HOF Game: Game Balls & Goats

[swiper]

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Who Helped Themselves: Several players helped themselves with their performance in the 17-13 loss to the Giants yesterday. Marcus Easley helped his chances of making the team as a special teams ace with a blocked punt. Robert Woods surprisingly was with the second unit but made his case to get back with the ones as he led the team with 49 yards receiving on four catches including the team's only touchdown. Jeff Tuel got the first shot at the backup quarterback spot and looked good on his 80 yard scoring drive. He finished 12 of 17 for 74 yards but did throw a pick. Bryce Brown was the fourth running back off the bench but had the best stats gaining 40 yards on just 7 carries.Seantrel Henderson didn't look out of place at left tackle holding his own fairly well. Kyle Williams looked in midseason form by forcing a turnover and Duke Williams made his presence known with a few good plays and one vicious hit.


Who Hurt Themselves: EJ Manuel didn't calm everyone's worries about his play in camp as he went just 2 of 7 for 19 yards in two series of play in the 17-13 loss to the Giants. Cyrus Kouandjio struggled mightily at right tackle. T.J. Graham continued his recent string of drops in this game with a couple of passes going off of hands. Michael Carter has struggled in training camp and didn't do himself any favors when he was beaten for a 73 yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter by rookie Corey Washington.

link (http://www.billsdaily.com/news/)

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

Good post. I would also add that the first string d looked very stout

[kishoph]

With EJ it's hard to judge with 2 series, he had some nice balls he had a terrible one. Batted balls happen, it could easily be blamed on the O-lineman not keeping the D-lineman engaged. D-lineman are starting to back off the line to try and bat down balls (EJ had 3 balls batted down last season). Every time JJ Watts bats down a ball, is it the QB's fault ? The good, the pass to Williams in the end zone was placed perfectly. The quick out to William was an audible from a run play, good play. The deep ball to Watkins missed by a 2 steps. Good and bad.
Seantrel Henderson look like a solid backup to Glenn, possibly a move to the right side when Glenn comes back.
The starting front 7 looked awesome.
TJ Graham looked like he's on his way out, especially with the way Hogan has looked in camp.

Fred Jackson, 2 carries for 6 yds. Cj Spiller 1 carry for 2 yds. They both sucked, cut them. :winkpunch

[Fletch]

http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by BillsDaily.com


Who Helped Themselves: Several players helped themselves with their performance in the 17-13 loss to the Giants yesterday. Marcus Easley helped his chances of making the team as a special teams ace with a blocked punt. Robert Woods surprisingly was with the second unit but made his case to get back with the ones as he led the team with 49 yards receiving on four catches including the team's only touchdown. Jeff Tuel got the first shot at the backup quarterback spot and looked good on his 80 yard scoring drive. He finished 12 of 17 for 74 yards but did throw a pick. Bryce Brown was the fourth running back off the bench but had the best stats gaining 40 yards on just 7 carries.Seantrel Henderson didn't look out of place at left tackle holding his own fairly well. Kyle Williams looked in midseason form by forcing a turnover and Duke Williams made his presence known with a few good plays and one vicious hit.


Who Hurt Themselves:EJ Manuel didn't calm everyone's worries about his play in camp as he went just 2 of 7 for 19 yards in two series of play in the 17-13 loss to the Giants. Cyrus Kouandjio struggled mightily at right tackle. T.J. Graham continued his recent string of drops in this game with a couple of passes going off of hands. Michael Carter has struggled in training camp and didn't do himself any favors when he was beaten for a 73 yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter by rookie Corey Washington.







Every time JJ Watts bats down a ball, is it the QB's fault ?

When he throws them just above head height? Uhh, yeah! That last one looked like it could have beaned that LB in the head had he been standing straight up.

Manuel was a continuation of his horrid self last season.

It's way too early to be saying much about any of these guys right now, they were in for what, two series, the starters anyway.

I think that the piece on Bills Daily is accurate to the extent that we can form opinions on so few data points thus far this season. For the returning players we can default to last season's performances until proven otherwise. Looking at KneeJ here.

Woods played right where he left off. Graham hasn't ever done much of anything include return well, I see no reason why he'll be kept around, he offers nothing that can't be found in several other players. McKelvin and Goodwin can both return better and Graham offers nothing except parts of what Watkins and Goodwin offer in the receiving game.

