The Bills went into camp with two quarterbacks competing for the starting job, but, as of now, they aren’t planning to start either one of them against the Patriots on September 8.
Bills coach Doug Marrone said Monday that the plan right now is for Jeff Tuel to start against New England while E.J. Manuel continues recovering from knee surgery and Kevin Kolb deals with a concussion. Marrone confirmed that diagnosis for Kolb, but said that speculation about it being career-threatening is premature as the team and Kolb are concentrating on recovery at the moment.
Going with Tuel over the newly arrived Matt Leinart or Thad Lewis makes sense as Tuel has spent the entire offseason working in the offense and has had some good moments in his preseason appearances. But, as Marrone said with some understatment, “obviously this wasn’t the plan” for the 2013 season in Buffalo.
That explains why Marrone is holding out hope that Manuel can make it back in time for the game against the Patriots, but reality is forcing the team to make plans that they probably didn’t contemplate when setting their sights on the year to come.