Everything you need to know about the QB situation

[OpIv37]

Tyrod Taylor has proven that he is who he is: an NFL backup. He doesn't turn the ball over, he can make plays with his feet, and on occasion he can move the ball. But he doesn't feel pressure and either run or get rid of the ball, and he doesn't see open receivers or anticipate guys coming open. He pretty much never loses games, but he also pretty much never wins a game. He's the quintessential NFL backup.

That being said, the only other QB on our roster is a 5th round rookie. Now, most teams drafting QB's and playing rookies aren't very good, so there is rarely an ideal situation for a rookie to step in. The only examples I can think of are Ben Rapelisberger in Pit and Luck in Indy, maybe Wilson in Seattle. Right now, though, Buffalo is particularly poorly suited to put a rookie in. The OL has struggled in both run and pass blocking, so there is little run support. The best WR and the best TE are injured, and the WR's as a group aren't very good even when healthy. On top of that, the team has outperformed expectations. The D is far ahead of where anyone thought it would be and it's garnered national attention, so there is pressure to win. It's setting Peterman up for failure.

This is where it gets complicated: My personal opinion is that there shouldn't be a QB change, but if the FO is going to do it, it has to be either now or after we are officially eliminated from the playoffs. This is our bye week, so if they want to put Peterman in, he'll have 2 weeks to work with the starters. Following the bye, we have 2 winnable home games- one against an average TB squad, and one against Oakland. Oak is a good team but they have to travel across the country and may be missing their starting QB. They just lost at home to a mediocre Ravens team that had to travel to the east coast. So, if they are gonna do it, they need to do it now or stick with Tyrod til it's over.

[stuckincincy]

Good post.

[Mouldsie]

Yeah pretty much, Tyrod is ideal as a backup though I do think he is a top 30 QB in the league and thus a starter technically.

They will stick with Tyrod until they are eliminated. Sean almost has to. Putting in the rookie is the same as throwing in the towel to many of the vets on the team. (Of course, trading Sammy was the same gut punch to many of them and they recovered from that.)

[Bill Cody]

Yeah pretty much, Tyrod is ideal as a backup though I do think he is a top 30 QB in the league and thus a starter technically.

They will stick with Tyrod until they are eliminated. Sean almost has to. Putting in the rookie is the same as throwing in the towel to many of the vets on the team. (Of course, trading Sammy was the same gut punch to many of them and they recovered from that.)

All depends how Peterman plays doesn't it? If we're winning games nobody's going to be talking about towels being thrown in

[justasportsfan]

I don't think the bills drafted Peterman to be our future starting qb. More so as the future back up qb. IMO, the best time to get his development towards being the future back up is after we are eliminated . But if it starts sooner, I am not against it either especially if Tyrod plays like he did against tampa like he did last Sunday.


Having Tyrod in there not only prevents us from seeing what we have in Peterman, but it also prevents us from seeing what we have in our receivers since TT refuses to give them chances to make plays. One thing I do remember is that our receivers were better when Peterman was throwing to them in preseason.


I am not against the staff looking to see if Peterman can light the fire underneath this offense which includes Tyrod's arse.

[feldspar]

Who would ever know anything about reality if it wasn't for Opie?

But I agree with him here. No QB change if it were up to me, and it isn't. If they make a change that they feel might save the season, there is no better time than the present. The logic in starting Peterman doesn't work for me, though.

[Skooby]

Get Eli, we win more and make some real noise.

[Joe Fo Sho]

To me, it's the turnover ratio that we'd be risking with Peterman at QB. As much crap as I give Tyrod, he rarely turns the ball over. It's one of the things that makes him so boring and makes him look like he's not trying.

In terms of productivity, Tyrod is averaging 91 yards passing per half. Why can't a rookie QB put up those pedestrian numbers? Why can't any QB in the league do that? He's 28th in the league right now in yards per game behind Cutler, Kizer, Bortles and Flacco. All QBs who have been on or currently are on the hot seat for their team. Time to add Tyrod to that list.

His rushing stats aren't even a positive lately. He has 28 rushing yards on 16 attempts over the last 3 games, not even 2 yards per attempt and less than 10 yards per game. Those numbers are a joke for him. Tyrod without his running ability might as well be Trent Edwards.

[jamze132]

Tyrod will continue to be the starter until he's hurt, OBD loses confidence in his abilities, or we're eliminated but they're not quite there yet.

It's hard to judge a QB where your WRs run the wrong route, run ****ty routes, or drop the ball. Granted we all understand Tyrod's shortcomings throwing the ball but when he had better WRs, the offense was MUCH more productive and Shady could run loose.

[Arm of Harm]

Jimmy Johnson once said that you can either be safe and be good, or take a chance and be great.

Tyrod Taylor is not "good," but he's safe. Known. He'll get you 150 - 200 passing yards a game, and probably won't turn the ball over. You're not going to lose the locker room by playing him. Most coaches would choose Tyrod, because most coaches are looking for the safe option.

Peterman doesn't give you a chance to be "great"--at least not a significant chance. But he does give you a chance to be significantly better than Taylor. But that upside comes with risk.

[TigerJ]

It is reasonable to suggest the best time to switch is after the bye or after elimination from the playoffs. The interesting thing about Peterman is one of his better traits is he tends to make quick reads and get rid of the ball. That is in contrast to Tyrod, who holds on to the ball as long as any QB in the league, if not longer. When he faces NFL defenses in the regular season, that may provide a challenge to his quick reading ability, but I think that quick read tendency may accelerate his learning curve.

[Night Train]

Agree Op but it sounds like it's Tyrod or bust as of now. The change will come when it's too late.

