Manuel was not given the chance to grow

[Tenhigh]

Weird article..the quotes from Manual are at least a couple months old..wonder if this guy wrote the original article cause there is no attribution that I saw in the article. And that is what interests me.(EDIT dummy me, just saw this article was from March 20..man we digging up some old chit here)

 

And I am one who would have like to seen EJ get his whole second season. EJ is one blown interference penalty against Robey as having one of the great comebacks in Bills history.

Lest we forget why he needed to orchestrate that comeback in the 1st place....

[Buffalo Bills Detective]

Edited August 1, 2017 by Buffalo Bills Detective

[Bill from NYC]

https://www.silverandblackpride.com/2017/3/20/14988144/raiders-ej-manuel-not-given-chance-to-grow-buffalo-bills-i-know-what-kind-of-player-i-can-be

 

In this article, Manuel makes a good point. Take a read. Also glad to see him start Raiders camp as their number 2 ahead of Connor Cook.

Good point. Losman was also great and not allowed to grow, right?

[teef]

this is happening. this is actually happening.

[JMF2006]

I don't know how much you grow after 23? J/K

 

He sucked so bad they had to bring Orton out of retirement for a year.

[dulles]

https://www.silverandblackpride.com/2017/3/20/14988144/raiders-ej-manuel-not-given-chance-to-grow-buffalo-bills-i-know-what-kind-of-player-i-can-be

 

In this article, Manuel makes a good point. Take a read. Also glad to see him start Raiders camp as their number 2 ahead of Connor Cook.

That's the line of reasoning he parlayed into a first-round draft pick and a solid rookie contract with the Bills! If it ain't broke, don't fix it EJ!

When he was coming out, all he and his agent did was blame the coaching staff at FSU for how he only read 1/2 of the field. It was the system that held me back...

The truth is that he would have lost his starting spot to Jamies and his career would have been done.

I don't begrudge the opportunity he had to perform here, but I do take exception with his complaint against Buffalo. Did he have lots of opportunities, maybe not. But did he take advantage of his opportunities - absolutely not. He had one last opportunity and he blew it big time. He didn't even give his coaches a reason to wait until the offseason. He was done before halftime of the Jets game!

[Big Turk]

Maybe if the dude didn't get worse and worse the more he played, he would have been...

 

He was terrible in the last few games to the point I'd rather have some undrafted rookie in there than him. At least you could justify the performance of that player instead of a first round pick.

[JMF2006]

I like this Quote:

 

“It was very surprising,” Manuel said of his benching. “You know, obviously being 2-2 and after losing to Houston, [former Bills Head] Coach [Doug] Marrone made the change and it was something I never dealt with as a competitor, as an athlete. So, it was definitely one of those things that I had to humble myself and understand that this could happen to anybody, you know what I mean?”

 

That pick 6 to Watt on the screen pass was absolutely brutal he deserved to be benched.

[GunnerBill]

 

 

That pick 6 to Watt on the screen pass was absolutely brutal he deserved to be benched.

 

It was brutal but I remember right before that play thinking "screen to Fred is coming here" our offense was so darn predictable. Ever likely Watt read it.

[Royale with Cheese]

He wasn't which is why I believe he will start over Carr.

Del Rio will see EJ let it rip and will know he can't keep this arm talent ride the pine.

 

Maybe the Bills could trade for Carr? 2 rounder?

Screen passes are designed plays and this one wasn't. EJ made the decision to the throw to Freddy coming out of the backfield. If you watch the replay, Sammy runs a slant and is WIDE open. You don't go to your best target singled up?

Even on the replay you'll see a safety sprinting towards Freddy....even if Watt doesn't pick it, Freddy doesn't make the first. He would have been crushed.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

 

Are we STILL talking about this bum? Let it go. The experiment with the project QB FAILED.

 

And we're on to another project QB.

[Buffalo86]

Taylor Mills is raw.

 

So is Doug Whaley. Just give him some more time.

[bigK14094]

Had best comeback in recent Bills History against Panthers.

He will hang around the league for years. May even get a start here or there.

Too inaccurate too often which is on him.

Yes, strong inaccurate arm....I saw to many throws miss the wr by 10 yards..........being a nice guy and having your head on straight isn't a fix for lack of skills. The Whaley Marrone confrontation over this situation was classic, and Marrone was right.

[Cripple Creek]

By all accounts a really nice guy. He had all of the intangibles necessary to play QB in the NFL. Unfortunately he was/is severely lacking in the tangible department.

[HT02]

The writer of this article tries to build his case on statistics by comparing the rookie seasons of Carr and Manuel which is infantile. Anyone watching the two play during their respective careers could see the difference between the QB's without looking at a single stat sheet. EJ is not an NFL quality QB. He fails to mention the Jacksonville game in 2015 or his final start last year both were pathetic.

