Buffalo Rumblings
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Hello, friend! If you've stumbled upon this photo gallery, you've discovered a large chunk of a secret project that we'll tell you more about once said project is made public. For now, enjoy some pictures completely free of context. Go Bills!
WEEK 2: Manuel ducks under the arms of a blitzer, then escapes out of the pocket to his right to turn a sack into a positive play.
WEEK 2: On Buffalo's game-winning drive, Manuel avoided pressure and falling to the turf to get the ball to a back on a dump-off to stop the clock.
WEEK 3: Manuel escapes the grasp of a barely-blocked defensive lineman, moves to his left, sets his feet, sees nobody open, and then takes off upfield for a first-down run.
WEEK 14: Manuel hangs in the pocket until the last possible moment. When his guard is finally beaten, he rolls to his right and picks up positive yardage.
WEEK 14: In the face of pressure, Manuel evades unblocked defenders, keeps his knees off the ground and fires a crazy-difficult throw-away out of bounds, past the line of scrimmage, to avoid taking a loss.
WEEK 15: Manuel slides up and to his left to avoid an unblocked blitzer, then runs through the vacated gap for positive yardage. He exhibited great pocket presence on this play.
WEEK 1: Chandler Jones breaks through unblocked, and Manuel is able to spin out of his grasp to the left.
WEEK 4: Again in the face of a rusher, Manuel spins out of his grasp. Fred Jackson moves to the left with Manuel for a short dump-off.
WEEK 5: You'll remember this play. Manuel sees the left side of the line collapse, escapes with a spin move, and runs for a first down. He was injured at the end of this run.
WEEK 10: Same story. Blocker is beaten, Manuel spins out of the grasp and runs for a first down.
WEEK 10: This time, the rusher comes free off the edge, and Manuel utilizes the spin move to avoid a sack and throw the ball away.
WEEK 11: Noting that the left guard isn't able to nullify a bull rush, Manuel spins out of trouble yet again.
WEEK 13: Yet again, the left side of the line has collapsed, and Manuel is left to spin out of trouble.
WEEK 14: At the last possible second, Manuel spins out of the grasp of a free rusher, keeps his knees out of the dirt, and picks up positive yardage on the ground.
WEEK 14: Finally, a team picks up on this tendency. A blitzer gets free, Manuel spins to his left, and falls into the waiting arms of a defender essentially playing run game contain.
WEEK 14: Manuel spins and rolls to his left when he likely could have reset his feet and stayed in the pocket. The rollout leads his receiver into a big hit from Darrelle Revis.
WEEK 1: Manuel steps through edge traffic, but rather than reset his feet and throw downfield - say, to the deep threat with a step (circled in yellow) - he takes off running.
WEEK 1: Spurred by an edge rusher that Erik Pears has moved upfield, Manuel doesn't reset his feet, which could yield a throw to the slot receiver at the second level. Instead, he checks down on the run.
WEEK 2: After again stepping up into the pocket, Manuel misses a window throw up the left sideline as he stays in running mode and picks up a minimal gain.
WEEK 3: Same story. Steps up. Doesn't reset his feet. Misses an opportunity to either hit the window in the end zone, or check down to his left. Runs for a minimal gain.
WEEK 3: In a clean pocket, Manuel has already started to vacate when he has Scott Chandler sitting down in zone coverage, wide open.
WEEK 3: The problem here isn't necessarily that Manuel vacates; it's that he vacates away from the play side of the field. He has no chance to make anything happen escaping that way.
WEEK 4: Manuel has an opportunity to step up into the pocket here and either try to hit a window to the sideline or throw it away. Instead, he retreats in the pocket, and is stripped from behind.
WEEK 4: Another example of Manuel vacating a perfectly clean pocket. His likely reason for doing so: a lack of trust in two backs picking up a blitzer, which you can see directly in front of him as he begins to roll out.
WEEK 4: Manuel has two receiving options in single coverage converging to the middle of the field if he simply drifts to his left long enough to set his feet and fire.
WEEK 5: This is another example of Manuel retreating backward. The pocket is breaking down here, but moving backwards is never advisable in a league with elite edge rushers.
WEEK 5: As the left guard is beaten, Manuel steps up. One step to his left yields a throwing lane to his tight end as he clears the zone defender.
WEEK 11: This still was snapped just as Manuel began creeping forward as he read the right side of the field. He missed Robert Woods breaking to the corner for a potential score because of the unnecessary movement in a clean pocket.
WEEK 14: Instead of hitting the open slant, Manuel steps toward an unblocked Bucs rusher and is stuffed for no gain.
WEEK 14: Here, you'd like to see him stand pat and hit the already-open curl route. Instead, he's drifting to his left already and has no shot to make a quality throw downfield.
WEEK 15: Manuel doesn't have much happening to his right - his best shot is probably a check-down to the back - but he also has a clean pocket. He doesn't need to run to his left.
WEEK 2: Manuel decides to stand in the pocket, take a hit and try to throw to the open in route downfield. The problem: he keeps the ball away from his body, and he ends up fumbling.
WEEK 15: There's nothing worthwhile happening downfield here; the Bills are covered up. Manuel needs to tuck this ball and take the sack. Instead, the ball's away from his body and he fumbles.
WEEK 3: Manuel steps up into the pocket and identifies a worthwhile one-on-one deep downfield. The problem: he throws off one foot, resulting in a wildly inaccurate throw.
WEEK 4: On a deep shot that was open, Manuel rolls out of a clean pocket into pressure, ends up throwing off of one foot, and the underthrown ball is picked off.
WEEK 10: With plenty of time to set his feet and deliver, Manuel instead throws off his tiptoes and misses an open Stevie Johnson underneath.
WEEK 10: Manuel has two choices here - set your feet, throw and take a hit, or throw on the run. Quarterbacks should always set their feet when they have the opportunity to.
WEEK 10: There's enough space to the sideline on Scott Chandler's route that Manuel can step up, reset his feet and deliver. Instead, he throws as he's trying to evade, resulting in an incompletion.
WEEK 11: Drifting away from blind side pressure, Manuel doesn't set his feet and badly overthrows an open Chris Hogan in the end zone.
WEEK 13: If Manuel stops and sets his feet, he has a pretty easy throw to Stevie Johnson. He keeps rolling instead, takes a whale of a hit, and misses a down after being looked at by trainers.
WEEK 13: This is essentially a throwaway, but only because Manuel doesn't give himself an opportunity for a more accurate throw by setting his feet.
WEEK 15: Set your feet. Throw to a wide open Stevie Johnson. Score six points.
WEEK 2: A rare example of Manuel re-setting his feet after initial pocket movement, then delivering a strike to an open receiver.
WEEK 3: Manuel drifts in the pocket, gets his feet back under him, then steps into an easy pitch-and-catch to Chandler to move the sticks.