Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

[Yasgur's Farm]

Funny how you state if it wasn't for Stevie and Chandler sucking he would have another W, I think the same credit goes for the defense who won games in spite of Manuel.

Let's not act like we was carrying this team, because that's what franchise QB's do.

The OP is not making excuses for EJ... Just asking the question.

BTW... Speaking of "in spite of"...

Week 1 NE - L - Good enough to win
Week 2 CAR - W - Good enough to win - Game winning drive
Week 3 NYJ - L - Not good enough to win
Week 4 BAL - W - In spite of
CLE - L - Good enough to win but injured
PIT - L - Good enough to win
NYJ - W - Good enough to win
ATL - L - Good enough to win - Should have had game winning drive(s)
TAM - L - Not good enough to win
JAX - W - Good enough to win - Game winning drive

Summary...
4 Wins (Includes 1 Win in spite of VS BAL & 1 win should have had vs ATL)
7 Good enough to win
3 Not good enough to win
2 Game winning drives (should have had 1 more vs ATL)

That's probably admirable enough for a rookie QB in 31 other cities.

[swiper]

[trapezeus]

he is what he is until he proves otherwise. i'm fine running with him again this year, but i would like to see another qb aside from thad pushing him.

thad played really well for who he is and he deserves the 3rd spot. but that second spot needs to be much better and push the envelope to make EJ better or get the number 2 ready to be number 1

[Bill Cody]

he is what he is until he proves otherwise

at that point would you say he is what he isn't?

[mayotm]

The OP is not making excuses for EJ... Just asking the question.

BTW... Speaking of "in spite of"...

Week 1 NE - L - Good enough to win
Week 2 CAR - W - Good enough to win - Game winning drive
Week 3 NYJ - L - Not good enough to win
Week 4 BAL - W - In spite of
CLE - L - Good enough to win but injured
PIT - L - Good enough to win
NYJ - W - Good enough to win
ATL - L - Good enough to win - Should have had game winning drive(s)
TAM - L - Not good enough to win
JAX - W - Good enough to win - Game winning drive

Summary...
4 Wins (Includes 1 Win in spite of VS BAL & 1 win should have had vs ATL)
7 Good enough to win
3 Not good enough to win
2 Game winning drives (should have had 1 more vs ATL)

That's probably admirable enough for a rookie QB in 31 other cities.

I like EJ, but he was absolutely atrocious against Pittsburgh. Did you see that game? He was nowhere close to "good enough to win".

[alohabillsfan]

Pretty deep QB class this year not to pick one up, if the bills pass they are fools!

[Dr. Who]

Rookie qb first game back from injury. Probably don't want to extrapolate from that performance to form a holistic judgement. Or than again, go ahead. Sweeping generalization is a sign of genius with many posters.

[trapezeus]

just saying there were a lot of factors that can make you go either way on EJ and you wouldn't be wrong. without a full season its hard to know if he was plateauing. when he looked uncomfortable, he looked like he was forcing passes. in that second jets game when the jets imploded, he looked really relaxed and without worry.

he can't get hurt this season for week. that's the sad reality. And if he struggles like some thing we could, the team deserves to have a second option that can carry the defense's work forward.

this is a defensive team. it can win on defense if they are mistake free on offense and also get better from last year. they have to switch from being very good to dominating.

[Goobylal]

The OP is not making excuses for EJ... Just asking the question.

BTW... Speaking of "in spite of"...

Week 1 NE - L - Good enough to win
Week 2 CAR - W - Good enough to win - Game winning drive
Week 3 NYJ - L - Not good enough to win
Week 4 BAL - W - In spite of
CLE - L - Good enough to win but injured
PIT - L - Good enough to win
NYJ - W - Good enough to win
ATL - L - Good enough to win - Should have had game winning drive(s)
TAM - L - Not good enough to win
JAX - W - Good enough to win - Game winning drive

Summary...
4 Wins (Includes 1 Win in spite of VS BAL & 1 win should have had vs ATL)
7 Good enough to win
3 Not good enough to win
2 Game winning drives (should have had 1 more vs ATL)

That's probably admirable enough for a rookie QB in 31 other cities.

Yeah, I wouldn't mention the Pgh game as "good enough to win," but the others for sure and you can toss both Dols games, which he would have won, seeing as how Lewis did little in them.

[mayotm]

Rookie qb first game back from injury. Probably don't want to extrapolate from that performance to form a holistic judgement. Or than again, go ahead. Sweeping generalization is a sign of genius with many posters.

Guess you missed the part where I stated that I like EJ. I simply pointed out that he was awful against Pittsburgh and was not "good enough to win"

[Yasgur's Farm]

Yeah, I wouldn't mention the Pgh game as "good enough to win," but the others for sure and you can toss both Dols games, which he would have won, seeing as how Lewis did little in them.

