A lot of buzz has been made by former WGR 550 Buffalo Bills beat reporter and current Bills beat reporter for WKBW Ch. 7 Joe Buscaglia about EJ Manuel's future with the Bills (http://www.wkbw.com/sports/bills/joe-b-sans-progress-ej-may-be-done-in-buffalo). It appears that the honeymoon with the 2013 first round pick and the supposed to be franchise QB is likely over unless he shows major improvement this summer from what has been a disappointing two-year stint. Manuel was drafted to be the franchise QB that this franchise has lacked since Jim Kelly retired in 1996 and so far it has not materialized.
It has been coined a "make or break year" for EJ, who will be battling for the starting job along with newcomers Matt Cassel and Tyrod Taylor. This new coaching staff has no ties to EJ Manuel and if they don't think he's the guy, he's likely gone. I think that's the right move if that's the case, there's no reason to keep him around if he can't beat out Cassel and/or Taylor. I think if he's not even the starter it might just be time to move on from him, let alone be the backup. Nothing against Cassel and Taylor but they aren't the best QBs in the league and they're here for a reason and if EJ can't beat them out, he'll never be the guy.
Of course Doug Whaley drafted him, well depending on who you ask some say it's Buddy Nix's pick but Whaley doesn't shy away from picking Manuel as it was a Buffalo Bills pick. Whaley I'm sure wants him to succeed and it makes him look a lot better. Some are ridiculous stating since this report came out that EJ is behind Jeff Tuel and is the 4th QB on the depth chart and that's just absolutely bogus. If for some reason he's behind Tuel, then cut him now.
I know Manuel has only 14 starts, which is still not a full 16-game season, but he's had two seasons worth of mini camps, OTAs, training camps, and preseasons and make it three after this summer. I don't think 14 starts is enough but I feel three seasons worth of all the above mentioned practices, preseason and regular season games is enough to tell you whether the guy is good or not and if he's improving or regressing.
It's not that Manuel was awful as he was just 6-8 as a starter (6-7 in games in which he finished after being injured against Cleveland his rookie year), but he continued to regress and show inaccuracy after coming back from injury in the middle of his rookie season. He missed six games due to injury his rookie season as he suffered three separate knee injuries (one was in preseason). His career completion percentage is just 58.6 and he averages 6.4 yards per pass attempt, which is in Trent Edwards territory.
Last season, the Bills traded the 2015 first round pick to move up five spots to draft Sammy Watkins in an attempt to add a big time weapon to help EJ. They basically gave EJ two years at starting QB with the Watkins trade. Manuel was pretty good the first two games of the season as they won the first two. He completed 66.7% of his passes and averaged 7.9 yards an attempt, both were very good. Then Manuel struggled mightily the next two games in which he lost both of them. He was really bad against Houston as his signature moment was throwing a short pass right into JJ Watt's hands, who returned it for a touchdown.
Manuel was benched after that game for a guy who was retired and did not even go to training camp or play in the preseason in Kyle Orton. Orton was not much better except for both Jets games, a half against Detroit, and the 4th quarter against Minnesota. Otherwise he was awful as the team had trouble getting into the end zone. Orton was basically the same as his yards per attempt was basically the same, but he completed 10% more of his passes, big deal considering most of his passes were at or behind the line of scrimmage.
It was sad that the last month or two, Doug Marrone did not bench Orton and put Manuel back in. Now some of that was Marrone being selfish and wanting to win for his own glory to take a buyout and leave after the season to try and get another head coaching job. The other was that sadly, Orton was the "best chance to win." If you couldn't pull an awful Orton for a young first round pick prospect to see what he's done being on the bench, then it doesn't speak very highly for Manuel. It was sad that Manuel was benched for Orton in the first place.
I'd like to see what Manuel can do in Greg Roman's offense. Roman got a lot out of Alex Smith when no one could. Smith is definitely limited but Roman got the most out of him. Then he got a lot out of Colin Kaepernick in terms of throwing the ball down field and especially running for a year-and-a-half until he completely struggled last year. Kaepernick was inaccurate and has always struggled with accuracy issues. But when he throws the ball down the field, he can surely fling it with ease and can make big plays down the field whereas EJ could not. Of course Kaepernick's big time strength was his running ability and can make so many plays with his legs.
I'd like to see Manuel be able to run more as that's supposed to be a strength of his. That's one of the reasons why the Bills drafted him two years ago. He's not the fastest nor most mobile but he can more than make enough plays with his legs. He got injured as a rookie against Cleveland on a spectacular run and Marrone was very cautious to have him run. I don't 100% blame him because you don't want your young QB to get hurt.
The problem was that they never wanted Manuel to run ever, which was a strength of his. When he did run, it was usually just run out of bounds or slide even if it was short of the first down marker because "a punt is better than a turnover" and did not want him to risk injury. Marrone was super conservative. It was definitely Marrone not wanting him to run but when Manuel did run, he would never try and make any sort of move to have a defender miss to pick up a couple of yards and a first down. Get the first down and then slide or run out of bounds.
Marrone and Nate Hackett brought in the Read Option with Manuel's mobility as well as the no huddle and I was super excited. For some reason, they never ran the read option with Manuel running or throwing. Instead, Manuel would just hand the ball off in shot gun to either CJ Spiller or Fred Jackson and getting destroyed for losses. Never did Manuel just take off running after faking a hand off or threw from the read option which is what QBs like Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, RGIII, and even Ryan Tannehill do as they both run and throw to some success. Oh yeah, they scrapped the no huddle as well as injuries and EJ's poor development led to them throwing no huddle out of the playbook.
I did not want the kid to get hurt but if he wasn't going to be play the game right or the way he is capable of playing, then I did not need him in there whatsoever. I'd love to see Rex and Roman let the kid run and try to throw down the field and try to make some plays. Ryan usually let Geno Smith throw down field and Smith would not just run out of bounds when he ran as he would make a move and get the first down. Smith was terrible but Ryan at least let him try to make plays and see if he can play the position or not. I wouldn't mind letting them let Tyrod Taylor loose as they seemed enamored with him and his play making ability.
EJ has a strong arm but he was not accurate down the field. In fact, too many times he'd throw deep passes out of bounds and never kept balls in play for a chance for the receiver to make a play and/or a draw a defensive penalty. Manuel was so inaccurate especially throwing short. He completed only 61% of his passes from 1-10 yards which is very bad. Usually great QBs even decent QBs can complete 1-10 yard passes in the 70% range.
If Manuel can't improve his accuracy the next couple of months, he won't just be on the bench he'll be in the unemployment line. Now Roman can try and improve his accuracy somewhat, but accuracy is something you can't teach and you usually are what you are. I like Manuel he seems like a great person but if he's not the guy then it's time to move on. I just want Ryan and Roman to let him at least try and make plays and if he can't then cut him loose and let's go with Cassel or Taylor.
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