For those who have watched Manuel

[Mikie2times]

Thanks guys, I might be able to handle staying up until 2-3am Sunday night. I think it would be hard to get past Monday without hearing something. If nothing else I usually have a few coworkers ask me if I saw the game, one Dolphin fan in perticular. For that price, OD streaming, even if it's just a review it seems well worth it. No more posts about EJ live, I'm signing up!

[macaroni]

IMHO .... E.J. makes a few bone headed rookie mistakes every game, however that is to be expected, he is after all a bone headed rookie. The impressive thing (at least to me) is he does not get rattled after those mistakes. He has a very short memory and "commits" to the play at hand rather than letting his emotions get the best of him ruining the next few plays and therefore the series.

 

In my fifty some years of following football I can't think of any rookie QB that didn't make rookie mistakes ... what seperated the good from the bad was; the bad ones dwelled on their mistake, and the good ones forgot about it and made up for it with the next play.

[KollegeStudnet]

Not going to lie, I cried when SJ13 caught the game winner.

[ny33]

E.J. hasn't been as good as Luck or RGIII were, even at this point, last year. That's ok. He will improve. His best comparison in terms of rookie performance is probably Tannehill, who has led the Dolphins to a 2-0 start this year. Manuel will have his ups and downs, but his elite physical skills and impressive mentality lead me to believe that he will succeed as a starting NFL QB.

[DC Greg]

Wasn't EJ timed and had the quickest release of all the qb's over the last few years? I see him checking down to the 3rd and 4th reads. Think about the drops and penalties bringing back a couple large gains...spillers 30 yarder(run play but set up pass but i'm not sure what the result of that drive was) and stevies 3rd and one etc. 2nd game of a pro career and people think he should be playing like Manning. It's called developing a qb...its a process that you slowly give him more responsibility.

 

ESPN Sports Science. yes

 

The final drive last week was not "checkdowns" -- I think that reporting has been inaccurate. Those looked like designed dumpoffs to RBs over the middle where yards would be easy to come by. The whole design of that drive seemed to be to get down the field quickly so we'd have an opportunity to take some shots in the end zone.

 

Similar to Indy in preseason week 1... Marrone's two minute gameplan? It seems to work pretty effectively.

[ALLEN1QB]

the one knock I have on him is that he does not look of his receivers very much the defenders can see exactly where he's going to throw it I hope this gets better with time

[BillnutinHouston]

EJ is "throwing his receivers open" in his second NFL game. Top half of the league in QBR so far. And how about his upside with a coach who's willing to coach him hard, and a kid with the demeanor to accept that hard coaching?

 

I'll leave the nitpicking to others. EJ's play so far is a huge validation that the organization made the right decision, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

[Kelly the Dog]

EJ has been very impressive for what he has been put into. Somethings not mentioned much here are:

 

1] He's shown tremendous escapability when rushed, and a very good runner once he decides to run. The avoidance of a sack in the final drive was a play few vets make, eluding the tackler, spinning around, regaining his balance by putting his hand on the ground, getting back upright and still throwing a 5 yard completion out of bounds. That was just a great play. Earlier in the game avoiding a sure sack and still looking downfield and connecting with Robert Woods for a first down was a great play. The scramble on the final drive deciding to lower his shoulder and still get OB at the 2 instead of trying to score was a VERY heady play. Avoiding the rush and spinning around in the first game was quite nice as well. In two games, for all intents and purposes he has yet to be sacked once. The sack in the stat sheet was when a defender reached in and knocked the ball out of his hand just as he was cocking and throwing (and the direct result of a bad block by Frank Summers).

 

2] His knowledge of the offense, and the moment, and the clock, etc. There have been a few times when his helmet hasn't worked and he just called his own play. Both of his TD passes in the first game he called his own play. In the final drive he never had to spike the ball even with no timeouts. The helmet receiver didn't work once in the final drive and they were using code words for him and he waved off the guys yelling from the sidelines, saying "I got it. I got it." and went right back to work totally composed.

 

3] We haven't set him loose yet. To me it's because of his knee, combined with the fact we have an UDFA QB as his back-up. When the knee is 100% he will run the read option and run more and roll out more. They are deliberately spoon feeding him but that is working very well and he will get his shots. It's not as though he cannot handle more, he's just not had a ton of time playing.

 

4] He's spreading the ball around well, throwing to SJ and Woods, as well as Chandler, and a lot to the backs. He's checked down a little quickly but that's okay and part of the plan right now I imagine. He hasn't been wasting any time, he hasn't been messing up plays, he hasn't been reckless with the ball, he's always looking downfield when scrambling, he really looks the part.

[Webster Guy]

He had knee surgery about a month ago, missed a large part of training camp and he's faced two tough defenses in the past two weeks.

