If the last 6 games are a continuation of The EJ Experiment...

[oman128]

this isn't the ACC EJ, we expect more!

[DDD]

Manuel had a bad game. It happens to a lot of good QB's. But I will say his 1st round draft status has a lot of people making him out to be a better player than we're seeing on the field. And I bet if he was signed as an undrafted free agent most Bills fans would be demanding Thad Lewis play.

[MDH]

Interesting point. He sure ain't a gunslinger out there. Plays very tentative.

 

He plays like he can't figure out the D quickly enough (like all rookie QBs) and someone has hammered it into his head to not make mistakes that kill the team. So if the D sends pressure he looks at his first read and if he's covered he dumps it off. The coaching staff needs to start telling him to not worry about making mistakes and just go out there and play.

 

The only thing worse than a guy who doesn't protect the ball is somebody who never takes any chances.

[simpleman]

I keep waiting for EJ to even show glimmers of greatness. Not happening. Thad stunk, but I saw more from him in two games than I ever saw from EJ. And I'm not saying start Thad because he has a potential to be great, just that on the field I saw even less in EJ.

I say since the season is over those 6 games should be treated like the last preseason game. Everyone on the team gets to play for their job next year. EJ gets 6 games to actually show something or he is gone.

Play Easley at WR and either he shows something or he is gone. Play Hogan and either he performs or he is gone. TJ, well he has had more chances than anyone, I just do not see his value. Goodwin has shown more and serves a similar role. Let Goodwin take TJs place the rest of the season and either he shows his value or is gone. No more excuses, no more waiting, perform or you are gone.

Who has proven their value as a receiver? Woods and Stevie. Goodwin has made a good start. The rest of the team, everyone has six games to prove their worth or gone. This goes for the coaches, especially Hackett.

The next six games are about proving you belong, period, No excuses, produce or you are gone. 14 years of crap is enough. No more three year plans. KC 2012 2--14, 2013 9-0 with a simple game manager Smith at QB. If it is not about the playoffs, it is about taking out the trash.

[PolishDave]

I say since the season is over those 6 games should be treated like the last preseason game. Everyone on the team gets to play for their job next year.

 

The next six games are about proving you belong, period, No excuses, produce or you are gone.

 

I like your idea. I would do it this way though.

 

Have open competition in practice. Whoever plays the best in practice this week gets to start the next game. Give them a chance to be the number one at whatever position.

 

Next week do the same thing. And the week after... Time to find out who should be here next year and who should be gone.

 

I would still play to win these games. I am a season ticket holder and I don't want them to intentionally throw any games. I paid for those seats so I could help cheer my team to victory, not pay to watch them totally give up.

[Ozymandius]

This whole/complete/entire season is a complete/total waste insofar as EJ Manuel is concerned.

 

He missed a chunk of pre-season and a chunk of regular-season to get anything going that anyone can fairly judge/analyze.

 

 

EJ should just continue to get well-timed injuries so he can start for the Bills for next 10 years then.

[Campy]

If the last 6 games are a continuation of The EJ's Experiment Development...

 

Fixed

[Ozymandius]

There are numerous chapters left to be played out. Nobody with half a clue is gonna pronounce anyone better than anyone else based on a 6 game sample size.

 

 

We really have a 14 game sample size on EJ

 

He sucked in 6 regular season games, got himself injured twice causing him to miss 4 regular season games and 2 preseason games, and he played well in 2 preseason games when opponents weren't gameplanning.

 

I don't like it when we omit his missed games from the sample, as if making smart choices to stay healthy isn't part of being an NFL QB. Moreover, I'd like to see the list of Super Bowl winning QBs or Hall-of-Fame QBs that started their career with two separate knee injuries causing them to miss games.

[alias]

Fixed

 

But that's the problem, Campy. Nothing's been fixed.

