Is Buffalo Ready to Shift to Another Direction?

Bills Fanatics BF
Sep 2, 2014
3 min read

Recent reports about the quarterback position has many Buffalo Bills fans abuzz when the report stated that 2nd year quarterback EJ Manuel has a short leash in Western New York. This speculation began when the Bills cut both of their backup quarterbacks and signed the retired journeyman Kyle Orton a few days ago. One report stated, “one of the things that Buffalo was eying when they brought in Orton is they wanted a guy with starting experience because they may have to jettison EJ Manuel as a starting quarterback very quickly. They're not very confident with what they saw in the preseason. If you go back to the off season, coach Doug Marrone was told by at least 2 people in the organization and players that they did not believe that EJ Manuel had enough talent to be a starting quarterback in the NFL... If things don't go well quickly, you could see EJ Manuel on the bench.”

No one knows how EJ Manuel will play this season so this is all just speculation until he plays. If you look at Manuel's 2013 campaign, you'd see a season riddled with injury leading to inconsistent play and overall disappointment. If you look closer, you'll see that Manuel wasn't even all that bad last year. He just wasn't very good. Check the stats yourself.

He showed flashes of the potential that made the Bills choose him in the 1st round of the 2013 NFL draft and he also showed us why some people thought he was a huge reach there. Bottom line: the Bills knew he was raw when they drafted him and raw talents need time to become a finished product. So anyone who thought that Manuel was going to take the NFL by storm had unrealistic expectations. Those not enamored with Manuel's play should also temper exceptions should the Bills decide to go in a different direction with the only other direction being Kyle Orton.

Let's be real: there's a reason Orton has lost every opportunity to start and was on an NFL bench holding a clipboard before he retired. It makes little sense to bench a 24 year old, 2nd year quarterback—one that the Bills knew needed time to develop—in favor of a 31 year old, 11th year quarterback who has a career completion percentage of 58.5 and career average yards per attempt of 6.6. In case you were wondering, EJ completed 58.8% of his passes for 6.44 yards per attempt as a rookie.

The last time Orton saw more than 250 attempts was in 2011 when he started with the Broncos, losing his job to the woeful Tim Tebow, and finished with the Chiefs. That season, Orton completed 59.5% of his passes for 6.98 yards per attempt with 9 touchdowns and 9 attempts. Those numbers don't inspire confidence in me and it shouldn't inspire confidence in any of you. Out of his 70 games started, Orton has gone 35-35. Sure, the Bills haven't finished 8-8 since 2004 but 8-8 rarely gives you the opportunity to make the playoffs. Patriots sitting near the top of the AFC, a guy that has proven himself to only be an 8-8 guy over his 10 year career isn't going to put the Bills in any better position than the guy most fans have already written off. That's especially not the case when you look at his last 22 starts where he went a very underwhelming 6-16. If Manuel struggles badly early and appears to have regressed, I can see an argument being made to bench him in favor of Orton but only in that scenario.

Regardless of how much we speculate on the upcoming season, no one will be able to make any sound judgments until the pigskin starts to fly. Luckily for us, the NFL kickoff is less than 48 hours away. If there is really a quarterback controversy, I'd like to hear your thoughts on it via twitter @IceyVick #EJvsKO. Make sure you check out the Bills Fanatics on facebook and twitter!