zow2 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Is it the coach or is it the player? The playbook was more varied with Lewis in there and the team took bigger shots downfield. Whatever the reason is, the play calls are different with EJ under center. It's either they still have the training wheels on, or EJ is still too timid to force the plays that the other guys are willing to take. Either way, this season is a wash for EJ's development, and the last 6 weeks are to be used solely to determine whether Bills need to draft a QB with the first two picks in 2014. They have called shots downfield for EJ but he has all too often taken the checkdown for a variety of reasons. When they called downfield stuff for Thad and Tuel they just did as told. Some things that aren't EJ's fault are the line protection falling apart but overall i think the plays are called the same for all the QB's and EJ for whatever reason is being timid about throwing deep. I think he's too scared to make a mistake. Ever since that Carolina game, when Marrone said he can't have those ball security isses, EJ has been timid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlbillsfan1975 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Marrone made a big mistake not bringing in an OC with NFL experience. Not only that but no QB coach is just dumb. The play calling was awful and predictable. exactly! Marrone is guilty of thinking Hackett could succeed at this level. Hackett is in over his head and it shows in play calling and EJ's developement. Some people will claim injuries and blah blah blah...fact is with a decent OC and QB coach this team is a lot better. IF Marrone keeps Hackett after this year, then we got the wrong HC too. Marrone must take the same approach with his coaches that he does players. If you are not cutting it, you are gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolishDave Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 ...and how many games or 1st rep practice time did Thad or Tuel have? EJ should be leaps and bounds better even with a layoff due to injury and he was not even remotely close to being better than Tuel or Thad. That should concern every Bills fan that 2 street undrafted FAs rooks performed better than the 1st round rook with a whole lot less game or practice time experience. How can that not concern everyone? I believe Tuel would have given the Bills a better chance to win yesterday than did EJ. That screams utoh! True dat! If EJ is so talented then why does he look like he should be the 3rd stringer? He has been propped up to be the savior for this franchise. And plenty of fans on this forum and other forums have treated him like he is that savior. So far all he has proven is that in is best game he is mediocre. And why isn't his team rallying around him? He is not a leader at all in my opinion. He doesn't inspire his team mates. He does not make the people around him play better. He just isn't making the plays he should be making to inspire confidence in him at all. How can people honestly remain confident in him when he plays that game against that piece of crap Steeler defense? Whatever confidence I had been building up for EJ just got ripped out of me and kicked out of me during that game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 (edited) There is little intangible that cannot be weighed or measured.....and I think EJ has it..... And I think he bounces back next week. I prefer tangibles, but that's just me. Edited November 11, 2013 by CodeMonkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 29 years of fanhood Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 They have called shots downfield for EJ but he has all too often taken the checkdown for a variety of reasons. When they called downfield stuff for Thad and Tuel they just did as told. Some things that aren't EJ's fault are the line protection falling apart but overall i think the plays are called the same for all the QB's and EJ for whatever reason is being timid about throwing deep. I think he's too scared to make a mistake. Ever since that Carolina game, when Marrone said he can't have those ball security isses, EJ has been timid. This seems a big part of it. He's not out there just playing ball. His best throws were in gm 1 vs pats. He's played tighter and tighter as the season has moved along. He clearly misses woods who seem the best at getting open in that 10-20 yard range Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 They have called shots downfield for EJ but he has all too often taken the checkdown for a variety of reasons. When they called downfield stuff for Thad and Tuel they just did as told. Some things that aren't EJ's fault are the line protection falling apart but overall i think the plays are called the same for all the QB's and EJ for whatever reason is being timid about throwing deep. I think he's too scared to make a mistake. Ever since that Carolina game, when Marrone said he can't have those ball security isses, EJ has been timid. That seems to be the case, although I'm surprised they're giving him some latitudes to change up plays. I'm guessing they will reign that in as well after his "throw" to Stevie at the goal line. He may have been physically ready on Sunday, but he was not mentally ready. I still believe that they are intentionally dialing things back in the max protect to try to slow the game down for him. That's why I will bring out a broken record and say how important a slow footed, but always dependable WR like David Nelson would have been to this offense. Right now, there isn't a dependable safety valve that EJ can go to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alias Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I haven't made up my mind either. Your options are hope that he's the guy and wait or hope that he's the guy and act on grabbing someone you think may be as good or better. I'm strongly in the act camp. I don't think I'm overreacting, especially because I've been saying this prior to yesterday's game. Teams don't worry about having 2 young stud WR's. They don't worry about having 2 young stud DT's, but god forbid you have 2 young stud QB. You'll stunt the development of one or both...I say BS. Competition is good everywhere. Agreed. It would have been better for everyone involved if EJ had been pulled at halftime yesterday. If his delicate psyche would have been forever damaged, then so be it. He looks like he'd make one hell of a school teacher or stock broker. I wrote in another post that I am at this point more concerned for the other 52 players, many of them in the peak years of their careers, who are watching another year swirl down the drain while we prop up a QB because he was taken in the first round. I'm sick of massaging QB psyches and