EJ Manuel: What went wrong after year 1?

[Bangarang]

Seems like yesterday when so many people were arguing about how EJ was our next franchise QB.

[BringBackOrton]

Everyone talks about “EJ wasn’t given a shot.”

 

If only Allen had Watkins, Woods, Goodwin Hogan, Fred Jackson, and Spiller around him. Oh and Eric Wood as a vet C.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

5 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

Seems like yesterday when so many people were arguing about how EJ was our next franchise QB.

 

 

...irony is Genome Smith was OBD's/Buddy's FIRST CHOICE......they flew down to interview him and work him out...consensus on the plane ride home was, "um...no thanks"....so EJ was "2nd fiddle".....BOTH had "several broken strings" IMO.........

[Rico]

8 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

Seems like yesterday when so many people were arguing about how EJ was our next franchise QB.

Yes, RIP Bills-Fan-4-ever or whatever his name was before he got banned.

[BringBackOrton]

43 minutes ago, BUFFALOBART said:

 

Here is EJ in all of his glory. (Cough!)

Did you see the EJ thread and decide YOU needed one too?

[Orlando Buffalo]

7 hours ago, BarkleyForGOATBackupPT5P said:

That's true. But he was gifted our best Bills team in ages. I would never sacrifice a good team for a rookie quarterback who can only thrive under a no pressure 6-10 season of development like Allen basically played with. Totally with Marrone here if that's your take.

 

Rookie quarterback needs to learn what it takes to win above all. Steelers would have been nuts to have Big Ben have a no-pressure pick happy season with the team around him. Instead he learned how to win and was all the more confident too. Same with Brady.

 

These guys were young game managers that benefitted from their early success piggybacking on great teams before they eventually were handed the ropes to "win or lose on their own"

 

On a bad team I'd agree with you. On the 2014 Bills.. Heck no! We were good QB play away from being a legit playoff team.

You have a good point that i had not considered. But in a league where qbs dominate i would have given up 2014 for a better 2016. But your point is completely valid.

[Nihilarian]

What escapes most Bills fans and some NFL coaches it seems... is how a rookie QB is developed in his first year in the NFL. I can't overstate how important it is to a rookie QB to have a veteran NFL QB on the roster to help guide that rookie QB through his first season. To have a qualified NFL QB coach to help guide him in his first season. To have an NFL qualified offensive coordinator to help guild him in his first NFL season. EJ had none of those! 

 

No veteran QB on the roster

No NFL QB coach with that 2013 Buffalo staff

No NFL OC with previous NFL experience on the staff

One of the worst offensive lines in the NFL that season

 

EJ had some veteran QB help during the OTA's, pre season and that ended when Kevin Kolb met that rubber mat that ended his NFL career!  Besides that who even then who knows how helpful Kolb was to any of the QBs on the roster that year. 

 

Bills fans need to understand that EJ was a rookie QB, Jeff Tuel was an undrafted free agent rookie QB that year and Thaddeus Lewis was basically a rookie with only one game in Cleveland (32 attempts) in 2012. So that 2013 Buffalo Bills opening day roster had 3 rookie QBs on it with no real starting experience. 

Three rookie QBs, no QB coach and Nathaniel Hackett as his OC who came straight from college and was never previously an NFL offensive coordinator. Is it any wonder why EJ failed?

Kinda like this year with Nathaniel Peterman as the starter and one game under his belt from the year and Josh Allen as the only QB's on the roster for the first six games. 

 

The way I look at it 2014 was more like what his rookie season should been with veteran QB Kyle Orton on the roster, and an actual NFL QB coach. Then Marrone benching EJ after a bad performance against the Texans week 4. This after asking EJ to throw 44 times vs 23 runs. That season was a clusterfluck on offense with Fred Jackson missing games, CJ Spiller missing games and when the team did run it was 70% of the time right up the middle with Hackett calling plays.  

 

Just to give fans and idea how bad that Bills O line was that year. In week 16 against the Raiders with a playoff berth on the line at Oakland the Bills only ran 13 times for 13 yards with Orton throwing 49 times! This was against the 3-12 Raiders who were 32nd in points allowed. Each time the Bills ran the ball the Buffalo RB was met in the backfield almost every run.

 

 

Anyway, EJ had stated he learned more from watching Kyle Orton prepare for a game then he ever learned from anyone else on the team. What does that tell you about his OC, his QB coach? The kid never had a chance to properly develop in Buffalo due to inept coaching. 

