Disappointed In EJ After Thursday Night Detroit Game

[PolishDave]

I don’t know why but for some reason coming into this game I was really optimistic about how EJ would look. He let me down.

 

The good news is that our receivers can get open. The bad news, at least tonight, was that EJ couldn’t get them a catchable ball a few times. EJ had opportunities to look really good tonight. Two plays in particular come to mind. One was a medium deep pass to Woods on a route where Woods had his receiver beat. Woods had his receiver beat enough where he could have turned up field and had a lot of room to run. That could have been a huge play. EJ flat out missed him (led him too much as Woods ran across the field toward the left sideline). We punted. Another play was a short pass to Fred Jackson where Fred would have had a first down. EJ sailed the pass. Fred jumped for it and stretched, but alas the pass was too high. We punted. I believe those were both 3rd down plays that ended EJ’s second and third series on the field. Maybe not though.

 

I thought EJ looked too rough for a starting quarterback. I am officially afraid of what is going to happen in the regular season.

 

And to top it off, he gave the shortest press conference after the game. He said that a couple of guys dropped passes. And he said that his offensive coaches told him that he played well. Then he walked away from the podium. I was like WTF dude? That is all you have to say after that? How about you man up and admit you didn’t get the balls where they needed to be to your open receivers. I thought this guy was a man’s man. After hearing that brief interview, I was thinking that this guy is fooling himself if he thinks that was a good performance. Not very mature at all. Not a sign of great character.

 

Scary…….I am sure glad he typically gets better as the game goes on. Because if he didn’t, the Bills would get blown out of games routinely.

 

First string D played reasonably well.

 

Overall the game sucked and was very difficult to watch.

 

The highlight of the night was a half-hearted attempt at the wave in the stadium during the second half. Fans did a good job considering there were so few there.

[YoloinOhio]

[FluffHead]

EJ thinks he did a pretty good job

[Kelly the Dog]

I thought the pass to Fred was an easy catch but I only saw it once. No one near him. Soft ball. Hit him in the hands and he just dropped it. It was high but a very simple catch at first glance.

 

The one to Woods I want to see again from different angles. Looked like a bad pass from EJ. But it also looked to me like Woods could have reached up with two hands and caught it. He lazily reached up with one and it bounced off. I will wait until I get to see it a few different times. Right not I think Fred dropped the first one you mentioned and the second one could have been a better ball and could have been a better catch.

 

EJ was not good though. And not horrible either.

[PolishDave]

EJ was not good though. And not horrible either.

 

I wouldn't call his play horrible either. He did make a few standard throws.

 

But when a defense gives you easy opportunities to complete passes like those, you have got to make them. In both cases the receivers were very "open" and it should have been like pitch and catch in practice running simple routes. Good quarterbacks don't miss many of those relatively easy opportunities. Accuracy was definitely a problem tonight.

 

I just recall feeling like it was Ej's fault those drives ended in punts. And that is not encouraging.

 

On the Fred Jackson play, my seats were right in position to see that up close. As I recall it, Fred was completely stretched out to the max reaching for that ball. If he caught it, it would have been a spectacular catch and it shouldn't have been given how wide open he was. the scary thing about that pass is that if a linebacker had been close to Fred or had a head of steam, fred could have been hospitalized on that play. Talk about an open rib shot...Maybe reviewing the pass will prove my recollection wrong, but I think I had a pretty clear view of that play.

[Delusional Bills Optimist]

I thought the pass to Fred was an easy catch but I only saw it once. No one near him. Soft ball. Hit him in the hands and he just dropped it. It was high but a very simple catch at first glance.

 

The one to Woods I want to see again from different angles. Looked like a bad pass from EJ. But it also looked to me like Woods could have reached up with two hands and caught it. He lazily reached up with one and it bounced off. I will wait until I get to see it a few different times. Right not I think Fred dropped the first one you mentioned and the second one could have been a better ball and could have been a better catch.

 

EJ was not good though. And not horrible either.

 

On that play, Woods was crossing right towards me. He gave a decent leap and fully extended to try to snatch it with his lead hand. It was about six inches over his hand. Too bad, because he looked to be clear of his man by three strides and there were no other DBs between him and the endzone. To me, it looked like EJ had one of those "holy cow, he's sooooo wide open" moments, panicked to get the ball there, and over-aimed the throw.

[Green Lightning]

Waiting for the EJ apologists in 3-2-1....

[Kemp]

Well, it wasn't as bad as a couple of qbs that were in the replacement games.

[Kelly the Dog]

I wouldn't call his play horrible either. He did make a few standard throws.

 

But when a defense gives you easy opportunities to complete passes like those, you have got to make them. In both cases the receivers were very "open" and it should have been like pitch and catch in practice running simple routes. Good quarterbacks don't miss many of those relatively easy opportunities. Accuracy was definitely a problem tonight.

 

I just recall feeling like it was Ej's fault those drives ended in punts. And that is not encouraging.

 

On the Fred Jackson play, my seats were right in position to see that up close. As I recall it, Fred was completely stretched out to the max reaching for that ball. If he caught it, it would have been a spectacular catch and it shouldn't have been given how wide open he was. the scary thing about that pass is that if a linebacker had been close to Fred or had a head of steam, fred could have been hospitalized on that play. Talk about an open rib shot...Maybe reviewing the pass will prove my recollection wrong, but I think I had a pretty clear view of that play.

