The Buffalo Bills shocked the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Week 1, thanks to big plays made on both sides of the ball. The Bills needed every big play they got to beat the Bears in OT and take a major step towards disproving those who had the team pegged as a 4-5 win team in 2014. Quarterback EJ Manuel was credited with giving the team a spark it hadn’t had before, but not at a time or in a manner that you’d expect.
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In a radio interview with KISS 98.5 FM, veteran cornerback and Bills newcomer Corey Graham credited a locker room speech from Manuel as the reason the team played so well on Sunday. The quote was transcribed by the team’s website.
"“EJ was fired up,” said Graham. “He got the whole team fired up. He pretty much inspired everybody. It was the first time on any team I’ve been on where I’ve seen a quarterback get that excited and get that fired up and excited and ready to play a game. That really got guys pushed over the top and really got guys ready to play. That’s what they were talking about when they said the locker room was different and how excited everybody was and how focused everybody was. It was EJ. It was EJ leading, it was EJ inspiring and it was EJ bringing some passion with it. I think that’s what everybody was talking about.”"
Lost in all the talk of whether or not EJ Manuel can handle the NFL is the fact that Manuel was drafted for his intangibles as much as he was for his big stature and strong arm. Manuel was known as a strong leader at Florida State and while he wasn’t named a team captain, the fact wasn’t lost on EJ that the team would only go as far as his performance. Thanks to his talk, it appears everyone elevated their own performance enough to move to 1-0 on the season.