TigerJ

Start to focus on QBs in the draft.

Tyrod is possibly the most athletic QB in the NFL, close to what Michael Vick was. But the shortcomings prevent him from functioning effectively at some of the things an NFL QB really needs to do. That was the story of his tenure in a nutshell. I hope Peterman can be a more complete QB.

Peterman's arm is better than a number of QBs that have had successful NFL careers. I'm comfortable with his skill set.

I don't think he was intentionally throwing Tyrod under the bus, nor will Tyrod likely take it that way, but just about every Bills fan there is has figured out that was one of the main things Tyrod couldn't do very well.

Touches where he runs into a brick wall because the opponent has stacked the box daring Tyrod to pass can't be very fulfilling for McCoy.

Chargers - the Anthony Lynn connection.

There is insufficient game tape available to the Chargers to enable them to game plan specifically for Peterman. I'm sure what they will do is blitz more, just because that's what you do with a newbie QB. That's not a specific game plan though. The Bills could start Tyrod for one play and insert Peterman thereafter and the Chargers could blitz more in reaction.

I guess the goes to show you: always take what a head coach says in response to a question with a very large grain of salt. "Tyrod is our starter." If nothing else, this will be about the best indicator Buffalo could arrange to learn what they have in Nate Peterman. From that standpoint, I'm excited. If he does well, I'm assuming the change will be permanent, and if he does well through the remainder of the season, the notion of using a high draft pick on a QB next April will all but disappear.

I think that unless the kickoff fails to reach the end zone nobody ought to be returning it. Down it in the end zone and you're on the 25 yard line. I can't count the number of kickoffs returned from between 3 and 5 yards deep in the end zone that resulted in the offense having to start from around the 15 - 20 yard line, not just Buffalo, but across the league. For every time where the returner breaks off a big one, there are probably 15 to 20 that end up short of the 25, not to mention you're exposing a bunch of players to an injury risk.

The Bills are going to play him quite a bit on run downs to try and cut down on the number of 10+ yard runs up the middle. The dude is big. Guards and centers would be able to push him around as easily as they've been able to push Buffalo's 295 DTs around. He's not a long term answer by any means, but an attempt to staunch the bleeding.

This is what I'm thinking. Even if our more optimistic earlier assessment of this Bills team had proven true, it was probably not more than a borderline playoff team. The real target is the 2018 season when the offensive and defensive schemes will have been well learned and Beane will have had enough time to add additional scheme appropriate and higher quality talent.

The standard reasoning is to protect your starter from injury. I don't care to try and read McDermott's mind. Maybe it was to keep Tyrod healthy. Maybe it was to get a glimpse of what Peterman can do in live regular season game conditions even if it was so called "garbage time." I wouldn't read too much more into it than that, though if Tyrod continues to stink up the playing field, McDermott may be forced to consider starting Peterman at some point.

Dalton is kind of streaky, but when he's playing well he has an excellent NFL skill set. I think it is the skill set that Gruden is talking about, not what happens when you pressure Dalton and he's having a bad day.

Unfortunately, I can't find any convincing reason to disagree with Gabriel.

I looked up the recovery portion of the concussion protocol. It goes like this: When a player is reporting concussion like symptoms, he is limited to certain stretching and balancing activities. Obviously, not contact, but also no team meetings, no electronics (no viewing of film etc.), or even social media. Once he returns to baseline, (no evidence of concussion symptoms) he can participate in 10 to 20 minutes of stationary bike riding or use of a treadmill (no resistance). Activity must be monitored by a trainer to insure no concussion symptoms appear during or after the activity. If the player passes that stage he can move on (presumably the next day) to increased cardio activity with the addition of strength training with continued monitoring. If the player passes that stage, (presumably the next day) the player can add the "cognitive load" of playing football and can participate in non-contact activities for the entire duration of the practice time. If the player passes that stage, he is cleared for full contact. Everything would have to go right for Rivers to be cleared for next Sunday. I don't know if he can do the first stage tomorrow since it would technically be a regular day off. If I'm right, he can't do his stationary bike work until Wednesday. He can add strength training Thursday and then participate in the Chargers' walk through on Friday. Any delay in any of the steps, and I think he misses the game.

I think trading up in this draft for a QB is a stupid idea. To this point nobody can agree for more than a couple weeks who the best QB is, and it's not just a couple QBs in the conversation. Within the past month I have seen Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Josh Rosen, and Mason Rudolph all projected as the first QB taken. I honestly don't think that is going to change leading up to the draft. I'm not opposed to taking a QB in the first round, but in this draft, I don't think the odds of getting your franchise guy is any better at #1 over all than they are at #20 overall, and if the last two games are any indicator, it looks like Buffalo could be drafting higher than that.

In my first post game post, I did credit the Saints for a good game, but one team playing a good game does not fully account for a contest as lopsided as we saw on Sunday. That required extreme ineptitude on the part of the losing team. I try to be level headed in my reaction to bad games and I don't try to tell coaches how to do their job, but at some point some significant changes have to take place if the Bills are to have any hope of breaking the playoff drought. I'm not talking this year necessarily. I'm talking about breaking the playoff drought ever.

