not fly in the pros. He likely will need a full season and probably more of reps before he becomes the QB we want and deserve. That being said he has enough talent and with the right coaching and training can become a good one. 3. He was the best available in the early rounds of his draft. The team needed a first or second round worthy pick in his draft and as the only college QBs who merited being picked that high on the college rep were Geno Smith and EJ the answer was clearly pick the one you want and trade down for talent if you can but get one of these two in the first two rounds. 4. The Bills braintrust appears to realize that EJ is simply not good enuf (yet) to lead the Bills to the playoffs as the QB we want. However, their Bills MUST at least compete for a playoff berth. They seem to be trying to build a TEAM capable of making the [layoffs because they haveacquired key players at WR and OL and to supplement EBs Jax and Spiller so this TEAM can win even with merely adequate QB play from EJ. EJ is simply not good enuf at QB (yet) but the Bills hope to compete with solid RB, WR and better OL play! Overall, having spent

It really does not strike me as luck is the biggest factor in whether the Bills stay in Buffalo not., The biggest factor is NOT what any individual owner wants. The big factor is what the biggest money wants and the biggest money resides with the TV networks. In terms of the actual decision-makers, its actually the NFL which is selling this product to the TV nets for billions of $ rather than one particular owner or group buying the franchise that drives the process. Its nice to have $ that live in wny buy the team, but there is clearly a working model where an outsider like Ralph Wilson who lived in Detroit buy the team and essentially be adopted by the community in a big way. The luck of rich folks with Buffalo ties like the Pegulas (from here but actually live in FL, Golisano, the Jacobs, or even the Rich's interested, but as one can tell from this list (which does not include the considerable wealth that millionaire former Bills like Jimbo could leverage) that big bucks are always and issue but not a problem even in a thought of as poorer area like WNy. The bucks say the franchise stays here in Buffalo because there is more money to be had by the decision-makers (the NFL) and the ultimate wallets (the TV nets) than from moving the franchise.

All the info on an owner ofa major Buffalo sports franchise, the Sabres is greatly appreciated and particularly when it appears he will also become owner of the Bills. However, the thing which many folks don't seem to get is that who owns the Bills and whether the franchise stays in Buffalo are two different issues. They obviously are intensely related, but the simple facts of the case (in terms of the legal contractual agreements and also in terms of the driving reality of where the money is) is that the Bills will almost certainly remain in Buffalo. This is true in my analysis because the ultimate decision-maker and contractually with agreement from Ralph (and thus the trust which controls the transfer of his assets to his heirs) is that the Bills contractually agreed to give the NFL the ability to veto any sale to a new owner that cannot attract the voting approval of 75% of the current owners. The past cases (the CBA agreement in the late 80s, theCBA renewal a few years later and even in the most recent CBA renewal is that the individual team owners are motivated by what makes them the most $. Again, the simple fact is that individual team owners make more $ in a fiscal system based on a collaborative social compact between the team owners and players than they do under a traditional competitive free market system. Under the agreements between the individual team owners and labor (embodied in the NFLPA) the owners have demonstrated several times that they realize that they make higher profits in a system which allows them to collect billions of $ from the TV networks. The TV nets will not spend their billions on a product that is unstable, uncertain, and subject to repeated battles between the workers and team owners. The team owners have demonstrated time and again that they are quite willing to give up total control of the business in order to receive less than a majority share ($39.5% in the last CBA)of an even larger amount of money than they produced under the pseudo free market structure of the 80s. The Bills are incredibly likely to remain in Buffalo because the NFL tends not to leave money on the table. There is little financial reason for them to simply give away the 100s of millions from WNY/southern Ontario season ticket holders, 20,000 + likely individual ricket buyers , 100s of millions of dollars from WNY commercial buyers, and 100s of millions of $ in corporate welfare from WNY governments which will simply go away and need to be replaced if the franchise moves. Yes, it is true that these revenue streams would likely be replaced y rabid fan ticket buyers, new local businesses and corporate welfare from new local governments. However, the NFL team owners (the ultimate decision-maker by past practice and contractually) have not shown any desire as a group to give away their share of the Bills profits when they don't have to merely to mine profits from Toronto or a new municipal franchise. Its a great presentation to the local fan base to have an owner family that is clearly vested in and tied to WNY. However, the real deal here is that the Bills make a lot more $ for the current NFL team owners who by contract have a veto over a new owner by the team staying in Buffalo than they would from allowing the new owner to pull an Art Modell and run to where the individual new owners gets the best deal. The simple fact is that the current NFL team owners make more $ operating in a fiscal system which allows them to guarantee a product they can sell to the real market (the TV networks) than they would make simply selling their team to local ticket buyers. The Bills will stay in Buffalo and you can pretty much bank on this whether the owners are Wilson's. Pegula.s, Bill Gates who whoever!

Given his injury last year I think its hard to give him anything other than an incomplete.

Actually, the premium for Orton is that the Buffalo gig is a no-lose situation for him. Scenario 1- EJ is great- The downside is Orton never plays, but the upside is that if EJ in fact is good this team likely competes for or even makes the playoffs Orton is not on likely gets hailed for his role in mentoring EJ (without regard to whether he did or not. Scenario 2- EJ gets benched. Orton not only plays but he is running an O which has been fortified by building an OL which has 4 of 5 players which has 4 of 5 players who in the past were big and athletic enough to be considered as NFL tackles. He enjoys a WR corps featuring the much anticipated Watkins, a nicely developing Woods and a #1 physical talent but an 8th round character in Williams. Finally, he is heading a running game where the already great production of Jax and CJ augmented by Brown in case one of these two gets hurt. Scenario 3- EJ goes down but Orton sucks. Oh well, but from Orton at least gets a chance but fails. This is a no lose as all one should get a chance to succeed or fail.