I just watched it again. Easy catch. Right in his hands. Clear drop. I think the Woods pass was a poor pass.

[benderbender]

Waiting for the EJ apologists in 3-2-1....

I apologize for EJ

[PolishDave]

I just watched it again. Easy catch. Right in his hands. Clear drop. I think the Woods pass was a poor pass.

So you are telling me that Fred wasn't stretched out to his max on that play. Because that is how I recall it. Can't imagine that I dreamed that up? I know the ball went off his hands but he was really struggling just to get to the ball and there was nobody around him.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have the game recorded.

[Kelly the Dog]

So you are telling me that Fred wasn't stretched out to his max on that play. Because that is how I recall it. Can't imagine that I dreamed that up? I know the ball went off his hands but he was really struggling just to get to the ball and there was nobody around him.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have the game recorded.

I just watched it on the replay 10 times. Really pretty easy catch. The announcer said he caught it before he saw he dropped it. He didnt have to lunge just reach up and catch it. A RB should catch that ball 10 out of 10 times and I bet Fred would say that, too. Not a bad pass. There was a defender right in EJ's face. It really is an easy catch above his head.

[PolishDave]

I just watched it on the replay 10 times. Really pretty easy catch. The announcer said he caught it before he saw he dropped it. He didnt have to lunge just reach up and catch it. A RB should catch that ball 10 out of 10 times and I bet Fred would say that, too. Not a bad pass. There was a defender right in EJ's face. It really is an easy catch above his head.

 

Well I have to give you the benefit of the doubt because I don't have the video.

[FluffHead]

@john_wawrow: Interesting: #Bills Jordan Palmer rightfully says he's "got to make better decisions." EJ Manuel says: "I thought I did a pretty good job."

 

 

State it JW

[Kelly the Dog]

Well I have to give you the benefit of the doubt because I don't have the video.

It's so hard to know sometimes on a play unless you see it over and over from different angles.

 

That particular play seems after 10 times to be an easy catch.

 

I badmouthed Woods earlier because the first two times I saw a play it looked like he dropped it but the third angle looked like the defender got his hand in there.

 

On the third Woods play, from one angle it clearly looks like a bad pass. From the other angle it looked like a pretty good pass he could have caught if he reached up with two hands. Impossible to know. If i had to bet i would say it was a bad pass but i really dont know from two different angles which looked like two different plays.

[Superb Owl]

I just watched it on the replay 10 times. Really pretty easy catch. The announcer said he caught it before he saw he dropped it. He didnt have to lunge just reach up and catch it. A RB should catch that ball 10 out of 10 times and I bet Fred would say that, too. Not a bad pass. There was a defender right in EJ's face. It really is an easy catch above his head.

 

Watched on slow-mo, he had to jump pretty high and almost caught it, but dropped it trying to land while turning his head to see where the LB was, it looked like. But there was only one angle and it was the far side of the field

Edited August 29, 2014 by Just Nguyen Baby

[Kelly the Dog]

Watched on slow-mo, he had to jump pretty high and almost caught it, but dropped it trying to land while turning his head to see where the LB was, it looked like

To me he barely got off the ground. He reached up and extended his arms but didnt have to lunge. A really easy catch in my opinion. Other people I guess see it a different way. I watched it over and over and over.

[Hplarrm]

Waiting for the EJ apologists in 3-2-1....

 

Is it being an EJ apologist to feel he is not an adequate NFL starting QB, but also feel I had no expectation he would be an adequate QB after less than a full season of reps.

 

My sense or EJ when the Bills picked him was that he was a PROJECT when they chose him. He had great demographics as an athlete in terms of his size, good foot speed and was said to be a good guy amd a natural leader. That being said, he was a somewhat inconsistent performer who benefitted a llot from having an FSU team around him which was head and shoulders better than much of their competition.

 

This last point was no rap on him as he led this group of great talent to a great collegiate record.

 

Yet, it was pretty clear that the run and pass when you have to style which worked for him in college would need to get trained out of him as pro QB.

 

The main things which spoke to the Bills drafting EJ (and probably early( was that the Bills had misfired on Fitzy and desperately needed a QB. Further, though there was no guarantee he would be like a Luck or Peyton Manning and be a likely star if he didn't get hurt, the QB draft class overall was pretty weak and EJ had more upside than Geno Smith the other potential first round choice.

 

Most with any football knowledge knew going in that it would take certainly a full rookie season and probably then some before he proved to be the QB the Bills wanted.

 

The key to competing for the playoffs with EJ as QB was NOT going to be how quickly he developed (which would likely take a couple of seasons, but whether the Bills could build a team with the talent to win with an inadequate QB and not whether EJ demonstrated he was a good QB which likely would not happen until the 2015 season.

 

I am disappointed the Bills lost but EJ played as I expected him to.

[bbb]

It's OK. We'll just be bad one year and then we'll have a high draft pick next year and get our QB.

[Dean Cain]

Buffalo: "there's always (the year AFTER) next season!!!!?