By all accounts a really nice guy. He had all of the intangibles necessary to play QB in the NFL. Unfortunately he was/is severely lacking in the tangible department.

I agree with you about the nice guy and by every report the guy had a great work ethic.

 

I think you reversed his attributes. His tangible skills, his size, strength, arm strength were all there, it was his intangibles leadership, accuracy, decision making and ability to handle pressure were that were lacking.

[bmur66]

It would have helped if he could hit the broad side of a barn. I mean like the easiest throws are the ones he struggled with.

[GG]

I honestly would of liked to see what he could of done with a year on the bench NOT coached by marrone and Hackett who in my opinion are two of the most pathetic "offensive" side of the ball coaches I can remember. Once he got shell shocked he never recovered. I don't see why he can't be a Matt Moore kinda backup in the league though.

 

Matt Moore doesn't one hop wide open TEs who are 15 yards away

[Samwell Tarly]

So, we're digging up a dead horse so we can beat it some more?

[PromoTheRobot]

EJ will be the best backup QB ever if he never has to actually play.

[USABuffaloFan]

WHO CARES NOW

[ddaryl]

EJ has to tell himself this to be able to still believe in himself enough to be an NFL QB

 

Its the part of the acceptance process. Eventually he will accept he is not good enough

[GunnerBill]

EJ has to tell himself this to be able to still believe in himself enough to be an NFL QB

 

Its the part of the acceptance process. Eventually he will accept he is not good enough

 

I think there is some truth in this but I also think if I put myself in EJ's shoes with how things went down in Buffalo I would feel a bit like "man I didn't get a fair shake there I owe it to myself to have another crack." If he makes the Raiders roster he likely has another couple of years in the league.

[nucci]

WHO CARES NOW

This is a football forum. We discuss football related issues. You can choose to participate or not

[BringBackOrton]

EJ is arguably the worst QB employed in the NFL.

[Buffalo Boy]

 

It was brutal but I remember right before that play thinking "screen to Fred is coming here" our offense was so darn predictable. Ever likely Watt read it.

Moron was a Genius and Hackett was his handpicked go to guy........

[Jay_Fixit]

I would have used Whiskey as an excuse. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

[teef]

I would have used Whiskey as an excuse. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

where have you been?

[Kirby Jackson]

The Watt play to me was the end of his career in a Bills uniform. That's when I was convinced he couldn't be the guy. I was at that game and it was one of the worst quarterbacked games that I have ever seen. People dispute that all of the time but it was painful. Guys were open EVERYWHERE.

[BillsFan4]

Wasn't there already a thread made on this topic when these quotes came out like 5 months back...?

 

 

EJ had opportunity here. He wasn't given an unquestioned starting role his entire time here, but why should he get that? He should earn what he gets, and IMO he never earned the starting role to begin with. It was handed to him because of injury. Really, IMO he should be thankful that Buffalo made him a 1st round pick (therefore having to pay him like a 1st round pick) and gifted him some NFL starts, because (IMO) I don't think that would have happened anywhere else...

 

The more he played the worse he got. I was happy when he was benched in 2014. Even when we started the season out 2-0, the offense was absolutely terrible IMO. The Bills won despite that offense, not because of it. If not for the defense, they wouldn't have stood a chance...

I remember all my friends being all hyped up about the Bills 2 wins to start that season, and I just kept saying I had no faith in EJ. He would miss the most rudimentary throws. Bounce the ball off the ground on what should have been a simple short yardage pass, or he'd throw way behind his receivers and/or lead them right into a monster hit (when he was accurate enough to throw a catchable ball), and he'd have to put sooo much effort into trying to make those basic throws. It was painful to watch. He'd have to take like 3-4 steps to set up an easy 10yd pass. He really Struggled, and this is while running probably the most basic offense I have ever seen at the NFL level.

 

Then in 2015 he was given an honest and fair opportunity to win back the starting job, and he couldn't even win the backup role until Whaley traded away Cassel (against the wishes of his OC and HC from most accounts).

 

And when he got his chance to start a couple games when Tyrod got injured in 2015, he once again did nothing with it.

 

Finally, when he was forced into the lineup once again by Whaley and given one final chance in 2016 to show something, anything, against a Jets team that had given up weeks ago he had probably his worst game yet and didn't even look like a backup caliber player and got benched for a completely raw rookie with a whole 10 games of college experience that the coach had no plans of playing...

 

He never seemed to improve on any of the flaws he had in college, and he had a lot of time to develop in a pro system there. Not that many QBs coming out of college had a chance to play for 4 whole years in a pro style system like EJ did. That's a damn good program he came from, too. They produce quite a bit of NFL talent.

