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Film Room: The development of E.J. Manuel's football mind

Kevin Hoffman / Reuters

Buffalo Bills quarterback E.J. Manuel has started a dozen games - not even a full season - but it seems as though many people expect him to be completely developed. 

Manuel is still learning how to play his position in the NFL and it's a role with nuances that are tough to grasp. Few are masterminds like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, who are dominant at reading the defense post-snap and knowing where every receiver will be to the final step they take. Manuel isn't yet.

He is still learning that it’s OK to make mistakes. He throws to his outlet too much, usually a simple through to a running back on a flat route. 

Throwing to the flat isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes Brady throws it when he sees his running back mismatched against a linebacker. What makes Brady the best, though, is he also finds a deep receiver when he has the opportunity. Manuel rarely takes advantage of those opportunities.

In Week 1 against the Chicago Bears, Manuel play-faked and rolled out to his right in the first quarter. He had three pass catchers to that side. One was Robert Woods running a shallow crossing route, another was Sammy Watkins running a comeback route, and underneath was Frank Summers running a flat route.

Woods was least open. It would have had to be a tight anticipatory throw. Farther downfield, Watkins had dusted off the cornerback and was turning back to Manuel. It would have required a timing throw and Manuel had enough room to roll his hips and fire away if he wanted it. Instead, he chose to play it safe. Summers was in the flat and covered. Manuel threw it to him on the run and Summers was quickly tackled. A four-yard gain instead of 15 if he hit Watkins.

“I think this is one of the areas where we’ll hopefully see that improvement from E.J. Manuel this year,” said a commentator. “A lot of criticism in his rookie season as being a check-down guy. Always looking for the safe throw underneath. You need to know where that check-down is, but you don’t want to rely on it.”

Whether it’s in the flat or the middle of the field, he has a tendency to rush throws. He becomes unsettled and tries to rid himself of the ball as soon as possible. This results in poorly placed throws that fall short of the marker.

Against the Miami Dolphins in Week 2, Manuel faced a situation that the NFL's best quarterbacks thrive in - third-and-9. The elite passers are aware of the situation, marker, defender and receiver.

Manuel’s go-to receiver on this play was Watkins. He was outside the numbers to the far left. The cornerback across from him was rolled up to the line. The Dolphins were bringing both linebackers and leaving the middle exposed. It was a man-cover blitz.

Man coverage works in favor of quarterback and receiver. They know the route and where the ball should be placed.

Here, Watkins shook the cornerback on a vertical stem and pivoted off his left foot to separate on a square-in. He was open when Manuel took a quick drop back. Manuel, watching him the entire way, hurried to throw the ball as pressure seeped in. 

The pass came out low and took a nosedive as it traveled across the field, forcing Watkins to dive and catch it despite having room to run. The recovering cornerback touched him down four yards behind the marker and the Bills were forced to kick a field goal.

These are simpler throws that make Manuel frustrating to watch at times because they should be routine for him. Sometimes he misses like he did here, as the ball placement was simply off. Other times he is on point and on time and makes it look easy.

Three quarters in against the Bears and Manuel was play-faking again inside midfield. His quick show and pull of the ball sucked the linebackers in. He snapped his head around like the great ones do and immediately looked to his right. Woods was running a curl route that mirrored Watkins’s on the far left. Manuel reached the top of his drop and hitch-stepped forward. He looked at Watkins, who was fighting off a Cover-3 cornerback playing an outside shade and tight on the break. Manuel windmilled and fired at Watkins.

Watkins was just getting out of his break. He turned around and the ball was barreling down. To avoid an interception by the recovering linebacker, he came back to the ball and caught it.

The great quarterbacks do this all the time. They’re consistent and that’s what Manuel’s working toward. It takes a long time to develop that, certainly more than 12 starts.

Two weeks into the 2014 season and Manuel’s numbers look better than last year. They’ve improved significantly. His completion percentage has jumped from 58 percent to 66 percent. His yards per attempt have also jumped from 6.4 to 7.8. He completed a career-high 72.7 percent of his passes against the Bears in Week 1, with his best pass coming on a 25-yard throw to Watkins.

Manuel took a quick drop and watched the defense unveil its coverage. The weak safety rotated down and the strong safety rotated to the middle late from a two-deep shell. It was Cover-1 Robber. This meant Manuel and his receivers had to beat man coverage. Another situation where they should shine.

On the right, Manuel knew Watkins ran a deep dig route. He also knew that if he looked left where his other receiver ran a post route, he could freeze the safety.

He looked left and then down the middle. His upfield shoulder was still pointing to the left, though. The deep safety is stuck. Abruptly Manuel turned right and throws under pressure.

Watkins was still sinking his hips and hadn’t cut to the middle yet. The cornerback outside of him was expecting help in the middle from the safety, who was still backpedaling. Watkins cut to the middle and extended his arms to catch the pass and run an extra few yards.

It’s difficult to expect these kinds of throws routinely from Manuel. Many pro quarterbacks struggle to put together a string of high-level throws, let alone do it every weekend. They miss open receivers and running backs and even worse, they throw interceptions.

Those things happen to quarterbacks and they are going to happen to Manuel as well, because he’s still developing.

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