Mike Rodak, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Benching Manuel takes burden off Marrone

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. –- Doug Marrone hasn't just been the Buffalo Bills' head coach since last season; he's been their goalie, too.

Slap shot after slap shot, the tough questions about quarterback EJ Manuel and his underwhelming play in 14 NFL starts have come screaming in. Marrone might as well have been wearing a hockey glove and mask, because he's been forced to deflect each and every criticism of his front office's 2013 first-round pick.

After Marrone decided to bench Manuel on Monday in favor of veteran Kyle Orton, those questions will now stop. No more pad saves will be necessary.

It's a significant weight off the shoulders of Marrone, a second-year head coach whose team has lost its past two games and whose job future could be subject to the whim of new owners Terry and Kim Pegula.

With Orton at the helm, it's full speed ahead for a Bills team that has playoff-caliber talent across its roster but has been held back by Manuel, a young quarterback whose development was far too spotty to justify Marrone continuing to defend his role as starter.

"You like for things to pan out for you. You'd like for things to go on this merry road, but you have to endure," Marrone said Monday. "This league is going to throw you a lot of different bumps in the road, whether it be productivity by position, whether it be injuries. Whatever it may be, you just need to endure it, you need to fight through it, and you need to go."

It's not to say winning hasn't been a priority for the Bills this season, but before Monday they've had to balance Manuel's growth and the progress of the entire team. At times -- especially over the past two games -- it was a juggling act that threatened the Bills' chances of snapping a 14-season playoff drought.

That problem has been swatted aside. What resulted was a noticeably more relaxed Marrone when he announced his decision Monday.

"As a head coach you have to evaluate everything and, at the end of the day, you've got to make the right decisions with your mind, with your heart and things like that," he said. "The one thing is that when you go to bed at night you have to make sure that you're making the best decisions to help our football team win."

Marrone didn't seem Monday like a coach who agonized over this decision. There was almost a sense a relief, as if he could move on from the first 20 games of his tenure in Buffalo -- a period defined mostly by shoddy quarterback play.

The decision, the Bills say, was made entirely by Marrone, who delivered the news Monday afternoon to general manager Doug Whaley.

"I didn't ask for an agreement," Marrone explained. "I just went in there and said, 'This is the direction that I'm going.'"

For the Bills, that direction must be forward. Orton gives Marrone his best chance at the playoffs, and in the process Marrone's best shot of saving his job when the Pegulas settle into their new offices later this season.

As for Manuel, he'll now have an opportunity to reflect on his first experience as an NFL starter.

"[This] gives him a chance to just step back for a moment and look at things that we can work on and correct. Again, he'll have to have some thick skin through this and you've got to fight," Marrone said. "That's what usually happens in life. To get what you want, you're going to have to fight for it. I think that he'll be able to grow."

That growth, if it occurs, will now take place behind the scenes. Manuel will be out of the spotlight, and Marrone can go back to playing offense without having to defend his own net.

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