I like EJ, but he was absolutely atrocious against Pittsburgh. Did you see that game? He was nowhere close to "good enough to win".

I could very easily be persuaded to remove that game from the "good enough" category... So that makes 6 of 10 games in which he was "good enough to win".

[Dr. Who]

Guess you missed the part where I stated that I like EJ. I simply pointed out that he was awful against Pittsburgh and was not "good enough to win"

Yes, I missed the context. Sorry about that.

[WagonCircler]

Bills had a QB who couldn't pass
Soon turned out he had knees of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Doug was dead wrong, time to hit rewind.

With apologies to the sexiest woman in Rock & Roll ever.

debbie+harry+3.jpg

[The Jokeman]

Bills had a QB who couldn't pass
Soon turned out he had knees of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Doug was dead wrong, time to hit rewind.

With apologies to the sexiest woman in Rock & Roll ever.

Age didn't agree with your choice but to me even now


is still hot at 55.

[Generalissimus Gibby]

My thoughts, take em or leave em:

1) Can he stay healthy or is he a glass knee/glass ass like Trent Edwards and Robosack respectively?
2) He's just entering year two, it takes a year or two to learn the game. Although he showed flashes last year, so did Trent and so did JP, I want consistency and constant improvement. Sure, he can have a **** the bed game, even Peyton and Brady occassionally have one, but on the whole we have to be able to say he put the team on his back and got a W. He is accurate. He throws lots of TDs and no picks. He manages the game well. He inspires confident. He has to show this

[jills]

The OP is not making excuses for EJ... Just asking the question.

BTW... Speaking of "in spite of"...

Week 1 NE - L - Good enough to win
Week 2 CAR - W - Good enough to win - Game winning drive
Week 3 NYJ - L - Not good enough to win
Week 4 BAL - W - In spite of
CLE - L - Good enough to win but injured
PIT - L - Good enough to win
NYJ - W - Good enough to win
ATL - L - Good enough to win - Should have had game winning drive(s)
TAM - L - Not good enough to win
JAX - W - Good enough to win - Game winning drive

Summary...
4 Wins (Includes 1 Win in spite of VS BAL & 1 win should have had vs ATL)
7 Good enough to win
3 Not good enough to win
2 Game winning drives (should have had 1 more vs ATL)

That's probably admirable enough for a rookie QB in 31 other cities.

Yes, the OP was making excuses.

Here's my take:

Week 1 NE - L - Good enough to win
Week 2 CAR - W - In spite of - Game winning drive thanks to a phantom PI with 14 seconds left, to go along with 1 Td, 1 Int, 1 fumble (1 lost) and 296 yards, thank God the defense forced 1 Int and 6 sacks
Week 3 NYJ - L - Not good enough to win
Week 4 BAL - W - In spite of
CLE - L - Not good enough to win but injured 0 Td's and 129 yds is not good enough to win in my book
PIT - L - Not good enough to win 1 Td and 1 Int to go along with 155 yards while playing craptastic
NYJ - W - Good enough to win
ATL - L - Good enough to win - Should have had game winning drive(s) but he didn't.
TAM - L - Not good enough to win
JAX - W - In spite of - Game winning drive against one of the worst teams in the league, to go along with 193 yards, 2 Td's 1 Int and 2 fumbles (1 lost), thank God the defense forced 2 Int's 3 fumbles and 5 sacks in that game.

So in reality:

4 wins
3 good enough to win
4 not good enough to win
3 in spite of
2 game winning drives (thanks to a phantom PI and the other against one of the worst teams in the league)

This guy's potential screams HOFer to me.

[Goobylal]

The Bills would have won 8 games (the 6 they did plus the Browns and Chefs games) with EJ playing the whole year, should have won a 9th (Atlanta), and arguably should have won the Pats season opener. The Saints, Steelers, Bucs, first Jets, second Pats, and Cincy games likely not.

[Dr. Who]

All this speculation is largely moot. EJ is going to be the starting qb and most likely it will be evident which direction his play is trending. Those who presume to know with certainty are pretenders. I think it's rational to hope he will improve and I admit, aside from the fact that he's an easy person to root for, I'd like him to do well not only for the team and the city, but to dispel the arrogance of his naysayers.

[better days]

Age didn't agree with your choice but to me even now


is still hot at 55.

Blondie was HOT, but I think Tina Turner, Pat Benatar & Cher are in the running for sexiest ever with her.

[Novacane]

I know a lot of people here think they know but fact is they don't. Like it or not he's the starting QB next year so I sure hope he's better than we think he is.