Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

[Yasgur's Farm]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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.

[stuckincincy]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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.

Well said.

[Mr. Pink]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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.

Just like the pretenders who thought JP was garbage from the start right?

This dude is worse than JP.

[stuckincincy]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

Just like the pretenders who thought JP was garbage from the start right?

This dude is worse than JP.

Well - what's you plan? Draft another QB early? Who? What round?

[Bill Cody]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

Just like the pretenders who thought JP was garbage from the start right?

This dude is worse than JP.

we'll see. There is a pretty good chance he improves this year and maybe by a lot, still a very inexperienced player. Manuel also seems to have the strong support of his team mates. My take is "did you see any sign that he could do it" and the answer is yes, at home against the Jets. Can he play at that level most of the time? Why not? An NFL QB builds confidence with experience.

JP was not a leader, not even close. And he had zero sense of pressure. And he was dumb which was strike 3. You were fond of him because he threw a nice deep ball. But that was all he had to offer. The book on Manuel is still open.

[Goobylal]

Re: Is EJ Manuel Better Than We Think He Is?

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.

No, it's rational to give up on a 1st round QB after 10 games in an injury-marred season with a lousy OC and many inexperienced players and take another QB in the 1st round the following draft because that's a proven recipe for success and tons of teams have done it.

Just like the pretenders who thought JP was garbage from the start right?

This dude is worse than JP.

LOL! Sure. That 2nd season, which was his first season starting, was SO much better than EJ's!