Entering his second season in the NFL, Buffalo Bills quarterback EJ Manuel has had a hard go at it during training camp. Reports out of Bills camp haven’t necessarily been positive as it relates to Manuel’s progression from year one to year two.
Joe Buscaglia of WGR 550 in Buffalo filed this story from Bills camp after Thursday’s practice.
The same EJ Manuel that was seen during Tuesday’s practice reappeared on Wednesday. For the second straight day, Manuel was apprehensive, indecisive and mostly inaccurate. His most common course of action on any given play was to look for his first read to be open, pat the ball in the pocket and either take a sack or throw an inaccurate pass. The inconsistency in going through his progressions has to be the most maddening part for the coaching staff.
This most definitely isn’t a good sign. Indecisiveness on the football field and an inability to go through progressions are issues that most young quarterbacks improve on from their first season to their second. Apparently this isn’t the case with Manuel, who struggled big time in Buffalo’s preseason debut against the New York Giants.
With a ton of talent around him, Manuel doesn’t have any excuses this season. He’s going to need to up his game a great deal in order to be considered the Bills’ quarterback of the future and lead them to a surprise playoff appearance. All indications at this point are that he’s not a good bet to do that.
Manuel finished his rookie campaign with a 4-6 record in 10 starts, throwing 11 touchdowns compared to nine interceptions. Those numbers simply won’t cut it in 2014.
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