I thought that Henderson played very very well even against the Giant 2nd team. I think he may end up being the best player in this draft class after Watkins.

I wouldn't say that Tuel looked good, but he looked better than KneeJ. 4.3 ypa? We've gotta get out of this dinky-dunky mode or we're going nowhere. 4.5 ypa as a team. Last season we were ranked near the bottom in ypa, that's gotta change.

If you ask me Preston Brown should have been on that second list too, he was getting pushed all over the place. Wasn't impressed by Bryce Brown like BD was. He'll have to do better than that against backups to impress.

Seems like this game was just to get everyone's feet wet. I presume that's why they threw 40 times and ran only 19 (non-QBs), to evaluate the QBs. That's not a good ratio for the season.

Anyone notice Gaines at all?

[swiper]

EJ Manuel gets 3 balls batted in one game. How does that happen to a QB of his size?

He telegraphs each and every throw. All you have to do is look at him. Lamar Woodley (I think it was on NFLN this morning) even pointed out that they had him in ONE READ plays. Drop back and he only gets one choice. He has to start looking around and head faking the defense. He can't do it. He's like a deer in the headlights.

Tuel looked more composed, but is by no means an NFL starter candidate. Sad.

2014 Buffalo Bills: good team with bad QBs. Period.

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

EJ Manuel gets 3 balls batted in one game. How does that happen to a QB of his size?

He telegraphs each and every throw. All you have to do is look at him. Lamar Woodley (I think it was on NFLN this morning) even pointed out that they had him in ONE READ plays. Drop back and he only gets one choice. He has to start looking around and head faking the defense. He can't do it. He's like a deer in the headlights.

Tuel looked more composed, but is by no means an NFL starter candidate. Sad.

2014 Buffalo Bills: good team with bad QBs. Period.

unfortunately in todays NFL it is almost impossible to have a 'good' team when your QB is bad. But yea, yesterday did not alleviate my fears about EJ one bit

[better days]

It is one thing to be inaccurate & throw int's but to throw 3 batted balls in that short a period of time?

TERRIBLE. EJ should be the big concern of everyone at this point.

[Buffalo Thriller]

Is it just me or does both EJ and Tuel have bizarre throwing motions?

[Night Train]

EJ should be the big concern of the coaching staff at this point.


Corrected.

I can't be concerned if I can't personally do anything about it. All I can do is watch.

[MikeInRoch]

I don't blame Tuel for the pick he threw - that one should probably have been caught by the receiver. There was a pass a couple plays before that, tho, that was into ridiculous double coverage that should have been a pick and never should have been thrown.

[JoeMama]

EJ locked on to his primary WR all night with only 2 exceptions. The DB's followed his eyes and knew where to go, so his passes were virtually gift wrapped.

He should've had an ugly INT but luckily it was dropped.

Like clockwork, Manuel overthrew a wide open WR down the seam. Watkins beat his man easy on that play. You gotta make that completion if you're an NFL QB.

I only liked two of EJ's passes. The completion where he actually made a second read (wow, semi-progression!) and found his guy. The other was a beautiful pass to Mike Williams that he didn't haul in. I like that play because EJ did something I want to see more of: he trusted his WR in man-to-man coverage and fired it. So I'd say Mike Williams let him down on that one. The ball was well placed. There was some contact in the endzone, but I'd still like to see that one caught by a veteran WR.

Other than that, Manuel stared down his primary WR and delivered the ball in the utterly predictable fashion that opposing D's enjoy so much.

The 3 passes that were batted down were frustrating as well. What's the point of having prototypical size/height if you can't get the ball past the D-Line? EJ needs to make more use of his physical tools.

On the flip side, even if he had a great game, it's still the preseason. Hard to get very high or low based on these horrible, glorified scrimmages.

[Fletch]

On the flip side, even if he had a great game, it's still the preseason. Hard to get very high or low based on these horrible, glorified scrimmages.

I don't think that anyone's high or low on KneeJ based on this horrible glorified scrimmage, they're low on him because since he was drafted he hasn't improved and at the moment looks like he may even have regressed. While that's something that just about everyone has dismissed as a possibility, it is a very real possibility.

[Albany,n.y.]

If Cyrus Kouandjio wasn't a 2nd round pick, he'd get cut & at best signed to the practice squad. It's a good thing Henderson is making up for the Kouandjio mistake. If the reason for Kouandjio's poor play is his knee, have him go in for surgery and put him on IR, because on the 2014 roster he's going to be useless anyway.