 

Despite this, his QB rating is the highest after two games (90) than any rookie that's played QB in the NFL in the last 50 years.

 

His accuracy is mediocre so far but better than Dalton, Kapernick and Roethlisburger did this week. Those 3 pro bowlers I watched miss every pass they threw this weekend.

[Doc]

E.J. hasn't been as good as Luck or RGIII were, even at this point, last year. That's ok. He will improve. His best comparison in terms of rookie performance is probably Tannehill, who has led the Dolphins to a 2-0 start this year. Manuel will have his ups and downs, but his elite physical skills and impressive mentality lead me to believe that he will succeed as a starting NFL QB.

None of the rookie QB's last year set the NFL on fire at the outset. It took time. And Luck, RGIII, and Tannehill were pretty much entrenched as starters from the starts of their training camps.

[dubs]

I would check out a poster named Microscopes analysis of EJ. He's got that on lockdown.

 

:-|

Edited September 17, 2013 by dubs

[alias]

I'm not all that sure about who does and doesn't have a quick release, or who goes through his progressions better than whom, but from what I see, EJ Manuel is a keeper.

 

Having already used a fishing term ("keeper") I might as well extend the metaphor. I fish a lot (too much) and whenever I do, I reach into my tackle box for the lure I have the most confidence in.

 

It may not wiggle the best, or glow the brightest, or have the quickest release, or go through progressions more smoothly than some of the others, but it lends me the most confidence that I will somehow succeed.

 

That's what EJ Manuel does for the Buffalo Bills offense.

[bowery4]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B3ysw4beLk&feature=youtu.be

 

Got that from another board. Someone put it together. EJ Manual-All the Throws week 2 against Carolina.

 

Although I think he played solid, seems like a lot of his throws decided before he even snaps the ball. This was evident in his interception. Again, I think this is typical for young quarterbacks, obviously he needs to learn to go through his progressions a little more. I'm still impressed.

Thanks for that! The line played extremely well (Carolina's front 7 are really good), 6 hurries/scrambles (no sacks or one sack if you count the fumble) one on CJ, one on Urbik/Wood (but more Urbik), a designed blitz with no one to pick up the 2 blitzers (on the winning TD btw) and 3 on Brown only one, which was real bad. People are killing Brown on this board and should take a look at that clip.

 

I did think he was a bit worse in run blocking during the game but I would like to have a look at those too. IMO he played good enough, not great but decent, he's a JAG player so that is good in my book.

[Charles Romes]

He's so huge that what looks like a check down in the flat is actually an 8 yard strike into the heart of the defense.

[KikO M G]

Just so everyone remembers comparing Manuel to Brady after beating Carolina in week 2. Maybe similarly we shouldn't jump to conclusions in the other direction after one bad game.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Just so everyone remembers comparing Manuel to Brady after beating Carolina in week 2. Maybe similarly we shouldn't jump to conclusions in the other direction after one bad game.

 

I agree. Let's stay even-keeled, and not do anything rash, like change our screen names.

[Ronin]

Just so everyone remembers comparing Manuel to Brady after beating Carolina in week 2. Maybe similarly we shouldn't jump to conclusions in the other direction after one bad game.

 

LMAO

 

You wouldn't have a forum then.

[dayman]

EJ is who you thought it was TC. Basically what you described, exactly what he showed in college. Hopefully he gets better, I don't think he will.

Edited November 16, 2013 by SameOldBills

[Ronin]

As to Manuel, his first two games were easily his best. Since then he's been terrible and getting worse.

 

Is it the coaching?

 

Is it him?

 

Is it defenses having more film to prepare by?

 

Likely a combination of all three, but right now Marrone's future with the team since he absolutely had to have Manuel hinges on Manuel's improvement, but alas, there isn't much for him to hang his hat on.

 

At midseason he should be showing signs that he's finally caught on, instead there are numerous fans and even some media stirring up a QB controversy, which is shaping up to be something similar to a drunk man's vision of a beautty contest at some random bar at 2 a.m.

 

Either way, it doesn't really matter what we think, but Marrone's future is tied to this "must have" decision now.

 

As usual, as Bills fans, if we plan for this stuff we won't be disappointed.

Edited November 16, 2013 by TaskersGhost

[macaroni]

My biggest concerns about E.J. is that he never seems to set his feet. He is always hopping and moving his feet like he is really REALLY uncomfortable in the pocket, IMHO this leads to his inaccuracy and underthrowing the long ball. Another concern has been mentioned a few times by other posters in that he seems to be playing with a very limited playbook, that is to be expected with a rookie QB, but to my untrained eye, it seems to be much more limited that what Lewis and even Tuel were working with. I'm not sure if the brain trust at one Bills drive are trying to "protect" his ego with a vanilla "safe" game plan, or that he is calling an audible at the line of scrimmage because he lacks self confidence.