I happen to agree with you, but there are plenty of people that had made up their mind on Manuel before he played one down. Only time will tell. Give him good coaching and a good supporting cast and let's see what he can do.
I am of the school of thought that it is easier to build a great team around a good QB, than it is to find an elite QB. However you can't build a great team by letting good players walk. With the teams that the Bills have fielded over the past fourteen years how many QBs would have made them champions? Payton, Brady, who else? There are guys that probably would have gotten them to the playoffs, but Super Bowls? Granted I'd take the playoffs right now.
There are about a dozen elite guys that have won Super Bowls, about seven or eight mediocre guys, that leaves twenty eight guys that were good to very good but not elite. By elite I mean guys that can win with anybody, they are few and far between and really hard to find.