What is your EJ Manuel Confidence Level?

[Homey D. Clown]

the kid has a great attitude there's no questioning that or his desire to win, but right now i am not feeling very confident he can stay healthy. if Kevin Kolb is any indication, next year will show whether or not it's been a shaky 1st year, or a career long trend.

 

I am currently at 40% confident he's the answer at QB.

[Boludo]

confidence level he will be the bills qb next season? very high

 

confidence level he will never make a pro bowl? high

 

confidence level he will lead the bills to a super bowl? very low

[TheBrownBear]

20%. Having said that, he's been better than I expected so far (though I obviously didn't expect much). He has stretches where he looks the part and gives me some hope that he can be a serviceable starter. I don't see any chance of him being "elite", but he can maybe grow into an Alex Smith kind of game manager.

[ExiledInIllinois]

My EJMCL is very high,

 

so am I...

 

LoL!

 

 

Mine... Zero, but when I am high... It is like 10,000.

 

Hey man, I am still a Bills fan! ;-)

[1B4IDie]

I'm about 70% confident he'll be able to stay healthy enough to be a starting QB.

 

If healthy, I'm about 70% confident he can be a top 20 QB

 

If healthy, I'm about 20% confident he can be a top 10 QB, and less than 10% confident he can be a top 5.

I like this.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

I am an optimist...usually.

 

But my confidence level is about 5-10%.

 

I hate to say it, but in 3-4 years, I think odds are that he will be off the team, and we will be on to the next guy.

 

This isn't necessarily an indictment of EJ or the front office. Made sense to roll the dice on him-- but from what I have seen so far, too many mechanics issues, trentative issues, injury issues, pocket presence issues, making the right read issues, accuracy issues to place a lot of hope in the future.

[Malazan]

Think about that for a second: The majority of the opinions on this board are espoused by people who have never even seen a winning football organization. lol. it's pathetic when you think about it.

 

This is mind boggingly silly...

 

Do you think there is an embargo on watching other football teams for Bills fans?

[Chandler#81]

7-9%, and I'm being generous in this Season of joy.

[Dr. K]

I feel like I'm more optimistic that the rest of this board. The injuries slowed his progress this year a bit in my opinion. I'm a solid 75% on my EJMCL. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does the next couple of weeks.

 

Me too, if he can keep from being injured every other month.

 

100%. He has played well, made good deep throws, avoided turnovers, and won some ball games for us. Would have liked to see him play the full year, but the Bills were 4-5 in games he started and finished this year, and the new england game, jets game, and falcons game were all "winnable"--ej put us in positions to win all of those games, the falcons game in particular. That win alone would have us at 5-4 in his starts this year. A bills qb with a record that close to .500 as a starter? With the sh*tty talent around him?

 

And you idiot fans want to run him out of town because? He threw an interception in the first quarter of a game we won?

 

 

+1

[mead107]

In my opinion I am against taking another QB next year in the first round. 80%

[Last Guy on the Bench]

I would say I'm in the 55-60% range.

 

EJ is a really weird combination for me. The things I like about him, I REALLY like - emotional maturity, size, arm, leadership qualities, the way he seems to get better in tough situations.

 

Then there are the things that make me REALLY squirm - how panicky he looks in the pocket sometimes, the crazy ducks he can throw, the generally conservative nature of his football temperament, the extra second it seems to take him to find open receivers.

 

I don't know. I am guardedly optimistic that he will continue to develop into a starter we can all be proud of, and I like him a lot as a person and for his potential, but I wouldn't bet a lot of money on the ultimate outcome with him either way. At least he is keeping things interesting for now. And I wish him all the best.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Last Guy on the Bench

[dezertbill]

My confidence level that EJ is the answer is 80%. The missing 20% is due to the fact that

 

A) He is a rookie and although I am confident he is the answer he hasn't proved it yet

 

B) Three knee injuries in one season (his rookie year) is a bit of a concern that his health may hinder his growth and confidence.

 

If he can stay healthy, I truly believe EJ will do great things for this team, and he will grow into a QB that Bills fans can be proud of.

 

It's a wait and see though.

[jaybee]

I guess I'd put the percentage at about 50-60%. At this stage of their careers I cant honestly say thats much higher than I'd put Thad Lewis. If there is any positive to this I'd say we may have learned we have a pretty solid back-up QB. Important.

 

And for you guys early on saying EJ was a project? Cant disagree, but why would you draft a project in the 1st round? Seems kind of crazy. No?

[Beerball]

 

 

This isn't necessarily an indictment of EJ or the front office. Made sense to roll the dice on him-- but from what I have seen so far, too many mechanics issues, trentative issues, injury issues, pocket presence issues, making the right read issues, accuracy issues to place a lot of hope in the future.

I don't either. So far the pundits are being proved right, no rookie QB is setting the world on fire. We had to pick a QB early and the team couldn't wait till round 2 or later. They had to get their guy. I have no problem with the process.

[K-9]

Overall: 50% with a strong upward trend.

 

Intangibles: 100%

Arm strength: 100%

Mechanics, upper body: 100%

Mechanics, lower body: FUBAR. It's almost as though two different people were created in some weird science project gone awry.

 

It sucks that his rookie year has been curtailed by missing so many snaps due to injury. But I've seen enough glimpses to want to see him with more experience under his belt.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Wesdawg]

I can't say I love what I see, but I am slightly encouraged. He was taken as a project, so that's what we should expect. Hopefully we'll all be higher on him this time next year. But right now, I'm a little more optimistic than you, I'd say about 50-60%.

This.

[jjmac]

Mine is somewhere around 30-40%. I wish I could say he looks like he'll be the guy to lead this team for years to come, but I have not seen the progress that I'd like.

 

Major obstacles for me are his lack of awareness (to real or imagined pressure) in the pocket and his reaction to that pressure, his unwillingness to use the middle of the field, his propensity to try to guide the ball, his footwork, his accuracy and his inability to stay healthy.

 

Where is your EJMCL?

 

Right now, about 50%. A lot is on him, but some of it is on the players around him.

[Keukasmallies]

I have a lot of confidence in EJ's ability. I've seen him do some very good things in terms of game management, reading defenses, play selection, etc. So I know he is capable of performing at a high level. The problem is that he has yet to do these things consistently. Is the lack of consistency something that experience will resolve...I'm not sure about that. He deserves another sixteen games to mature and build his bank of NFL experience upon which to build and refine his skills.

[Rockinon]

The thing that bothers me most about EJ is he never comes out firing on all cylinders in the 1st qtr of a game. The guy has got to learn how to fire on his first throw. Every game it seems to take forever before he gets rolling. I saw this at the beginning of the season, and I am still seeing it now. Maybe he needs to warm up more before a game. For crying out loud, I have never seen anyone start so slow.

[JPS]

Great shows up great. He's not great. 25%.