Buffalo Bills: Fred Jackson says EJ Manuel not getting enough pass protection
By Cory Buck
The Buffalo Bills offense struggled with EJ Manuel under center for the second week in a row as they lost to the Houston Texans 23-17. The offense once again showed why it’s a different unit altogether without the lead. Manuel received plenty of criticism for missing throws once more, but running back Fred Jackson was quick to defend the second-year quarterback, citing brutal pass protection against a stingy Texans front.
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“I think one of the things that we can do to help him as a total offense is keep him upright on his feet,” Jackson said via the team’s website. “If you look at the way he had to play yesterday he was constantly being flushed out of the pocket. He was constantly being hit every time he threw the ball. They did a great job of getting pressure on him. We didn’t handle line stunts well for the second week in a row so we can expect to see that again.”
EJ Manuel was under fire all day as J.J. Watt tore up an overmatched Bills offensive line that was a team strength even as recently as last season. Now, the protection is a mess, making judgement of Manuel harder than ever. Still, his numbers were ugly, as Manuel went 21-for-44 for 225 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs, one of which was returned for a touchdown by Watt.
Jackson still maintained that the offense as a whole was the bigger failure. “We can’t sit here and say it’s all EJ’s fault and when we go back and look at the film today we’ll see that. We’ll see that we didn’t do our job of protecting him and it’s the same old thing.”
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