EJ’s last chance at respect

EJ Manuel is a bust.

Another disappointment in the long line of Bills players who were supposed to guide the team to the playoffs. When you finally come to the realization that Buddy Nix swung and missed very badly on him, you start resetting your expectations. EJ is not an NFL starting QB. He’s probably in that 34-38 range for NFL QBs. When you view him as your typical backup QB, you can kind of live with him. Now, if you incorporate the 15 years of baggage and disappointment of EJ being the chosen one who fizzled out, you will never be happy with him.

For the last two years, I’ve had a fondness for rooting for EJ. Sure, most of it had to do with being a fan and hoping and praying we could have a QB breakthrough finally, but a larger part of it was that EJ had so many detractors. I remember writing about how WGR spent a week asking if the Bills should draft a QB 8 games into his rookie year which seemed absurd. I remember when Tim Graham told EJ to his face that they should draft a QB after his rookie year.  In hindsight, they were right. EJ wasn’t good enough.

But the narrative still made me feel bad for him because the Bills didn’t really do him favors in putting him in a position to be the guy and the lack of draft hype didn’t help. Now, even if they never benched him or Mel Kiper mentioned him as a draft steal, we’d probably still be at this point with him. Still, its your classic underdog story of proving the naysayers wrong after getting picked on so much. This happens with Bills fans. You are like a parent who is in denial about your kid being bad and won’t listen to teachers or other parents tell you how to raise your kids. Instead, you find reasons to root for the guy.

Heading into last week’s game, I wanted so badly for EJ to rip it up and prove to the lamestream Pro-cassel media folks that the Bills weren’t wrong in keeping him as a #2. I wanted to shove it in their faces because EJ’s run seemed to be decided as a failure even before it even got started by some and the debate of Cassel vs. EJ was idiotic. Alas, it didn’t happen. He was average for a backup QB, but he had too many valleys in his game which left some ammo in the gun for those who will still continue to shit on him and the backup QB handling.

This week, its a showdown at the O.K. Corral for EJ Manuel. Not just as a possible final start, but his last stand at getting some sort of respect as he’s facing a lot of enemies. He’s facing a coach who pretty much put the kibosh on his starting career in Buffalo. In NJ, Matt Cassel is making his first start against the Giants and you know Tim Graham and John Wawrow are going to live tweet every single completion he makes. Lastly, he’s facing the same crowd of fans that have hated him since his rookie year. He needs to channel all of his negative feelings that I’m sure he has and just zing it. Fuck the haters and the coaches who wish white Cassel was still here. Use that chip on your shoulder as your ally and throw it at the detractors. I get pumped up just thinking about him being able to quiet his critics if he can just have the game of his life.

If EJ struggles this week and the Bills end up losing, this will be my last “I feel bad for EJ/underdog” piece. I can’t always play the stupid parent for protecting their disappointment of a child if he can’t beat the shitty Jags. However, if he wins and plays well, he can at least end his Bills career on a note that he wasn’t the worst QB to ever live like some are trying to make him out to be.

EJ lost his starting job, some coaches don’t like him, and he’s pretty much a punchline. All that is left is his pride. Pride comes from feeling good about yourself and beating the naysayers will only add to it.