Absolutely 100% agree. Instant success for a new regime is not unheard of, but it is not terribly common. Continuity tends to be far better than a constant merry-go-round of change, and, more than any other team the Bills have defined a merry-go-round of change over the past 2 decades.

Looking back at the start of Drew Brees' career, he did not come in and set the league on fire right away. He had similar credentials to Peterman. His college was not a big time producer of NFL QBs (Illinois - I think). He's undersized and was not regarded as having a canon for an arm. What he was was a smart QB who could see the field, make quick reads and make quick throws with good accuracy, not unlike Peterman. I think he was drafted by the Chargers, but never got a chance to start with them. He was traded to the Saints, where he was given a chance to start and made the most of it. His career path debunks the notion I saw from one poster that if a QB has a starter's ability the coach of the team that drafts him is going to recognize it and start him sooner rather than later. Coaches don't like the uncertainty involved with making a change at QB and will often hold on to an ineffective starter because he is at least a known quantity.

Coaching inertia. Like everyone else, when it comes to what affects them personally, coaches tend to become more conservative. McDermott knows that he has a QB in Tyrod who generally takes care of the ball and tries to do exactly what his coaches tell him to do. Peterman is less of a known quantity. Head coaches tend not to like unknown quantities. In practice, Tyrod has almost certainly been getting the vast majority of snaps with starters while Peterman probably plays scout team QB. That is not going to tell him much about how Peterman would handle being a starter. I don't think McDermott is quite ready to make the switch yet, and probably won't until his back is really up against the wall. That is coming closer, however, at least in my opinion.

The options for fixing the team this season are painfully limited. I think a lot of the problems are personnel related, and we are largely stuck with the personnel we have at this point in the season. If McDermott has not done so, he needs to go back to stressing fundamentals like tackling. The Bills need to try and get their starters all healthy, and keep them that way. I would like to see Banyard get a little playing time to see what he can do in relief of Shady. I don't know that starting Peterman would instantly produce wins, but I would give us a lot better idea of how urgent the need is to draft a QB early next April. The Bills are set up to have a productive draft next year, but they are a pretty old team right now and have a lot of holes they need to fill. I think they need to get bigger and stronger on the interior of the d-line. They also need to strengthen the O-line. They are consistently losing the battle in the trenches. They need more athleticism from their linebackers. An elite speed receiver would be nice, and they need to start thinking about Shady's replacement. And, of course, if they aren't reasonably sure Peterman is their QB of the future, they're going to have to spend one of those high draft picks on a QB. That's a pretty tall order. They should have enough cap room to sign some quality free agents, so that will make the job of rebuilding a little easier at least.

I think Tyrod has consistently maintained the right focus and has not paid a lot of attention to fan reaction. That said, he was far mor tense for this presser than he's been in the past. He's definitely feeling the pressure, and rightfully so.

I confess I turned the game off early in the 4th quarter, so I can't comment on Peterman's play based on actual observation. I understand and appreciate the point of those making the garbage time statements. The Saints' defense would have been different at the end of a game like that, wanting to prevent the possibility of a quick score via a long pass. Instead, they allow the completion of shorter passes to the middle of the field. On your side of the issue, I think the results of Peterman's play at the end of the game shows the pro game is not too big for him. While defensive coordinators in a different situation will throw lots of stuff at him that he's not seen live before, he is a bright QB who makes quick reads and gets the ball out of his hands with reasonable accuracy. Some things that defenses will do may confuse him a bit initially, but I think he's likely to learn pretty quickly. I agree, he could hardly be worse than Tyrod was today. In other news, CJ Beathard won his first game today as QB of the 49ers. Peterman is a better QB than Beathard.

Right now, the issue is not whether or not the Bills can make the playoffs. It is whether or not they can figure out how to play competitive football at the NFL level. Ultimately, I'm not worrying too much about this year. Even if the Bills were to break the playoff drought, I did not think they have the talent to go very far in the playoffs. This year is about figuring out if Tyrod can be a viable NFL QB and getting a first impression on McDermott and Beane. Given that Tyrod is currently looking like he is not good enough, it might also be good to get a bit more of a read on Nathan Peterman. By and large, I like McDermott, but two games where the Bills have looked downright putrid has cranked up the pressure on McDermott quite a bit. He doesn't necessarily have to win next week, but he's got to figure out how get his team back to playing fundamentally sound football. For Beane, I think it is too soon to tell much of anything, except that some of his decisions have generated some short term harm despite the mantra of winning now and winning in the future. Hopefully, things start to look better for Beane next year when he's got all those draft picks to work with.

I agree, there are areas where the Bills' lack of talent and depth have been exposed. I've said elsewhere, I think the Bills' defensive tackles are getting pushed around. They are undersized with Dareus gone. I think Lorax is a liability in some situations as is Preston Brown and Ramon Humber. The Bills are thin at CB and with Gaines injured and the defensive line not getting pressure the CBs are not holding up. Then, of course, there are the Tyrod issues.