Lee Smith: EJ Manuel didn't have what he has now

[Patrick Duffy]

oh i hope and pray he is the QB when they come to Buffalo. A couple of those aired out high balls will definitely be picked off

[Kelly the Dog]

When did 6.2 yards an attempt, 106 yrds no touchdowns and a pick become good for a quarterback?

When two great passes were dropped in the endzone on one drive late in the game?

[Dr. Who]

When two great passes were dropped in the endzone on one drive late in the game?

Folks are only interested in context when it helps their argument.

[Alphadawg7]

When did 6.2 yards an attempt, 106 yrds no touchdowns and a pick become good for a quarterback?

 

When did checking a stat box become an effective way to understand how well someone played? Because if you had watched the game you would have seen EJ go for 8/8 and lead the team into the redzone and with a first down he threw 3 consecutive passes that were TD, First Down, TD in that order and all 3 were dropped by the target hitting them right in the hands and all 3 great throws. In fact, Cook dropped both TDs.

[TPS]

I was hoping he'd win that game for them. I'm pulling for him Sunday.

GO EJ!!

I was too. It's too bad he didn't get the chance to develop here, rather than being forced right into the starting role.

I think he will be a starter somewhere eventually.

 

Agreed. People see the pick and dismiss him but missed the context of what really went down.

 

EJ starts 8/8 and has them in the redzone with a first down in position for a potential TD to make the 9 point game a 2 point game.

 

9th Att: Throws a TD pass to Cook in the end zone, Cooks drops the pass that hits him in both hands.

10th Att (2nd down): Throws an 11 yard pass for a first down, DROPPED again, right in the hands. I believe it was Cooper if I am not mistaken.

11th Att (3rd and 10 after 2 straight drops): Throws a perfect and gorgeous pass to Cook in the end zone again and he DROPS it again after hitting him in both hands.

 

Now he is 8/11 with no TD's but should be perfect on the day with a TD and it should be just a 2 point game. Instead, due to 3 straight drops that were great throws right on the money, Raiders MUST kick a FG to insure it becomes a 1 score game. They do and now its a 6 point deficit instead of 2.

 

Raiders hold and get the ball back with no timeouts. But instead of them just needed to get into FG range, they now have to score a TD and have no timeouts either. They need to move the ball down field. The INT had EJ throw a high point ball to what is supposed to be a big and Elite WR yet he's had a terrible year, and thats Cooper. Cooper makes both a poor effort to really get the ball or keep the ball from being intercepted and lets a much smaller DB out jump and muscle for the ball, resulting in game ending INT.

 

There are no excuses for EJ as a Bill...I always felt he didn't get a fair shake at times here, but when he got his opportunities he still didn't take advantage of them. However, he was actually excellent in fill in duty last week and the box score doesn't remotely tell the right story. The three passes that were dropped were great throws, clutch throws, and his teammates let him down.

 

Now none of that means he plays well for a game in a start for the Raiders by any means. Plus, I don't know how many weapons he's gonna have or not have with both Cooper and Crabtree banged up. But I am certainly looking forward to seeing how he does, always liked him as a person as he worked hard and was always a great teammate and had the right attitude.

Nice summary. Fans tend too often to irrationally dump on players once they've moved on. Now, if he starts against the Bills, that's another story...

[Gavin in Va Beach]

 

Agreed. People see the pick and dismiss him but missed the context of what really went down.

 

EJ starts 8/8 and has them in the redzone with a first down in position for a potential TD to make the 9 point game a 2 point game.

 

9th Att: Throws a TD pass to Cook in the end zone, Cooks drops the pass that hits him in both hands.

10th Att (2nd down): Throws an 11 yard pass for a first down, DROPPED again, right in the hands. I believe it was Cooper if I am not mistaken.

11th Att (3rd and 10 after 2 straight drops): Throws a perfect and gorgeous pass to Cook in the end zone again and he DROPS it again after hitting him in both hands.