[Trader]

It's not all about EJ but you need to find out if he can learn and improve.. He needs to get significantly better by the end of the season. If the Bills finish with less than 5 wins there will be plenty of competition for him in next years camp. How long has Cam Newton been in the league? He looks pretty good right now. Kappernick who started fast - not so much. Russell Wilson who we all know is too short to play QB looks about 6' 9" to me right now. The only thing the fans need to worry about right now is the Jets.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Trader

[southtampacane]

I still shake my head that a town that went crazy over Flutie didn't see the wisdom of taking Russell Wilson. Not to mention Nick Foles (who I am not sold on, but still think he's a hell of a lot better than EJ). But I guess I s/b thankful that we have TJ Graham.

 

It's not all about EJ but you need to find out if he can learn and improve.. He needs to get significantly better by the end of the season. If the Bills finish with less than 5 wins there will be plenty of competition for him in next years camp. How long has Cam Newton been in the league? He looks pretty good right now. Kappernick who started fast - not so much. Russell Wilson who we all know is too short to play QB looks about 6' 9" to me right now. The only thing the fans need to worry about right now is the Jets.

[mart]

Do we really know who wanted EJ? Was it Brandon, Whaley, Nix, Marrone? Did I miss someone or was

 

it a collective pick by committee or vote?

[Ozymandius]

Do we really know who wanted EJ? Was it Brandon, Whaley, Nix, Marrone? Did I miss someone or was

 

it a collective pick by committee or vote?

 

They probably were committed to drafting a QB in the first round and EJ happened to be their highest rated QB in this weak QB class. (Credit to them for getting a 2nd rounder that turned out to be Alonso before pulling the trigger on EJ, though.)

 

I still support the Bills' decision to pick a first-round QB. That it turned out to be a bust in EJ is unfortunate, but the mentality was correct. You can't be a consistent winner in this league without a good QB. And that's why they need to pull the trigger on a 1st-round QB again in this upcoming draft. Keep shooting until you hit the target.

[Orton's Arm]

It's not all about EJ but you need to find out if he can learn and improve.. He needs to get significantly better by the end of the season. If the Bills finish with less than 5 wins there will be plenty of competition for him in next years camp. How long has Cam Newton been in the league? He looks pretty good right now. Kappernick who started fast - not so much. Russell Wilson who we all know is too short to play QB looks about 6' 9" to me right now. The only thing the fans need to worry about right now is the Jets.

 

Good post.

 

This is a non-playoff season, so the Bills need to think about preparing themselves for the 2014 draft. That preparation involves two things: 1) getting as good a pick as possible, and 2) deciding whether to use that pick on a QB.

 

Unfortunately, there's a conflict between 1) and establishing a culture of winning. I don't expect anyone on the coaching staff to do anything less than his absolute best to prepare the team. But I do expect the coaching staff to start Manuel if healthy, even if some other QB on the roster might give the Bills a better chance to win. Starting Manuel is absolutely essential. The remaining portion of the season is an excellent opportunity to gather more information about him before deciding whether to draft his replacement. Also, if Manuel is indeed the second- or third-best Manuel for the job, the extra losses his poor play will generate will improve the Bills' draft position.

 

If the Bills are in doubt about whether to take a QB, they should err on the side of taking one. There has been precisely one franchise QB in team history. One. During those times when the team lacked a franchise QB, the Bills have achieved precisely one post-merger playoff win. (Back in '81, they eked out a wildcard win before being eliminated in the divisional playoffs.) This franchise doesn't exactly have a history of bursting at the seams with an overabundance of franchise QBs. Nor does it have a track record of achieving much in the absence of a franchise quarterback.

 

If by some miracle both Manuel and the QB they'd be drafting turn into top-10 QBs, they could always trade one of the QBs away. Cutler is not a top-10 QB, and yet the Broncos were able to trade him away for two first round picks, Kyle Orton, and some other stuff. Having too many good QBs on the roster is a much nicer problem than having too many good running backs; as the Bills learned when they traded away Lynch for a 4th + 6th rounder.

 

I have a mental list of the things Manuel's detractors have written about him. Thus far, he has done nothing to cross a single item off that list. Not one item! A franchise QB could change the equation for the Bills for the next 10+ years. If there's a potential franchise QB available when the Bills pick, I don't see how they can pass that prospect up for a guy in Manuel who's far more likely to fail than succeed.