 

Josh Allen didn't have a veteran QB for the first quarter of the 2018 season and credits Anderson, Barkley with his improvement after his injury. Still, the scheme he has been playing in is not conducive in properly developing a rookie QB. 

 

[wppete]

What’s up with bashing EJ lately???? 

[Rico]

34 minutes ago, BringBackOrton said:

Did you see the EJ thread and decide YOU needed one too?

It's all good, this is an EJ tribute thread, just like his JP tribute thread.

[LSHMEAB]

39 minutes ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

 

...irony is Genome Smith was OBD's/Buddy's FIRST CHOICE......they flew down to interview him and work him out...consensus on the plane ride home was, "um...no thanks"....so EJ was "2nd fiddle".....BOTH had "several broken strings" IMO.........

That's why you never draft a QB because the "timing" is right. If there isn't a guy you like, sign a vet and wait til next year.

 

By the way, Robert Woods is f'ing crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited December 28, 2018 by LSHMEAB

[Rico]

2 minutes ago, wppete said:

What’s up with bashing EJ lately???? 

Lately? It's always good times bashing EJ.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 hours ago, Trogdor said:

None of that helped, but he had his fair share of issues in college too. He really under performed at both levels and I think we discount that too often here. I can't think of a QB who wasn't a proven winner just developing into one in the NFL. 

 

Please define what you mean by "proven winner" at the college level.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

1 hour ago, Bangarang said:

Seems like yesterday when so many people were arguing about how EJ was our next franchise QB.

 

You never believed in Santa or the tooth fairy??

 

irrational hope was all we had!

37 minutes ago, wppete said:

What’s up with bashing EJ lately???? 

 

It’s  how you warm up your Allen bash game when it’s still just a few games to soon to start piling on him 

Edited December 28, 2018 by Over 29 years of fanhood

[Boca BIlls]

Same thing that went on with every year of EJ... he isnt good.

[BillyWhiteShows]

13 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

I think it's just another great example of the tremendous gap in overall talent between top college football teams and the NFL.  

 

I was a huge EJ fan, but I think the NFL game was just too fast for him.

 

I do, however, think that being drafted by the Bills killed his career before it even started.  There couldn't have been a worse time/place to be a young QB.

 

The problem was that EJ never was a first round talent to begin with.  2013 was a very weak year for quarterbacks and rather than taking in the 3rd or 4th round, Buddy made him a 1st round pick which set the bar way too high to begin with.  It didn’t help to have Whaley double down as trade for Sammy the next season.  

 

I don’t think anything went wrong for EJ.  He just wasn’t good enough to be a starting QB in the NFL and the Bills were so desperate they reached huge for him.  

 

I do agree - he was put in a really bad situation though I doubt he had the talent to be a good NFL QB to begin with

[Fr. Jerk]

Drafting EJ was wrong, giving up future drafts to get Sammy to help EJ is where it went really wrong. 

Edited December 28, 2018 by The Jerk

[dayman]

EJ was a terrible pick. He wasn't that good at FSU and it was a bizarre reach to stake the team/executive future on him. Nothing went wrong with his development he was never going to make it. 

[qwksilver]

When can we start the Joe Dufek topics?

[Straight Hucklebuck]

When Doug Whaley talked about why he loved EJ Manuel the entire talk was about his leadership, presence and size. No mention of his accuracy, his decision making, his productivity.

 

He didn’t have many 300 yard games in college relative to his draft status. FSU immediately won the National Championship after he left. 

 

Manuel has some dud games in his rookie year, including Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay.

 

I think what went wrong was he never could read a defense, never fixed his accuracy issues and what I noticed was the for a guy that was billed as having a huge arm he never seemed to step into throws or put any steam into his throws. He threw a lot of checkdown floaters. Questionable instincts for the game as well. He would try to spin away from the rush and inadvertedly go head-first right back into it. 

 

Ultimately he was a lot like Trent Edwards, Tyrod Taylor and Josh Allen (so far). He led an offense that really only could muster one (1) TD drive a game. The offense was unproductive and went 3-out. 

[dayman]

I live in Florida, not one Florida grown college fan (FSU or UF or Miami) believed that EJ was anything more than average. Ever. Doug thought he was far better than loyal FSU fans that wanted nothing more than to defend him/support him. 

Edited December 28, 2018 by dayman