FanPost

Summary of EJ Drop Backs vs Det

For the second preseason game in a row, I left The Ralph a bit disheartened Thursday night by the futility of the Bills offense. The 1st team OL run blocking was atrocious, and pass protection was erratic at best. There were too many flat out drops, and there were times I felt players really weren't giving it everything (i.e. Woods 1 handed catch attempt, Goodwin's casual jog back to the line forcing a TO, etc).

However, I did walk away satisfied with what I saw out of EJ. I thought his decision making was good, I saw him going through his progressions pretty quick when he had time in the pocket, his passes seemed relatively accurate, and I even caught him look off his primary, even though it was a quick pass where he already knew where he was going. The positives I took away were only reenforced after I was able to watch the re-broadcast.

Of course, you might think he stunk up the joint listening to the whiners around me at The Ralph or calling WGR post-game, or simply reading the many negative comments on here. FJax drops a screen that has nice touch on it (one of EJ's flaws he seems to be getting better with) and people around me spout out blaming EJ--not based on what actually happened but rather because of habit and they've already formed their opinion about EJ.

So, here's a quick breakdown of the 10 times EJ dropped back.

1. - Completed pass to Woods. Comeback route.

2. - Coverage Sack. All receivers covered.

3. - Dump off to FJax for 1st down.

4. - Threw the ball away. Should have anticipated Sammy getting open, but did throw it away instead of taking the sack.

5. - Sacked. Not enough protection to let routes develop—no check down option.

6. - Incomplete to Sammy. Tough for an outsider to judge if EJ was off on the pass, or Sammy didn’t get to his spot due to contact.

7. - Well thrown screen to FJax that should have been caught.

8. - Woods circus catch. Ball right on target, and bounced off Woods from early contact.

9. - Threw towards Goodwin—appeared off target but again, tough as an outsider to say if there was miscommunication between Goodwin and EJ, or if EJ threw to the right spot and Goodwin couldn’t get there because of PI, or if EJ recognized the contact and threw it that way intentionally or just a bad throw.

1. - The ball was put where Woods could catch it. Could argue it was a hair high, but that’s a pass Woods usually ends up catching.

So yes, EJ’s final stats only put him at 3/7 with 2 sacks. But when you break it down play by play, EJ was making smart decisions, and appeared fairly accurate. In addition, with the exception of the 2 passed to FJax and pass to Sammy, the passes were 10 yrd + routes. Of the 10 drop backs, the only poor decision I noticed was not anticipating Sammy's break on the deep hook but that same play he was smart to throw the ball away instead of taking the sack or trying to force the ball into tight coverage.

I'm not saying any of this definitively indicates that "EJ will be a franchise QB." But for those openly criticizing every single misstep, please take a step back and at least try to be objective about his play. From what I'm seeing, I feel there's reason to be cautiously optimistic about what EJ could do for the Bills this year.

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.