[Woodman]

He looks like a project at best right now ... I hope we aren't prepared to throw in the towel quite yet.

[JoeMama]

I don't think that anyone's high or low on KneeJ based on this horrible glorified scrimmage, they're low on him because since he was drafted he hasn't improved and at the moment looks like he may even have regressed. While that's something that just about everyone has dismissed as a possibility, it is a very real possibility.

What are you talking about?

EJ is already on thin ice with 90% of Bills fans based on what I read everyday. The reality that he could/will be a bust seems widely accepted as the norm; myself included. I've never seen a Bills fan say something stupid like "Ya! EJ'z gunna totes rock 4 lyfe!!! Luv tha guy!!! <3"

Your delusional grandstanding that "just about everyone" dismisses that EJ could regress makes it sound like you only read your own posts.

Almost everybody acknowledges he's a question mark at best, an automatic bust at worst.

[The King]

The other was a beautiful pass to Mike Williams that he didn't haul in. I like that play because EJ did something I want to see more of: he trusted his WR in man-to-man coverage and fired it. So I'd say Mike Williams let him down on that one. The ball was well placed. There was some contact in the endzone, but I'd still like to see that one caught by a veteran WR.



If that ball is caught I don't think anyone complains about EJ today.

[better days]

If that ball is caught I don't think anyone complains about EJ today.

My complaint is about the batted balls & Marrone did say two of those were on the OL.

Still, that needs to be cleaned up.

[DraftBoy]

EJ locked on to his primary WR all night with only 2 exceptions. The DB's followed his eyes and knew where to go, so his passes were virtually gift wrapped.

He should've had an ugly INT but luckily it was dropped.

Like clockwork, Manuel overthrew a wide open WR down the seam. Watkins beat his man easy on that play. You gotta make that completion if you're an NFL QB.

I only liked two of EJ's passes. The completion where he actually made a second read (wow, semi-progression!) and found his guy. The other was a beautiful pass to Mike Williams that he didn't haul in. I like that play because EJ did something I want to see more of: he trusted his WR in man-to-man coverage and fired it. So I'd say Mike Williams let him down on that one. The ball was well placed. There was some contact in the endzone, but I'd still like to see that one caught by a veteran WR.

Other than that, Manuel stared down his primary WR and delivered the ball in the utterly predictable fashion that opposing D's enjoy so much.

The 3 passes that were batted down were frustrating as well. What's the point of having prototypical size/height if you can't get the ball past the D-Line? EJ needs to make more use of his physical tools.

On the flip side, even if he had a great game, it's still the preseason. Hard to get very high or low based on these horrible, glorified scrimmages.

I thought Williams mistimed the jump on that pass, seemed he was a second early and that caused him to miss it. Pretty throw though.

[Thief]

I thought Williams mistimed the jump on that pass, seemed he was a second early and that caused him to miss it. Pretty throw though.So, you didn't see the DB pulling down on his arm?

[Thief]

I think Duke Williams and S. Henderson actually increased their stock more than anyone.

[DraftBoy]

So, you didn't see the DB pulling down on his arm?

I saw the DB with a hand in there, but it wasn't PI if that is what you're implying. It was a good football play and the just missed the timing. Its the preseason that's when these things are supposed to happen.

[swiper]

Corrected.

I can't be concerned if I can't personally do anything about it. All I can do is watch.

Exactly right. I can't get too concerned over it. But Marrone, Hackett, and Whaley have to if it isn't soon improved upon.

[kishoph]

My complaint is about the batted balls & Marrone did say two of those were on the OL.

Still, that needs to be cleaned up.

According to pro football focus, EJ had 3 balls batted down at the line of scrimmage last season (according to WGR), so it's not like it's been an ongoing problem. The 1st one was batted down by Mathias Kiwanuka and he just got a hand on it, if he hadn't, Watkins was coming across the middle with a lot of open space. The 2nd one was batted down by Jason Pierre-Paul a 2 time pro bowler and All-Pro, on the play Manuel is looking right then comes back to the left to make the throw (not staring down the receiver). The reason I mention the D-linemen is because these guys get paid to make these plays and are starting to ease up on rushing the QB to drop back. Every time JJ Watt knocks down a pass, is it the QB's fault ? Also watch Kraig Urbik's reaction on the 1st batted down pass, to me he certainly looks like he's upset with himself, offensive linemen need to keep the D-line engaged so they can't be free to bat these balls down.
EJ needs work and he makes mistakes, (the pass that should of been picked, was terrible) but it's to where every little thing he does is scrutinized with bias. Even on the deep pass to Watkins, that ball misses by 2 steps at the most, some would have you think he overthrew him by 10 yards. These guys just started working together, soon they'll be connecting on more of them than not.

