Watching Buffalo Bills Coach Doug Marrone hold his post-game media conference Thursday night it was obvious that he has serious concerns about his team. Second year Quarterback EJ Manuel has struggled in the vanilla offense the Bills have elected to use in the Preseason, but not as bad as his Offensive line. On top of that star rookie draft pick Sammy Watkins obviously has a rib injury that is not going away soon. To outsiders, the Bills appear to be about ready to stumble out of the starting gate. Marrone’s face shows that may be the concern internally as well.
I’m a believer that Preseason football usually is not a strong indication of how a team will perform during the regular season. Most teams don’t game plan, playing it straight up on offense and defense with few wrinkles. For that reason I am not ready to write off the Bills for the 2014 season. Still, they have shown few signs offensively that they will be any better than last year’s team.
The starting Offensive line has broken down too often in protection and it has hurt Manuel. EJ does not have a quick release and his foot work is suspect. Pressure magnifies these deficits and the result is poor accuracy and turnovers.
Ron Jaworski has done an excellent job using the ESPN illustrator to show Manuel’s poor delivery and footwork and why he sometimes struggles. His inconsistency in these areas has slowed his growth and these short comings were never corrected in college. Whether EJ can correct these flaws and become the franchise quarterback the Bills desperately need must be a growing concern within the Bills front office.
The Bills offensive line has also greatly under performed. Center Eric Woods was so upset after the Tampa Bay performance that he left after the game carrying his shoes so reporters couldn’t stop him to ask questions.
Second round draft choice Cyrus Kouandjio, the tackle from Alabama, has failed to live up to the expectations of such a high pick. Insiders have told me that Kouandjio would do no better than making the practice squad if not for the fact the team used a second round pick on him. Ironically it’s the seventh round pick, Seantrel Henderson from Miami, that is in the starting lineup.
The one issue that concerns me the most is that this team has been working with this coaching staff since April on technique and the system. Yet, after each game this summer you hear players talking about how they just need to improve on mental mistakes and “execution”. That begs the question, “What have you been doing in all of those practices”?
Next week I’ll roll out my prediction for the 2014 season, not that anyone is holding their breath, but I’ll add mine to the mix. It may not be as bad as many today who have already jumped off the bandwagon, but I wouldn’t cancel any vacation plans for Florida in January.
Filed under: Koshinski's Korner
Tagged with: Buffalo Bills, Doug Marrone
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