GM egos while the careers of Stevie Johnson, Kyle Williams, Fred Jackson, Eric Wood, Manny Lawson, etc. are put on hold for yet another year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Agreed. It would have been better for everyone involved if EJ had been pulled at halftime yesterday. . Marrone was asked that in the presser too and apparently it was never a consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mousetrap08 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Another 1st ruond bust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zow2 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Marrone was asked that in the presser too and apparently it was never a consideration. Well at this point (3-7) they gotta let EJ either grow out of this level of mediocrity or let him fail. Give him the rest of the season, unleash him and see what he's got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Romes Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Why not "Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Well at this point (3-7) they gotta let EJ either grow out of this level of mediocrity or let him fail. Give him the rest of the season, unleash him and see what he's got. I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Cubed Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Agreed. It would have been better for everyone involved if EJ had been pulled at halftime yesterday. If his delicate psyche would have been forever damaged, then so be it. He looks like he'd make one hell of a school teacher or stock broker. I wrote in another post that I am at this point more concerned for the other 52 players, many of them in the peak years of their careers, who are watching another year swirl down the drain while we prop up a QB because he was taken in the first round. I'm sick of massaging QB psyches and GM egos while the careers of Stevie Johnson, Kyle Williams, Fred Jackson, Eric Wood, Manny Lawson, etc. are put on hold for yet another year. How exactly do you come to that conclusion? Better for everyone involved? How the heck would putting Thad Lewis in the game be better for any of the veterans. He was just as bad in his 3 starts. What, because he threw a couple deep balls all of a sudden the Bills veterans would jump for joy? This is the way it goes with rookie QB's. They struggle, but they need to find out what kind of player he is. I'm sure every Bills veteran knew there would be up's and down's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luxy312 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 The way I see it, we appear to have captain checkdown 2.0 at the helm. Except for the ONE play where Stevie was wide open, what did we see yesterday? I saw play after play of 2 and 3 yard passes to the third or fourth option. Take away that one play and what's left? 38 pass attempts for 132 yards. He barely glanced at the WR's down the field before simply dumping the ball off. Playing against one of the worst performing secondaries in the NFL, we took virtually no shots deep at all. Sure it was windy, but please tell my why Ben was still able to sling it around. At the same time they only run Freddy 12 times and CJ 8 times? If it was so windy, how come these guys combined for just 20 attempts while EJ is throwing it almost 40 times? What was even worse for me is that they seemed to swap out backs every other running play. How is a guy supposed to generate any momentum running the ball if he's getting a carry every 3-5 minutes? This team is done for this year. I don't blame the defense at all. 4 sacks on the day and a ton of pressure on rape-less-burger. Byrd's pick was pretty darn good too. EJ thus far has been pretty average. I'll believe in him more when I see him make some plays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papazoid Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Wow, I'm not sure whether to applaud the optimism or cry over the false hope. All I will say is that if EJ Manuel was signed as an undrafted free agent and not a 1st round pick we'd all be calling for Lewis to play. this. if Peyton Manning was the QB of this team, we would be 7-3 or better. until you have a clear Franchise QB (top 10)you are just spinning your wheels. EJ's upside looks like top 20, that ain't good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordio Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I say you draft a QB next year again in the first. If we only win one more game that should get us the 4th pick or so. With Clowney coming out, that should be good enough for us to get one of the top QB's. Let Manuel & the top pick battle it out in training camp to see who starts. Noway the way Manuel has played should he be handed the starting job next year. If it hurts his feelings too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Security Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Bills must take a QB next year within the first 3 rounds, and I like EJ Manual, but this still needs to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puckman5 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 It's funny the extremes from the bust crowd to the apologists. He could still be a great quarterback someday, we simply don't know right now. My issue is with management drafting him where he was drafted. This type of "we know something everyone else doesn't" mentality has kept this franchise in a state of mediocrity for years. You simply can't get cute with the draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 (edited) I say you draft a QB next year again in the first. If we only win one more game that should get us the 4th pick or so. With Clowney coming out, that should be good enough for us to get one of the top QB's. Let Manuel & the top pick battle it out in training camp to see who starts. Noway the way Manuel has played should he be handed the starting job next year. If it hurts his feelings too bad. Boy I don't know. Yesterdays performance by Manuel sucked in epic proportions to be sure. Lewis, and even Tuel played better than Manuel did yesterday. The only thing he did well was to get out of bounds or slide on his runs. But to say now that the Bills should take another QB with their first round pick when there are so many needs on the team? If Manuel sucks the rest of the season and shows no signs of getting better, I suppose that's a consideration. But to say it now seems very premature to me. Edited November 11, 2013 by CodeMonkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 johnny QB---hard drinkin hard playin future QB of our buffalo bills Gotta tank the rest of the season to make it happen, im on board now that it's pretty much over! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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