[Homey D. Clown]

It took 3 years each for JP Loss-of-Down, Cap'n Checkdown, and the Amish blunder to discover that they weren't NFL caliber players, so fasten your seatbelts boys and girls, we're in for at least 38 more games to know whether or not EJ is the guy.

[xsoldier54]

I believe that you have a faulty premise. This is not an "experiment". EJ Manuel is the starting QB of the Buffalo Bills and will be for the foreseeable future. He is a rookie and will have bad games like yesterday. He is also capable of leading a fourth quarter comeback like he did earlier this season. I understand that patience is in short supply on this forum, but I find the topic of this thread absolutely ridiculous.

[Jukester]

Accuracy issues as well, but biggest problem with Manuel right now is the constant checking down and playing it safe...afraid to make a mistake i guess. He needs to grow out of this quickly if he wants to be a bona fide starter. I'm fairly sure this isn't by game plan design as Tuel and Thad have thrown it down the field a lot more. The coaches should be all over EJ about this. Looks like he'll only throw downfield if his guy is wide open instead of throwing it up and letting guys make plays. There comes a point where a QB thinks too much instead of just playing with instincts. I'd rather have him throw two interceptions a game and take chances and learn from them than play it safe throw after throw. I loved the pick on draft day but he's showing basic issues that are alarming. We can only hope that it 'clicks' at some point in the last six games.

[Rico]

Draft.

 

E.J. isn;t the guy. That I can see. You can't go into anther season with rookies and all nobodys.

 

Well, Kolb should be ready for 2014.  

[uncle flap]

Good post.

 

This is a non-playoff season, so the Bills need to think about preparing themselves for the 2014 draft. That preparation involves two things: 1) getting as good a pick as possible, and 2) deciding whether to use that pick on a QB.

 

Unfortunately, there's a conflict between 1) and establishing a culture of winning. I don't expect anyone on the coaching staff to do anything less than his absolute best to prepare the team. But I do expect the coaching staff to start Manuel if healthy, even if some other QB on the roster might give the Bills a better chance to win. Starting Manuel is absolutely essential. The remaining portion of the season is an excellent opportunity to gather more information about him before deciding whether to draft his replacement. Also, if Manuel is indeed the second- or third-best Manuel for the job, the extra losses his poor play will generate will improve the Bills' draft position.

 

If the Bills are in doubt about whether to take a QB, they should err on the side of taking one. There has been precisely one franchise QB in team history. One. During those times when the team lacked a franchise QB, the Bills have achieved precisely one post-merger playoff win. (Back in '81, they eked out a wildcard win before being eliminated in the divisional playoffs.) This franchise doesn't exactly have a history of bursting at the seams with an overabundance of franchise QBs. Nor does it have a track record of achieving much in the absence of a franchise quarterback.

 

If by some miracle both Manuel and the QB they'd be drafting turn into top-10 QBs, they could always trade one of the QBs away. Cutler is not a top-10 QB, and yet the Broncos were able to trade him away for two first round picks, Kyle Orton, and some other stuff. Having too many good QBs on the roster is a much nicer problem than having too many good running backs; as the Bills learned when they traded away Lynch for a 4th + 6th rounder.

 

I have a mental list of the things Manuel's detractors have written about him. Thus far, he has done nothing to cross a single item off that list. Not one item! A franchise QB could change the equation for the Bills for the next 10+ years. If there's a potential franchise QB available when the Bills pick, I don't see how they can pass that prospect up for a guy in Manuel who's far more likely to fail than succeed.

 

Agree with basically everything here. I haven't given up on Manuel yet, but what concerns me the most is that he was making the same sort of mistakes that he was making earlier in the year. I would have hoped his time in the booth would have opened his eyes to what he was leaving on the field. That isn't to say he can't develop into the franchise QB that we want him to be, but I think it's almost irresponsible not to draft a QB in the first to at the very least provide some competition for EJ, when EJ hasn't put a stranglehold on the starting spot, nor silenced his critics as of yet.

[Fan in San Diego]

I think with Skippy as our OC we are going to struggle. He is in over his head. Very predictable playcalling.