 

There always seemed to be some excuse with EJ, though. He never seems willing to put the blame on himself. He claimed the system in college held him back (half field reads, etc). He claimed Buffalo held him back. I even remember listening to him after games (when he was the starter), he could never seem to take any blame for a loss. He'd say "well the coach said I did ok" after a terrible performance, instead of standing up and taking the blame for it.

 

 

I wish the kid well though. I hope he is able to carve out a successful NFL career for himself. He was a very nice kid and seemed to legitimately want to win in Buffalo and I will always respect that.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

PLEASE KILL THIS THREAD.

 

Its as useful as a screen door on a submarine

[BuffaloHokie13]

PLEASE KILL THIS THREAD.

 

Its as useful as a screen door on a submarine

[87168]

this guy gets it!

Edited August 1, 2017 by 87168

[C.Biscuit97]

 

 

What can you say? It's true, he wasn't.

 

Not everyone does get their ultimate chance, and some are actively mishandled. I'm not sure where Manuel falls on that scale. Not as far towards mishandled as Losman does, IMHO.

 

 

 

Yup. And it's easier to say either one of those than to admit that we don't know for sure. We probably have a good idea about the guy, but there's always a chance we could have been wrong. No way to prove a negative in this case.

 

I personally kept thinking there was a chance right up till the end, but when he still couldn't show improvement near the end, it just became really likely that he wouldn't ever be a good one. But yeah, maybe if handled better. No way to know, and at some point you just have to go with the best guess.

Yeah, you can debate whether EJ would have ever been good enough to be a NFL starter. But unless you are the biggest Bills homer, his development flat out sucked. He was given a guy who only had Syracuse OC on his resume to be his rookie year OC and QB coach. Andrew Luck had Bruce Arians as his rookie year OC. His vet qb was Kolb who was injured all the time. He struggled with injuries and was in and out of the lineup. He was pulled at 2-2 with similar stats to Carr at similar points in the career. All while learning the hardest position in sports for the team with the longest playoff drought in pro sports.

 

It's always easy to blame the players. But our qb development has been a joke. And until our dysfunctional organization learns to properly develop qbs, the playoff drought will continue. Tyrod should be thankful the Ravens draft him or else he might be out of league if he was drafted by us.

[Gunsgoodtime]

EJ highlights:

1. Cried after a week 2 win.

2. Shushed a road crowd after leading the 3rd string offense to a 4th quarter touchdown in a preseason game.

End

You are wrong, I can also remember him drawing the defense offsides on a snap count. Who could forget that?

[JM2009]

 

My sentiments exactly. EJ Manuel -- great guy, bad QB. Move on, nothing to see here.

This should end this thread.

[Jauronimo]

That's the line of reasoning he parlayed into a first-round draft pick and a solid rookie contract with the Bills! If it ain't broke, don't fix it EJ!

When he was coming out, all he and his agent did was blame the coaching staff at FSU for how he only read 1/2 of the field. It was the system that held me back...

The truth is that he would have lost his starting spot to Jamies and his career would have been done.

I don't begrudge the opportunity he had to perform here, but I do take exception with his complaint against Buffalo. Did he have lots of opportunities, maybe not. But did he take advantage of his opportunities - absolutely not. He had one last opportunity and he blew it big time. He didn't even give his coaches a reason to wait until the offseason. He was done before halftime of the Jets game!

How would EJ have lost the starting gig to Jameis after his senior season?

You are wrong, I can also remember him drawing the defense offsides on a snap count. Who could forget that?

EJ is a hard count specialist. That's the way I choose to remember him.

[The Wiz]

this is happening. this is actually happening.

it will happen again if he ever wins a game with Oakland (I'm looking at preseason week 2).

[Jauronimo]

Marrone and Hackett completely mismanaged EJ and his development. That said, I don't recall EJ looking comfortable in the pocket. He would routinely hold on to the ball for a second too long, pat the ball again, stutter step and then float the ball to the receiver who, by that time, was well covered. If our defense wasn't so strong in year 2, EJ might have gotten more time but that unit was too strong to waste a year seeing if EJ could play. Not when Big Chaw Orton is out there ready to lead a team to a worse draft pick.

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

BuffaloBud420

 

[C.Biscuit97]

Marrone and Hackett completely mismanaged EJ and his development. That said, I don't recall EJ looking comfortable in the pocket. He would routinely hold on to the ball for a second too long, pat the ball again, stutter step and then float the ball to the receiver who, by that time, was well covered. If our defense wasn't so strong in year 2, EJ might have gotten more time but that unit was too strong to waste a year seeing if EJ could play. Not when Big Chaw Orton is out there ready to lead a team to a worse draft pick.

Sums it up nicely. Dude should make a nice living being a backup. And we suck at developing qbs. We didn't ever develop Jim Kelly.

 

Who is the last qb the bills draft and turned into a good starter?