Tyrod Taylor Benched

[Deus Irae]

I'm not a Taylor fan, at all. But...

Buffalo is 3-1 when not turning over the ball
Buffalo is 2-3 when turning over the ball
Taylor has thrown 3 INTs and lost 2 fumbles, against 10 TDs thrown

In the last two weeks:

Buffalo gave up 298 rushing yards against the Saints
Buffalo had 3 fumbles recovered by the Jets, and only one was from Taylor


So, could someone explain the logic behind this move?

 

[luuked]

I am just happy it happens long enough before our game against Buffalo for there to be some game tape on Peterman in NFL games to study. I hate it when teams make a QB change shortly before we play them.

On that note, I am also happy that this might mean 2 fewer games against a mobile QB.

 

[Ring 6]

I'm not a Taylor fan, at all. But...

Buffalo is 3-1 when not turning over the ball
Buffalo is 2-3 when turning over the ball
Taylor has thrown 3 INTs and lost 2 fumbles, against 10 TDs thrown

In the last two weeks:

Buffalo gave up 298 rushing yards against the Saints
Buffalo had 3 fumbles recovered by the Jets, and only one was from Taylor


So, could someone explain the logic behind this move?

I think as someone else suggested that they gave just decided Taylor isn’t their guy long term so they want to see what else they have.
At 5-4 it’s odd timing, because even though I see their season falling apart they have to be looking at this like they just have to take care of business and they are in the playoffs. It would be very odd for them to give up on the season.

 

[RobertWeathers]

 

[rochrist]

I'm not a Taylor fan, at all. But...

Buffalo is 3-1 when not turning over the ball
Buffalo is 2-3 when turning over the ball
Taylor has thrown 3 INTs and lost 2 fumbles, against 10 TDs thrown

In the last two weeks:

Buffalo gave up 298 rushing yards against the Saints
Buffalo had 3 fumbles recovered by the Jets, and only one was from Taylor


So, could someone explain the logic behind this move?

They know that they're never winning anything with Taylor. He's in his third year with them, and he hasn't progressed an inch over his first year. Better to see if there's anything to hope for with Peterman before they go into the offseason.

 

[NE-VT]

So, could someone explain the logic behind this move?

I think Taylor's skills are pretty limited, as other folks have described. I see him as a mobile game manager with the occasional Flacco bomb mixed in. I believe they have seen enough tape on Taylor to know that he is not going to be a Super Bowl winning QB, unless he was put on an extremely good team. I also think the Bills realize they are worse than their record indicates.

Assuming Peterman is actually out performing Taylor in practice, this seems like a smart move. The potential reward is massive. If they find out that Peterman has quality starter potential they will be happy he got all the reps he got. The risk is low, if you assume Taylor is not going to bring you to the promised land. Perhaps the benching causes you to miss the playoffs, but you were no lock to get in anyway. Simply making the playoffs might not be the goal anyway.

This seems like the type of move that a team that is serious about winning the Super Bowl in the next 5 years would make.

 

[Deus Irae]

They know that they're never winning anything with Taylor. He's in his third year with them, and he hasn't progressed an inch over his first year. Better to see if there's anything to hope for with Peterman before they go into the offseason.

Quitting while you're still in contention, and you've already won too many games to be likely to be able to grab a top pick, is a pretty stupid approach, IMO. But maybe they fell confident that the rookie can lead them to zero wins the rest of the way.

 

[NE-VT]

But maybe they fell confident that the rookie can lead them to zero wins the rest of the way.

I was under the impression that the Bills were creating a culture of accountability, or at least attempting to. I think we have to assume that Peterman is outperforming Taylor in practice for this switch to make sense. Going to the worse option makes no sense with their new mantra.

Edit: After more consideration, I am not sure this bold part is true. I think that Peterman just has to play well enough that it is plausible he could play better, not strictly outperforming. I don't think the coaches could bench a decent QB for a trash-can without losing the locker room.

 

[Dragda]

I was hoping they would go all in with players named after vehicle suspension parts:
Camber Campbell
Struts MacPherson
Shock Sherman
Rocker Bogie Biggs

 

[Deus Irae]

I was under the impression that the Bills were creating a culture of accountability, or at least attempting to. I think we have to assume that Peterman is outperforming Taylor in practice for this switch to make sense. Going to the worse option makes no sense with their new mantra.

"We're here for more than five wins. That's why I'm here. That's why I was brought here. That's the vision. It's nothing more than that. It's about getting us to where we're trying to go. To win a championship. Everyone wants to get to the playoffs, I understand that, and that's important. But at the end of the day, it's about trying to become that football team that the fans of western New York and the Buffalo Bills fans of the world have dreamed of for years."

