The Buffalo Bills stripped Tyrod Taylor of his best play-making receiver last week, then watched him struggle Thursday night in a 20-16 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
What did they expect?
Taylor's first pass of the night was thrown into the hands of a blitzing defensive back, popped up in the air and intercepted. The quarterback's struggles were just beginning. He'd throw another interception three drives later to ex-teammate Ronald Darby. In six drives with Taylor at the helm, the Bills earned six first downs (one via penalty) and managed just three points. He finished 8-of-18 passing for 53 yards, 2.9 yards per attempt, and two picks for a passer rating of 12.0.
After the game new coach Sean McDermott spoke in vague terms about Taylor's performance.
"I thought Tyrod moved the ball last week and we had some penalties," said McDermott, via the team's official website. "[Thursday night] I don't think we moved the ball and couldn't get into a rhythm offensively early in the game. So you look at the big picture and you evaluate, so we've got a lot of work to do as an overall football team. We've got to do that to continue to get better. Work on our fundamentals and work on our techniques and get into a rhythm. That's what we need to do.
"We're always going to evaluate everything and that goes for every position including the quarterback position. We're going to evaluate the film. I'm going to evaluate the job I did and then we evaluate the job that each of us and continue to get better as a unit."
Rookie Nathan Peterman replaced Taylor and stood out against Eagles backups, making throws from the pocket, and leading many to read McDermott's comments suggest he'd open a quarterback competition.
Not so.
On Friday afternoon, McDermott told reporters that his postgame assessment of Taylor's performance was not meant to be interpreted that way.
"I have all the confidence in the world in Tyrod," McDermott said. "By no means was that meant to come across that way. Tyrod's going to start for us [against the Ravens on Aug. 26], and I look forward to him getting back on track."
The coach also clarified to Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News on Thursday night he is "NOT" considering a quarterback change.
If that doesn't do it for you, the Bills official team website had this headline on their post: "McDermott sticking with Tyrod."
By jettisoning Sammy Watkins, the Bills have given Taylor little-to-no-chance to succeed this season. Unless they are going to go full read-option or live off dinks to Charles Clay, Buffalo's offense no longer complements Taylor's style. While he won't jumpstart a quarterback competition now, that could always change if the offense continues to struggle in what could be a frustrating 2017.