Just for kicks, if Mike Williams makes that catch, we're not talking about batted down balls.

[Mr. Pink]

Seantrel Henderson was easily the biggest shock of the game...handled JPP easily.

Cyrus Koujandio looked lost and was a turnstile.

[Buffalogic]

Yeah, the announcers were really shocked and impressed how big and deep the oline was. Kept mentioning it. This is the best team we've had in a decade, we better win.

[ServoBillieves]

Landon Cohen most certainly helped his standing. A man amongst boys out there with the scrub team, if he does half of what he did against the 3rd/4th stringers against starters I wouldn't mind that depth.

[Mike]

With EJ it's hard to judge with 2 series, he had some nice balls he had a terrible one. Batted balls happen, it could easily be blamed on the O-lineman not keeping the D-lineman engaged. D-lineman are starting to back off the line to try and bat down balls (EJ had 3 balls batted down last season). Every time JJ Watts bats down a ball, is it the QB's fault ? The good, the pass to Williams in the end zone was placed perfectly. The quick out to William was an audible from a run play, good play. The deep ball to Watkins missed by a 2 steps. Good and bad.
Seantrel Henderson look like a solid backup to Glenn, possibly a move to the right side when Glenn comes back.
The starting front 7 looked awesome.
TJ Graham looked like he's on his way out, especially with the way Hogan has looked in camp.

Fred Jackson, 2 carries for 6 yds. Cj Spiller 1 carry for 2 yds. They both sucked, cut them. :winkpunch

Look this isn't Manning back there that went 2-7 with some accuracy issues.

Its EJ and he looked the same in practice, he looked the same last season, and he was the same at FSU... so this isn't an aberration, a freak occurrence outside the norm. No this is the norm, this is EJ.

[SpikedLemonade]

Seantrel Henderson was easily the biggest shock of the game...handled JPP easily.

Cyrus Koujandio looked lost and was a turnstile.

I agree.

Any opinion on Cyril Richardson?

I don't know if I saw him out there.

[Generalissimus Gibby]

Balls:

Jim Kelly, yeah I know he didn't play but I love that guy.

The first team D, if they can stay healthy this team might actually be able to stop some drives this year

Robert Woods, good catches

Goats:

EJ, Tuel, and Lewis.

Second and third team defenses.

[kishoph]

Look this isn't Manning back there that went 2-7 with some accuracy issues.

Its EJ and he looked the same in practice, he looked the same last season, and he was the same at FSU... so this isn't an aberration, a freak occurrence outside the norm. No this is the norm, this is EJ.

Has he looked the same in practice ? Maybe for the first week, but for the past week he has looked good and has even drawn praise from his harshest critics. Stop getting your camp reports from the Billszone message board.

[John Doe]

Balls:

Jim Kelly, yeah I know he didn't play but I love that guy.

The first team D, if they can stay healthy this team might actually be able to stop some drives this year

Robert Woods, good catches

Goats:

EJ, Tuel, and Lewis.

Second and third team defenses.

Tuel a goat? I thought that he was one of the bright spots.

[Generalissimus Gibby]

Tuel a goat? I thought that he was one of the bright spots.

That pick in the end zone was all to reminiscent of last year.

[John Doe]

That pick in the end zone was all to reminiscent of last year.

The one where it bounced off of TJ Graham's hands?

I guess that you can blame Tuel for thinking that Graham could catch a ball in traffic, but I don't think that he deserves a "goat" for it.

[stuckincincy]

If Cyrus Kouandjio wasn't a 2nd round pick, he'd get cut & at best signed to the practice squad. It's a good thing Henderson is making up for the Kouandjio mistake. If the reason for Kouandjio's poor play is his knee, have him go in for surgery and put him on IR, because on the 2014 roster he's going to be useless anyway.

Always a good parking plan. CIN does that with frequency - I predict that their dumb 5th rnd pick qb AJ McCarron hits the list.