"There's always some good to take out of every game," EJ Manuel said. "I'm just going to continue to build on that."
Manuel's yards per attempt Sunday were the lowest they've been all season. Head coach Doug Marrone felt at times he was going through his progressions too quickly and checking the ball down underneath. Evidence of that is in his yards per attempt against the Steelers, which was less than four yards (3.97).
"Obviously there were things I did that I thought I could've done better," said Manuel. "That's a part of learning. Six games old and I still have to continue to get better every day. Just got to move forward."
The rookie signal caller's confidence is far from affected by Sunday's game. At the same time his teammates have taken the time to offer support.
"We just let him know that there will be games like that," said Stevie Johnson. "Honestly I don't even think it was as bad as everyone thinks it is. Maybe there were a few things that he missed, but there's going to be games like that. He can have plenty of better games than what he thinks is a terrible game."
Bills co-captain Fred Jackson was particularly bothered that Manuel was taking a lot of the criticism from outside observers for Sunday's loss.
"It's unfair," said Jackson. "Being that he's our quarterback, that's going to happen. Quarterbacks take a lot of blame for losses and things like that. As a team we didn't play well and that's not his fault."
What Manuel seems to need more than anything is time on the field.
"We know that the quarterback didn't play well (Sunday), and he knows that," said Marrone. "We have to get him to play better. We know this is a quarterback driven league. We're building a franchise quarterback. That's what we're trying to get done."
Manuel maintains he doesn't feel any added pressure coming off a performance in which he left plays on the field.
"You can't look at it as pressure," said Manuel. "It's the situation. We're at 3-7 and we still have games left and a lot of opportunities ahead of us. We just have to put all our efforts into this week and then have a bye week. Obviously we've got to take care of these guys first."
These guys that Manuel refers to are the Jets, a team that made life difficult for Manuel in the first meeting, sacking him eight times. That's the same amount of times he's been sacked in his five other starts combined.
For Manuel that's behind him. He's focused only on what lies ahead.
"Just got to bounce back," he said. "We can't allow the frustration to continue to build up. And the best remedy for that is to win the game. Obviously with the Jets coming up it's going to be a huge matchup for us and another divisional game, a game that we need to get in order to get where we still want to be. So I think that's the only remedy for it. We've got to go out and win."
