Saturday, September 27, 2014

More Needed From Manuel To Avoid Fitz Flashback


It's been nearly a week since an NFL player has been accused of attacking, "disciplining" or trying to kill anyone, so We Want Marangi can fully focus on a truly important issue -- is it time to turn on E.J. Manuel?

No one, other than some perpetually aggrieved internet commenters, has started calling for Kyle Orton yet.

But if Manuel, who has turned in two solid performances and one abysmal outing as the Buffalo Bills got off to a parallel 2-1 start, wants to prevent that near-inevitability, out-playing the guy who he replaced would help.

Buffalo faces the sixth-greatest quarterback in its franchise history in Houston on Sunday. In his first three starts for his fifth professional team, Fitzpatrick has followed the familiar pattern that eventually led the first four to move on -- a couple efficient, if unspectacular efforts followed by a thorough meltdown.

Bills fans would have recognized the Fitzpatrick of Week 3 immediately. With the Texans looking to go 3-0 against the winless and previously hapless New York Giants, Fitzpatrick crushed any such hopes with a pair of first-half interceptions, one of which set up a point-blank New York touchdown to put his team down 14-0. That might sound familiar to anyone who recalls Buffalo's' 48-28 loss to the Jets a little more than two years ago:
Fitzpatrick did not merely throw three interceptions. He threw three horrendous interceptions, misfires that were either incredibly poor reads that misjudged both the Jets’ coverage schemes and the abilities of the interceptors or miserably off-target throws. Or both. Each was thrown in the general direction of a receiver running an out pattern, one of the most basic passes expected of a minimally competent NFL quarterback. 
The timing of the interceptions could not have been worse, either. The first negated Buffalo safety Bryan Scott’s pick of a misguided heave by Mark Sanchez and gave the Jets good field position for their first touchdown drive. The second ended what started as a decent drive, ceding New York an even shorter field for the game’s second score. The third handed Jets corner Antonio Cromartie a 40-yard touchdown that pushed it to 34-7 little more than a minute into the second half, effectively ending the game’s competitive portion.
Like Manuel against San Diego a week ago, or himself incessantly through his Buffalo career, Fitzpatrick made his stat line in a 30-17 loss to the Giants look a little better with a bunch of short completions when they no longer mattered.

At his best, Fitzpatrick embodies the cliche of a quarterbacking "game manager," doing enough to keep his team from getting embarrassed. At less than his best, he causes columnists to write like this:
A team with a franchise quarterback can win with a suspect defense, but the 1985 Bears' D would be lucky to win eight games with Fitzpatrick as their quarterback.
Of course, you will hear more talk like that about Manuel if he looks lousy again against the Texans. Houston's pass rush, missing rookie Jedeveon Clowney, has been average so far, but J.J. Watt is capable of keeping Manuel throwing rushed, high passes and looking to dump the ball to Fred Jackson if the Bills let him.

Fitzpatrick's position is more tenuous. The Texans picked up longtime Patriots backup Ryan Mallett this summer, so a switch would give them the opportunity to see if they need to draft a quarterback next spring and a better shot at a weak AFC South.

Orton has not ever been anyone's quarterback of the future. In a best-case scenario, he gives the Bills what the Texans want from Fitzpatrick -- efficiency without mistakes. But like Fitzpatrick, he has never provided either to multiple franchises for any substantial period of time. Turning to him at any point would amount to surrendering on both Manuel and the season.

Manuel has avoided fatal errors so far this year, and did the same through most of his abbreviated rookie season. But he has not consistently been the playmaker the Bills used the 16th pick in the 2013 draft to select, either.

Beating the Texans, even with a career game, will not signal Manuel's arrival as a playoff-quality quarterback. It should, however, keep anyone from deluding themselves into thinking Orton is an option.

At least for another week.

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