 

Now he is 8/11 with no TD's but should be perfect on the day with a TD and it should be just a 2 point game. Instead, due to 3 straight drops that were great throws right on the money, Raiders MUST kick a FG to insure it becomes a 1 score game. They do and now its a 6 point deficit instead of 2.

 

Raiders hold and get the ball back with no timeouts. But instead of them just needed to get into FG range, they now have to score a TD and have no timeouts either. They need to move the ball down field. The INT had EJ throw a high point ball to what is supposed to be a big and Elite WR yet he's had a terrible year, and thats Cooper. Cooper makes both a poor effort to really get the ball or keep the ball from being intercepted and lets a much smaller DB out jump and muscle for the ball, resulting in game ending INT.

 

There are no excuses for EJ as a Bill...I always felt he didn't get a fair shake at times here, but when he got his opportunities he still didn't take advantage of them. However, he was actually excellent in fill in duty last week and the box score doesn't remotely tell the right story. The three passes that were dropped were great throws, clutch throws, and his teammates let him down.

 

Now none of that means he plays well for a game in a start for the Raiders by any means. Plus, I don't know how many weapons he's gonna have or not have with both Cooper and Crabtree banged up. But I am certainly looking forward to seeing how he does, always liked him as a person as he worked hard and was always a great teammate and had the right attitude.

Nice write-up, that's how I saw it too. EJ looked really sharp last week.

 

I always liked EJ and thought he handled himself with class during his time here. Few rookie QBs are ready to start right away and EJ wasn't either, but who knows what could have been if he'd been able to develop. People forget Aaron Rodgers sat behind Favre for 3 years before he became a starter. Would we be calling him one of the best current QBs had he needed to start right away (not to mention took a serious injury in his first season)?

 

I wish him well in Oakland, as long as he loses when he plays Buffalo.

[JohnBonhamRocks]

Manuel actually might not even have the weapons he has now with Crabtree and Cooper both at less than full health.

Edited October 5, 2017 by JohnBonhamRocks

[Alphadawg7]

Nice summary. Fans tend too often to irrationally dump on players once they've moved on. Now, if he starts against the Bills, that's another story...

 

Thanks and yeah, agree with that. I wont be rooting for his success if Carr misses enough time to where EJ faces us.

 

Nice write-up, that's how I saw it too. EJ looked really sharp last week.

 

I always liked EJ and thought he handled himself with class during his time here. Few rookie QBs are ready to start right away and EJ wasn't either, but who knows what could have been if he'd been able to develop. People forget Aaron Rodgers sat behind Favre for 3 years before he became a starter. Would we be calling him one of the best current QBs had he needed to start right away (not to mention took a serious injury in his first season)?

 

I wish him well in Oakland, as long as he loses when he plays Buffalo.

 

Thanks as well, and yeah that was the one thing with EJ, he was a total class act even when getting a raw deal at times. One thing about him was he seemed to start slow but played his best in the 4th quarter. Always felt he had potential but was just poorly developed here and not put in many positions to succeed.

 

At the same time, there were times he was given chances and opportunities and he kept coming up short, and sometimes really short like the last game last year where he was terrible against the Jets in week 17. Sometimes a change in scenery and feeling like the people around you believe in you can be all the difference in a player. So will be interesting to see if EJ can build on last weeks game or fall back into what he's mostly been so far.

 

Interesting thing about Rogers (and for those quick on the reply button, I am in NO WAY comparing EJ to Rogers) is that he is a great example of how sitting greatly benefited a player who wasn't ready to play. Niners took Alex Smith over Rogers #1 because they felt he was closer to being ready to play than Rogers. Then he fell and got picked up by GB. Rogers was under whelming the first couple of years in GB in practice, preseason, etc. So much so, that despite having him multiple seasons to groom, the still used a 2nd round pick on Brohm the off season where Farve was officially gone as insurance.

