Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘Against the Saints, the Bills gained only 65 yards on 20 first-down plays, an average of 3.25 per play. However, when Taylor was in the game for the first 55 minutes, the Bills had a net of zero yards on 13 plays. Peterman came in and rolled up 65 yards in garbage time which helped the numbers significantly, meaningless as it was.’

‘After watching Peterman’s historic implosion in the 54-24 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, McDermott could have stubbornly stuck to his guns and stayed with the fifth-round draft pick. Instead, he swallowed his pride, basically admitted his mistake, and is going back to Taylor.’

‘Poor tackling is not inherent to Buffalo, it’s a league-wide problem. New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said earlier this season missed tackles have become “a little bit of a disease.” Certainly, it’s more prevalent for teams with the lowest-ranked defenses, and it’s tough to get fans to believe that not practicing tackling isn’t one of the reasons for the shoddy displays we so often see.’

‘ It’s only by cruel fate that mentor and student meet under these conditions, with each in position to hand the other another loss that will send their teams into worse free fall. They each need a win, not a stroll down memory lane.’

‘“I own the decision and that’s on me,” he said. “Sometimes you make decisions in leadership roles that work out and sometimes they don’t work out. You try to make every decision with the right agenda, that leads you to the decision. Obviously, it didn’t work out, so you go back and learn from it as we continue to build. This is part of the growth process, you go through these pains, it burns, it burns hard, and you don’t want that result that we had yesterday.”’

‘ According to Pro Football Focus, Peterman’s NFL debut was the fourth-worst performance by a quarterback in league history (minimum of 14 pass attempts) and the worst since Dan Pastorini’s 32-yard, five-interception performance for the Houston Oilers in a Week 6 loss to Pittsburgh in 1977. Even Pastorini managed a TD throw in that game.’

‘You trade Sammy Watkins, Ronald Darby, Reggie Ragland, and Marcell Dareus, and then you bench your veteran starting quarterback when you’re 5-4 and actually sitting in a playoff position in the weak AFC. Hmmm. Is it really about winning in 2017, as well as the future?’

‘ “He said he has to do some assessing. Who’s assessing him?” Wilbon said. “Who’s asleep? Paging Bill Polian, can you come back and run this team? You kill locker rooms with (moves like this). You were in the wild card hunt and you brought in a kid you shouldn’t have brought in and we shouldn’t be teasing and ripping. We should be ripping the dopey coach.”‘

‘Coach Sean McDermott rolled the dice in the hope that Peterman could provide a spark to a sagging offense and, really, a sagging team that was coming off two horrific losses. The dice rolled right off the table and into a toilet, and ex-Bills coordinator Anthony Lynn, now the Chargers’ head coach, must have been texting back and forth with his old starting quarterback, Tyrod Taylor, laughing their butts off about the whole thing.’

‘Peterman wasn’t able to throw an interception on the Bills’ third possession because he didn’t attempt a pass.’

‘Peterman had no chance against the now 4-6 Chargers playing in front of 25,015 fans at StubHub Center, about 10,000 of which were rooting for the Bills. Arrowhead Stadium next week against a much better Chiefs team that will be dying to make amends for losing to the woeful Giants? That’s frightening to think about.’

‘Ryan is not alone in the national media as McDermott’s move has been widely panned. Locally, most Bills fans who actually pay attention to the team on a daily basis seem to approve of McDermott making this call.’

‘Five interceptions. That’s really all I need to say in defending this grade. Nathan Peterman looked utterly incapable of playing in the NFL, let alone be a starting quarterback. The amazing thing is the Bills only had the ball for 11 minutes while Peterman played, meaning he averaged an interception almost once every two minutes! I felt bad for him because as it turns out, he was put in an impossible situation by coach Sean McDermott. Just because Tyrod Taylor isn’t the answer doesn’t mean Peterman should have been run out there, on the road, against a ferocious pass rush, with a horrible offensive line in front of him.’

‘Chargers 24, Bills 20.’

‘Los Angeles has stumbled to a 3-6 record because it seems to find new ways to blow games every week. But led by pass rushing maniac Joey Bosa, the Chargers rank fourth in the league in sacks, Bosa with 9.5 on his own. And now he’ll get to set his sights on Peterman as the rookie tries to gain his bearings in a game filled with pressure because the Bills can’t afford to lose given the next two opponents they face.’