Tyrod Taylor was not the problem in Buffalo.
Did the Bills just give up on the 2017 season? It certainly looks that way after the team decided to bench Tyrod Taylor for a fifth-round pick named Nathan Peterman.
You had probably never heard of Peterman before the Bills tabbed him as their starter Wednesday, even though he was the quarterback of one of college football’s best offenses in 2016. There’s a reason for that: Peterman was nothing more than a game manager during his final season at Pitt. Buffalo is benching a sure thing at the quarterback position for a guy who wasn’t even the focal point of his college offense a year ago.
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Coach Sean McDermott is hoping this move provides a spark for an offense that has struggled of late, but that would only happen if the main problem with the offense had been Taylor. That hasn’t been the case. Taylor is nothing more than a scapegoat for the team’s problems, which spread far beyond the quarterback position.
Let’s just set aside the Saints debacle for now. That game was lost by the defense, which allowed New Orleans’ running game to control the clock and keep the Bills offense off the field. Taylor was on the field for just over 16 minutes on Sunday. He attempted only 18 passes — hardly enough to get a firmly entrenched starter benched.
I mean, if Tyrod Taylor wanted to play, he shouldn’t have let the Saints run for 298 yards on him https://t.co/Vh6E0vDIUn
Obviously the Bills had been thinking about making this move before the New Orleans game. They were, after all, coming off an embarrassing performance against the Jets, which was likely the beginning of the end for Taylor. But how much of that performance can we really put on Taylor? I went back and reviewed every negative passing play (incompletions, sacks and failed third down conversions) from that game to try to figure that out.
Spoiler alert: Taylor’s supporting cast, from offensive coordinator Rick Dennison to the Bills receivers and offensive line, let him down for the most part.
Here’s a log of every negative play, along with the reason why the play failed, whether it was on Taylor or not and a video clip .
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Of the 21 negative passing plays, eight were on Taylor. And we did not give Taylor the benefit of the doubt on any of these plays. If he did ANYTHING wrong, he was blamed. Some of these bad plays were unavoidable given the situation but they still counted against him for this study.
Four of his negative plays were due to inaccuracy, which isn’t bad considering he attempted 40 passes on the night. We even considered this completion inaccurate because it allowed the defender to get back in the play and make a tackle short of the sticks…
He held the ball too long on three plays, leading to sacks, though one of them came after he managed to escape the initial pressure… He had a miscommunication on one incompletion and nearly threw an interception with Buffalo trailing big late in the game… None of these plays are egregiously bad, and considering that he dropped back 47 times in the game, only eight negative plays isn’t bad at all. It’s actually pretty remarkable. Those eight plays should not have led to the coaching staff making a change the following week. The main criticism for Taylor in the past has been a lack of patience in the pocket which has caused him to miss open receivers, but that really hasn’t happened this season and did not happen once in the Jets game. Taylor’s pocket presence has improved dramatically. Instead of dropping his eyes and taking off at the first sign of pressure, he’ll move more subtly in the pocket and keep his eyes downfield, allowing him to go through his progressions. Taylor is no longer missing open receivers, and, quite honestly, there haven’t been many open receivers to miss. The Bills receiving corps isn’t very good and hasn’t been at full strength all season. Jordan Matthews missed time early and has struggled with drops throughout his career. Zay Jones may have been the worst receiver in football before he went down with an injury in Week 9. Tight end Charles Clay is the best receiver on the team and he’s missed most of the season. Kelvin Benjamin, who came over in a trade two weeks ago, is a lazy route runner with inconsistent hands. The Bills should be ecstatic with what Taylor has given them considering what he has had to work with. If they expect Peterman to do any better, they’re in for a massive disappointment. He may have led an impressive touchdown drive against the Saints, but he’s not going to be facing a passive defenses sitting on a 44-point lead very often. By benching Taylor, the Bills, who are holding onto the final playoff spot in the AFC, are making a mistake that could end up costing them a chance to end the league’s longest postseason drought. And for what? To get a look at fifth-round pick whose ceiling isn’t any higher than Taylor’s? This is probably the end of Taylor in Buffalo. Only $1 million of his $18 million salary in 2018 is guaranteed, and it’s unlikely the Bills will want to give that kind of money to a quarterback they benched in the middle of a playoff chase. Maybe next year, when Taylor is lighting it up for a more competent team, the Bills will realize their mistake and appreciate what they had. MORE: 6 under-the-radar fantasy football pickups that could win you a title All 59 fast-food restaurants I can remember eating at, ranked John Calipari had a cringe-worthy moment with an ESPN sideline reporter Jay Williams couldn’t stand listening to Seth Greenberg demand a year suspension for UCLA players Week 11 fantasy football studs, duds and sleepers: Is it time to worry about Dez Bryant?