 

Obviously the rest is history, but people see occasions where young QB's come in and find immediate success and now just think thats the norm. The best way to develop a QB will always be to let them sit and learn more, ESPECIALLY a raw QB. EJ needed to learn the game for a year or two to have a real chance, he was too raw to start week 1. Kolb fractured his Vagina while walking and forced EJ to play right away and that started his career down a rough path to find success to go with our dysfunctional franchise on top of that.

 

This is why KC was the perfect spot for Mahomes and Cleveland was a terrible spot for Kizer. Both needed to sit and learn the game more for best chance for success, Mahomes is doing so in a great place and Kizer is getting his butt whooped and confidence challenged on a weekly basis on a very bad team.

[Green Lightning]

just waiting to count the bounced passes.

[TheFunPolice]

So now EJ is good, and you have an agenda if you don't see it?

 

Just like Fitz, the big bag meanies on the other team will have a say in that one!

 

PLEASE let EJ is the QB when the Raiders come here.

[Marty McFly]

Wish em the best until he plays us. Dont know why yall hatin so hard regardless of talent at QB. Maybe im jus jaded bc some Bills fan hate our QBs so hard its getting difficult to tell between hate and simple observations with the snark.

[Rico]

So now EJ is good, and you have an agenda if you don't see it?

 

Just like Fitz, the big bag meanies on the other team will have a say in that one!

 

PLEASE let EJ is the QB when the Raiders come here.

Haters are gonna hate.

 

[TheFunPolice]

Please don't deny us the EJ Bowl! Carr should rest up, heal up really nice, and make sure he's good to go for the long-term.

 

Back injuries are nothing to play with. Take a solid chunk of weeks, Derek, just be back and healthy and all worked up to prove something when you play New England.

[Putin]

i wish we could play against EJ Manuel every Sunday

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Because he was on target and threw great balls. Several dropped that would have been TD's. He completed his first 8.

 

The int was a clear "trust my athletic tall jamming/jumping WR to fight for and catch type of throw" that some little oompa DB somehow out jumped him.

 

Did you watch the game.? EJ played well.

Well... no.... I'll give ok. And I have the guys jersey. Cooper throw was a bad choice, and if you are making the throw anyway, needs to be closer to the sideline or deeper. The safety was already there...

 

He wasted two TOs and also got a Delay. Del rio was pissed.

 

Threw some nice balls as well but I saw a number the same unforced situational errors that cost him his job in buffalo.

[BuffaloMatt]

99 yard interception to JJ watt. Vomit on EJ.

[jdonley1180]

I have to admit, in the back of my mind I was almost hoping E.J sharted the bed when he came in the game. A large presumptuous smile spread across my face as I daydreamed about all the throws into the dirt, sacks, and just down right awful QB play. Then when I came to .... he was 8 for 8! Channel. Changed>

[NoSaint]

Plus they had to make a play to score, and he was throwing it up to Amari Cooper. That wasn't a terrible pass at all. The defender made a stud play. Plus he had a TD that was a clear drop, and he had another great pass that could have been a TD but WR didn't hang on. He did well. The one thing he didn't do was have game awareness that cost two five yard penalties but sometimes the plays don't come in quick or guys don't get lined up right. Those looked like his fault though. He threw a lot of good balls.

Generally my take on last week too.

 

As backup quarterbacks go, o don't see anything wrong with EJ. Good guy, seems to be a hard worker and is at least on par with the talent in 32-64 qb rankings. Plus he can watch his teammates kids on the sideline in a pinch.

[YoloinOhio]

Wish em the best until he plays us. Dont know why yall hatin so hard regardless of talent at QB. Maybe im jus jaded bc some Bills fan hate our QBs so hard its getting difficult to tell between hate and simple observations with the snark.

he is a nice person but I'm sorry, I hope the Raiders lose. Edited October 5, 2017 by YoloinOhio

[Marty McFly]

he is a nice person but I'm sorry, I hope the Raiders lose.

Well no **** theyre competing with us for a WC spot.