QB Taylor: 'Don't agree' with swap to Peterman

They're folding their tent.

 

[PlainOldEd]

I was hoping they would go all in with players named after vehicle suspension parts:
Camber Campbell
Struts MacPherson
Shock Sherman
Rocker Bogie Biggs

Shawn (leaf) Springs...

 

[NE-VT]

QB Taylor: 'Don't agree' with swap to Peterman

They're folding their tent.

From the same article:

"I've been impressed with Nate and his maturity as a rookie in a very early point in his career," McDermott said. "He's certainly worked hard. When you look at Nate and what he was able to do through OTAs, through training camp, through preseason and then [Sunday], I thought he did some good things, albeit that was a small sample size in a regular-season game. That said, he has a lot of work do, just like we all do."

McDermott later added of Peterman, "He's ready. I wouldn't make this move if I didn't feel he was ready."

I am not sure they are folding in the tent. I am also not sure Taylor would be the person to quote to evaluate it.

 

[Deus Irae]

From the same article:



I am not sure they are folding in the tent.

You've got to read the tea leaves. Coaches lie, after all, so you have to interpret. What he said:

"Tyrod has made improvements," McDermott said. "He has made a significant contribution to our team. I remain confident in Tyrod moving forward. This is not an indictment on Tyrod. He is an important part of our football team and will continue to be an important member of our football team."

What he meant, and was lying to cover:

If he really remained confident in Tyrod moving forward, or he were a coach willing to tailor the offense to better suit, Tyrod would be the starting quarterback. It is an indictment of Tyrod, and Tyrod will almost certainly be gone at the end of the season. The rookie's irrelevant, unless he demonstrates himself to be a whole lot better than he's been in preseason and practices, to date.

Or, to put it another way:

Never fall for the "It's not you, it's me." It's almost always you, in their eyes.

 

[NE-VT]

If he really remained confident in Tyrod moving forward, or he were a coach willing to tailor the offense to better suit, Tyrod would be the starting quarterback. It is an indictment of Tyrod, and Tyrod will almost certainly be gone at the end of the season.

I am in total agreement on this part. I am also remaining open to the idea that the rookie could offer 80% - 120% of what Taylor could. I guess we will see!

I thought this reddit comment explained the benching well.

This has been an ongoing debate for a while.

It's separated into two camps - People that are shocked and people that aren't. Funnily enough the same two camps can also be called - People that don't watch him play and people that do.

Glance at his stats, yeah he looks amazing, highlight plays, yeah unbelievable talent.

Watch him a whole game, he can't read defenses or identify open receivers ever, he is far too risk averse with the ball. The guy is not an NFL caliber QB if you need to push the ball downfield and pass consistently, which is what you need to do these days unless you have a really dominant defense and run game.

Long overdue IMO, he's had plenty of chances, feel bad for him, but his weaknesses are right there for anyone to see if they care enough to look.

Hopefully he gets another shot and I'm sure he will, there is probably an offense for him that can work with him as the starter if someone wants to run one more suited to his ability.

 

[mosi]

91.4 QB Rating
10 TDs
3 INTs
1,684 Yards

For a rookie?

Don't you know, stats don't matter. It is about the scheme and how well the QB fits into the scheme.

 

[slam]

Reading Bills boards, it's clear a lot of fans don't like Taylor. Maybe a majority, maybe a loud minority. But they benched a mobile QB with ugly stats who "just won" in favor of a pocket passer who looked the part before. So I'm sure they know what they're doing.

In all seriousness, I think they decided that Taylor isn't the future, and that they want to see how Peterman is so that they can decide how aggressive they should be in the offseason. It just happens that the AFC is a tire fire this year so that they're technically a playoff contender.

 

[Deus Irae]

I am in total agreement on this part. I am also remaining open to the idea that the rookie could offer 80% - 120% of what Taylor could. I guess we will see!

I thought this reddit comment explained the benching well.

It would be interesting to see Taylor work in the Kubiak system.

 

[NE-VT]

It would be interesting to see Taylor work in the Kubiak system.

It is funny you mentioned that. I had the exact same thought. In fact the very offense Taylor was running seemed like it had some Kubiak themes. The question is IMO, would Kubiak get more out of him. He might be better in O'Brien's EP spread system with RPO themes.

I mentioned it in a Texans board thread discussion about Kubiak vs. O'Brien. It started a conversation you might be interested in.

 

[dannydyn]

Pure money....

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Tyrod is not a great quarterback, but he's probably a top 20 starter and he's definitely a top 25 one. The number of teams who have a franchise quarterback, one who instantly puts you in contention, is very small.

If the Bills are serious about trying to make the playoffs, if they are interested in building a culture of winning, this is a bad choice.