WGR

‘This will be Thompson’s third stint with Buffalo, playing one game for the Bills in 2014 and 11 games in 2017. In 2017, Thompson led all Bills receivers and was third on the team with 27 catches and 430 receiving yards. Thompson is best known for being able to stretch the field, a trait that has been questionable with the current group of wideouts in Buffalo.’

‘Buffalo Bills kicker Stephen Hauschka has been named as the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance against the New York Jets. Hauschka went 2-for-2 on field goals this past Sunday, including a 54-yarder, as well as going 5-for-5 on extra points for a total of 11 points in the Bills’ 41-10 win.’

‘During his time in Buffalo, Pryor caught just two passes for 17 yards. All of that production came in the Week 9, 41-9 loss to the Chicago Bears. Last Sunday against the Jets, Pryor was held off the scoresheet against his former employer. He was targeted just three times in the 41-10 win.’

‘Peterman first made national headlines when he threw five interceptions in a half at the Los Angeles Chargers last year after McDermott started him in favor of Tyrod Taylor.’

‘Sean McDermott did what? I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. The Bills were benching Tyrod Taylor for a 5th round rookie in the middle of a legit playoff race. I had accepted what Tyrod was, and was okay with that. Turning to a 5th round rookie in that spot seemed insane. That’s not a move a 5-4 team makes, that’s something a 1-8 team does. Nobody, not even I could have predicted how epically awful Peterman’s first NFL start would go.’

‘”He has had no setbacks. It has just been a natural progression of a young player coming back from an injury, and we knew we had the bye week coming up… I thought he was playing his best game of the year [at the time of the injury] and made his best throw of the season on the play he was injured.”‘

‘“Josh is our starter when healthy and his development is important for him and for us as we move forward, getting experience,” McDermott told reporters. “It’s important that he gets as many reps as he can get in live game action,” McDermott said, adding “I thought Matt [Barkley] performed extremely well yesterday. There were certainly some plays he’d like to have back, but to come in and do what he did on a short run-up basically to it was very impressive.”’

‘All-in-all, it was an enjoyable day of Bills football. What does it mean in terms of where this season will go? Probably nothing. It sure looked like the Jets had given up on their season, perhaps knowing their head coach will soon be out of a job. I doubt the Bills will get themselves back into the wild card race, despite the fact the schedule looks very favorable for the final six games. But, hey, it was fun to watch the Bills and it was great to see points, lots of points from an offense that was on pace for the lowest points per-game average in franchise history.’

‘It was a rare sight for Bills fans, as the offense racked up a whopping 451 yards, including 212 yards on the ground, as Buffalo destroyed their AFC East rival. It got started early, as the Bills needed only two plays to draw first blood, including a 48-yard completion from Barkley to Robert Foster on the first play of the game. It was only the third time this season that Buffalo scored on their first drive of the game. When Buffalo has scored on their first drive, the Bills are 3-0.’

‘The Bills had outgained Bowles crew by 313 to 68 by halftime. The Jets defense made Barkley look like an All-Pro. The one thing I think that this performance did was seal the fate of Nathan Peterman. Once the quarterbacks are all healthy again, I would think Peterman would be gone. I think Allen and Barkley would be one and two with Derek Anderson staying around to mentor Allen.’

‘For a quarterback to be signed and just twelve days later and right away be inserted into the starting lineup, on arguably the worst offense in the league up to that point, would normally have disaster written all over it. But Barkley was very good, especially early on, and made the Bills’ offense look not only functional, but good. The newly signed signal-caller went 15-for-25 for 232 yards, including a pair of touchdowns passes and no interceptions. In the first half, Barkley went 9-for-15 for 146 yards and touchdown helping the Bills to a 31-3 lead. His 47-yard hookup with Robert Foster on the first play of the game set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.’

‘Barkley’s last start came back in the 2016 season as a member of the Chicago Bears. That season, he started in six games, going 1-5 while throwing 129-of-216 for 1,611 yards, eight touchdowns and 14 interceptions.’

‘The “WHOSDAQ” is something we’ve done at WGR over the past few training camps, basically asking “who is the quarterback?” But it applies again this week, as the Bills didn’t reveal who the starting quarterback would be until late Saturday afternoon. Matt Barkley, signed just over a week ago, will get the nod under center over Nathan Peterman after the team also declared Josh Allen would be out while he continues to nurse his sprained elbow. Allen will miss his fourth straight game. Derek Anderson was also ruled out as hasn’t cleared concussion protocol yet.’

‘”Josh Allen not being able to play due to injury, it’s a little tougher to get a feel for where the Bills thought they might be if he’d been able to play the last number of weeks. Not that he’d all of a sudden be a top level quarterback, but he’d have three more games of reps and, ideally, that gives him more experience and you could see improvement…”‘

‘”It’s the same philosophy with Darnold as it is with Allen. Unless these guys are coming out of a pro-set college offense like [Carson] Wentz, it’s best to hold these guys back. If you look at it, each game [Darnold] has gotten worse. What the Jets should have done is sat him out for that Thursday night game, because you basically go in with no preparations. It served him up and he had one of the worst games.”‘