I admit I only watched the first half of that game, but I did not see EJ throw to anyone besides either his primary target or his running backs. He was either staring down his receivers, or dumping it to CJ/Jackson. When I watched Geno he was progressing through his reads, throwing it to all different players. I remember hearing his first 5 passes were to 5 different receivers.
Yup. If you look at the stats in the Giants game, there were six or seven receivers that had one or two catches for X amount of yards. Spreading the ball out to every target.
I liked him coming out of FSU but thought the Bills reached for him and he shouldn't have started from day 1 like he did. Some QB's are able to step in right away and develop. Its clear Manuel would've benefited big time from playing behind a legit QB for a season or two then take over when he's ready.
I agree completely, I find it hard to call anything a "reach" when what you are reaching for is what you believe is going to be your franchise quarterback,. That being said, I thought EJ Manuel was like a Blaine Gabbert type quarterback prospect coming out of FSU. Raw, with prototypical size and good physical tools. Both needed to hold a clipboard for a year or two behind a veteran. Jacksonville threw Gabbert into the fire, and unfortunately he developed some bad tendencies behind a poor offensive line and a suspect wide receiver core. Unlike Gabbert, who I think has already been "tainted" with poor habits based off of his time as a starter, I still think EJ still has time to turn things around granted the Bills give him proper support. I do believe Buffalo wanted to sit him and develop him, but IIRC, Kevin Kolb got injured and EJ was thrown into the fire. I didn't get the whole draft a #1 receiver then trade away your previous #1 receiver, But I am not the familiar with the Bills cap situation and I can only assume it was due to cap reasons; but having dealt with the Sanchez era I strongly believe that a QB really needs to have continuity in his WR core, and that the whole "trusting your WR" doesn't come overnight. I think down the road Geno and EJ will always be compared to each other, both coming out of the "weak" 2013 QB draft class, being the #1 and #2 QB off the board. I wish nothing but the best for EJ Manuel and his career, and hope he does well, and that is coming from a Jets fan.
I think the Bills better have an idea in mind for their next attempt at a franchise QB. I've always hated Manuel, for the reason you stated: everything is a check down. His completion percentages are usually high but he doesn't move his team because he refuses to throw the ball down the field. I'm not just mindlessly bashing a division rival either, I'm really afraid of Ryan Tannehill even though a lot of people are down on him. I think he could be something special for the Fins, Manuel not so much.
It certainly doesn't help his development to get rid of Stevie Johnson going into his 2nd year. That's chemistry down the drain. Watkins is good, but can he carry EJ like Calvin Johnson carries Stafford? I guess we'll find out.
I get the feeling there's a regime wipeout about to happen in Buffalo. When the coach becomes publicly irate at the personnel staff that tells me that he has no confidence in the players they have provided. That's going to get everybody fired if the Bills have a bad season.
EJ Manuel might be the worse passer in the league. At FSU he held them back for 2 years. The minute Winston replaced him they won the National Championship.
173 yards on the road against last years second best offense and WE still won. EJ will probably still only have around 175-200 this week when we blow out the fish. We have all the pieces for EJ to just be a "game manager"
I'll try to be impressed about 173 yards and their offense. If only all the teams got to play against the other teams offense. Remind me how many games he was injured last year and/or how's Sammy's ribs? I'm sure your one offensive weapon worth mentioning will be healthy all year too. At least you'll get another first round pick next year... Oh wait.