[Mace]

The change will come when it's too late.

I'm not sure what it would be too late for, besides developing Peterman if the staff holds back when they think the time is right. Not sure they will if they view Taylor as disposable, which I think they do.

I'm sticking to my guns in saying I don't think this is a contender, but rather a well coached, inadequately staffed work-in-progress that needs the next draft to fill out and get to another level, no matter who is at QB.

At least atm, I think Taylor (while inadequate) gives them the best chance to maintain a course as a team. I think we're going to see an offense with different pieces and style next season which will have some core pieces seasoned by this one, and a tested capable defense with a couple new pieces, sharpened by this one.

I think they're promising but not ready to deliver in any case, no matter who is under center.

[Novacane]

As much as I despise watching TT play I agree you can't bench him for a 5th round rookie. That would likely cause some locker room division. Best case scenario Tyrod gets a minor injury that puts him out a couple games. Peterman gets in there without any controversy and plays well in wins. The team would then be behind him and Tyrods done in Buffalo.

[kgun12]

I agree with Op. I'm amazed at some of the people on this board, the way they talked before the season, the D sucked, the coaching staff was lost and didn't know what they were doing, some were even ready to get rid of them. Well the D is the strength of the team, the coaches have done a good job and yet some want a QB change on a 3-2 team. Before the season most all would agree thought we would be 1-4. Hell the most vocal thought this team would struggle to win 4 games all season, I even think I remember some predicting 1-15 or 0-16. Yet there is hysteria by some to put in a 5th round rookie, laughable! Why, some are so fixated on the draft position that I truly think they want us to tank (KC's record is killing these people) and the other reason is they were so sure how bad the Bills would be, that the taste of crow is REALLY horrible.

Is TT the long term answer, hell no, but a change while the Bills are still in the hunt would be stupid. The same people that want this are the same ones so worried about looking stupid nationally and this would be STUPID!

[Arm of Harm]

I agree with Op. I'm amazed at some of the people on this board, the way they talked before the season, the D sucked, the coaching staff was lost and didn't know what they were doing, some were even ready to get rid of them. Well the D is the strength of the team, the coaches have done a good job and yet some want a QB change on a 3-2 team. Before the season most all would agree thought we would be 1-4. Hell the most vocal thought this team would struggle to win 4 games all season, I even think I remember some predicting 1-15 or 0-16. Yet there is hysteria by some to put in a 5th round rookie, laughable! Why, some are so fixated on the draft position that I truly think they want us to tank (KC's record is killing these people) and the other reason is they were so sure how bad the Bills would be, that the taste of crow is REALLY horrible.

Is TT the long term answer, hell no, but a change while the Bills are still in the hunt would be stupid. The same people that want this are the same ones so worried about looking stupid nationally and this would be STUPID!

The Bills just haven't been getting much production from the QB position or the passing game. In Tyrod's defense he's been good about not turning the ball over, and he'll give you extra yards by running the ball. But still. The production in the passing game hasn't been there. Put another way: as long as Peterman gets us 150 - 200 passing yards per game, he'll be equaling the passing production we're currently getting from Tyrod.

During preseason our three main QBs were Tyrod, Peterman, and Yates. Of those, Peterman was by far the best. Yates was second-best, and Tyrod was third. Is Tyrod a better QB in the regular season than he was in the preseason? Yes. But to whatever extent the preseason represented a QB competition, it's clear who the victor of that competition was. If Peterman could be hands-down better than Tyrod in the preseason, it's not a stretch to believe he could match or exceed Tyrod's 150 - 200 passing yards per game in the regular season, either.

There's also the argument to be made in favor of Tyrod. Normally players would prefer to see a veteran QB start, over a 5th round rookie. Tyrod is a known quantity who will play well enough for you to win, as long as your defense plays very well, you get some turnovers, your running game is good, and as long as you don't need or expect much production from your passing game. You look at the Falcons game for example. The defense achieved 3 turnovers, compared to 0 for Tyrod and the offense. Winning the turnover battle by +3 allowed us to--barely--squeak out a win against a team that significantly outplayed us on non-turnover-related plays.

[swiper]

Has Tyrod Taylor ever had a really good game? One where you walk away saying, "I'm glad this guy is our QB?" I don't recall one. He's played for the team for long enough to have at least one. Since he hasn't, it's time to move on. They could have traded him this prior off-season and gotten something for him. He becomes devalued a little more each week.

[BertSquirtgum]

Offensive line isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Tyrod makes them look worse. Peterman can't be worse than Tyrod. Put him in.

[Arm of Harm]

Offensive line isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Tyrod makes them look worse. Peterman can't be worse than Tyrod. Put him in.

Good point about the OL. An article (https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-ranking-all-32-nfl-offensive-lines-by-average-grade-week-5?utm_content=buffer1a5b1&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=nfl) from Pro Football Focus ranked the NFL's offensive lines, from best to worst. Our overall rank was a very uninspiring 22, with a grade of 57. But--and this is the important part--our pass protection ranks 7th in the league, with a grade of 82.2. Tyrod's problems are not because of the offensive line. They are because of Tyrod.

[Albany,n.y.]

Agree Op but it sounds like it's Tyrod or bust as of now.

In this statement bust=Peterman. You just haven't seen Marangi II yet, but eventually you will.

[Albany,n.y.]

Offensive line isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Tyrod makes them look worse. Peterman can't be worse than Tyrod. Put him in.

He can be a lot worse. It's easy to go from mediocre to terrible in the NFL when switching to a backup QB. Especially when the backup is a rookie who has never played in a game with a gameplan against NFL 1st stringers.