Buffalo Bills coach claims sole credit for benching EJ Manuel

The Buffalo Bills announced as a team that they are benching EJ Manuel in favor of veteran Kyle Orton, but it was coach Doug Marrone who claimed it was his call and his call alone to bench Manuel after the second-year quarterback posted dismal starts in back-to-back games.

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“I didn’t ask for an agreement,” Marrone said Monday per Joe Buscaglia of WGR 550. “I just went in there and said ‘This is the direction that I’m going.’”

While Marrone and GM Doug Whaley would love to give more time and support to the quarterback they drafted in the first round just 17 months ago, they can hardly afford the time it would take to dig Manuel out of the hole in which he’s clearly buried. Manuel has been indecisive, inaccurate and ineffective for the most part this season and with new ownership coming into Buffalo, Marrone and Whaley know that if they can’t win in 2014, they might be updating their resume in the spring of 2015.

Marrone is taking a big gamble in benching Manuel. Even if you put aside any talk of stunting the young quarterback’s development, just telling the public that you’re already giving up on a first-round pick can be a good way to get pie on your face.

Unfortunately, this is the corner the Bills coaching staff and management have backed themselves into. They drafted Manuel higher than many expected and now they must live with their decision one way or another. At least in this case, Doug Marrone is making it clear whose decision this was.

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