twoandfourteen

He's certainly making a very strong case for the title.

I think that is simply a case of professional courtesy for Taylor. Hue probably wants to talk to him in person first before making any announcement. TT has earned that.

But Bills fans who just wanted to move on are all racists who don't understand that you can win with Tyrod as long as he has the right pieces around him and a good defense.

What are these guys supposed to write? The Bills & Sabres have given them practically nothing to work with over the past two decades. There are only so many ways to write the same article -- but it's not Sully & Bucky's fault that the Bills & Sabres have been stuck in a perpetual, never-ending miasma of failure.

I can't figure out why the kid looks functional-to-decent in the preseason and then looks like a guy who won a "QB FOR THE DAY" fan contest in the regular season. I get it -- it's the preseason, blah, blah, blah... but still, he was able to execute the basic fundamentals of throwing and completing a pass to a receiver.

This is a very good point too -- I could be talked into giving him one more shot under more-favorable circumstances. The kid really has been thrown into some ridiculous games to start his career.

Agree 100% I defended NP after the Chargers game only because it was one game. However, he burned up a lot of rope with that one, and now after the "Baltimore Steamer" he took last Sunday -- unfortunately, it's pretty much game over for the kid. I'm sure he'll have a great career as a financial planner.

Very interesting article. Thanks for posting. I'd really like to see a similar look at other former Bills QBs for comparison -- like Fitz, Tyrod, etc.

I honestly love this place sometimes. Never change, TBD. Never change.

You are most certainly a football savant. I'm so very impressed that you can visually discern the difference between footballs traveling at 52 mph vs. 53 mph, without actually having to be there.

Great point. I definitely agree that your "eye test", conducted while watching the halftime highlights on TV from your couch is definitely a far more objective, reliable, and accurate measuring tool than any sort of in-person radar measurement of velocity.

Couldn't possibly be that defenses & defensive coordinators were very quick to catch up to and solve Tyrod's game, could it? Could it be that he was a very limited player and didn't possess the necessary passing skills to adapt to and overcome what defenses were throwing at him? Could it be that defensive coordinators realized that Taylor presented no threat as a passer, so he brought 9 guys in to stop the run? Maybe that was why 25 lost a yard-and-a-half per carry?

1. It's a very relevant and cogent point, actually. If the greatest players are capable of flaming out in games early in their careers, then certainly a 5th round nobody is capable of it and it shouldn't cause anyone to pass final judgement on the kid until he's had a few more games in the regular season. Now, if he goes out there and blows up a few more times -- then all bets are off. You guys were right and I'll happily agree with you that this kid probably won't have much of a career in the NFL. 2. That's my projection for him, as well. He looks like he has a "high-end backup/fringe starter" ceiling to him, like Fitz, McCown, or Tyrod at best. At least we agree on that. I'm talking to the "Peterman has no business being on a football field ever again" crowd, however. My man -- I couldn't have said it any better myself.

I'm sure there were guys like you saying the same thing about the 'Ol Gunslinger after his first two appearances at QB. Favre's stat line from those two games? 8-18 for 73 yards, 0 TDs and 3 INTs. In fact, his first two NFL completions were to members of the other team's defense. Now, it's highly, highly, highly unlikely (bordering on "impossible") Peterman has anywhere near the career Brett Favre had. However, is it really foolish to think that Peterman could become the next Josh McCown or Ryan Fitzpatrick... or dare I say it, a better passing version of Tyrod Taylor? Those guys are all elite backups/fringe starters in the NFL. No reason NP couldn't hit that level and have a nice career. You said it's foolish to think that Peterman will perform any better than how he did last season... for that to be true, you would have to claim that most (if not all) players DON'T improve from their rookie year, and that what you see in the beginning is the ceiling. It's an absolutely ridiculous statement to make -- especially considering how the kid has performed this preseason. Exactly the point -- even the GOATs have bad days, but we didn't make a final verdict on their careers because of it. Give Peterman a chance to rebound and see how he does. So far, it's trending in the right direction, but it could absolutely fall apart once the games are real.

Hypothetically, he could have thrown 8 more INTs in the 2nd half, or 10 or 0. Hypothetically, what if he came back in the 2nd half and tossed 5 TDs? How many successful QBs have thrown 5 TDs in a half after throwing 5 INTs? (See how the 'hypothetical' game works?) The point is that if it can happen to an established, veteran, SB-winning QB -- it can absolutely happen to a 5th round rookie forced into starting his first game on the road because the previous starter was incapable of running a passing offense. Tyrod scored points, yes. Usually between 3 and 17 of them over the course of an entire game. As for his running ability, Tyrod was a defensive coordinator's dream matchup -- of course, no DC would never admit it, but it's true. Look at it this way... a good QB would generally be around 285 passing yards and 2-3 TDs on a given Sunday. Tyrod's production generally looked more like 160 yds passing, 35 yds rushing, and 1 TD. I'm no genius, but 195 total yards is far better than 285. One TD is also far better than allowing 2 or 3. If I'm a DC, I'll take Tyrod running around and producing FGs & punts all day long as opposed to someone who is capable of lighting up my secondary for 4 TDs. Also, if I'm a DC, I also know that once my team has a lead of 7 or more... its game over for Tyrod. He's not bringing his team back from behind, ever. We'll miss Tyrod the person... but definitely not Tyrod the QB.

Ben Roethlisberger threw 5 INTs in a game last year, too. Two of them were run back for TDs. Should he have been sent packing to never play again? If you go back and look, I posted a list containing many examples of QBs who had 5+ INTs in a game. It happens. It happens to Super Bowl MVPs and it happens to 5th round rookies in their 1st ever start. Get over it. Tyrod Taylor had multiple games last year with less than 100 yards passing going into the 4th Q. Were you thinking he should be out of the league for those unacceptable performances? Or because he didn't turn the ball over, those abysmal passing days were ok with you?

I looked this up back in January and found the post. Here's it is: Fortunately for you, I have an important presentation I need to finish this weekend. So, I was looking for a way to procrastinate and this is the perfect thing to do instead. Who doesn't like a little pro football reference wormhole on a Friday night? Join me, as we delve into the fascinating world of the "Fantastic Fives", QBs who have thrown 5 or more INTs in a game (since 1999). Since 1999, QBs who have thrown 5 INTs in one half: Ty Detmer (DET) had 5 in the 2nd half against the Browns in 2001. Threw 7 INTs that day. Ryan Fitzpatrick (NYJ) had 5 in the 2nd half against the Chiefs in 2016. Had 6 INTs that day. Threw an INT on 5 straight drives, in fact. Nathan Peterman (BUF) had 5 in the 1st half against the Chargers in 2017. How about 4 in a half? Peyton Manning (IND) had 4 in the 1st Quarter against the Chargers in 2007. Threw 2 more that day, 1 on the opening drive of the 3rd Q and 1 more in the 4th. Along with Peyton's 6 INTs that day, the Colts also missed 2 FGs and lost the game 23-21. Troy Aikman (DAL) threw 4 in the 1st half against the Giants in 2000. Had 5 INTs that day. Matt Barkley (CHI) threw 4 in the 2nd half against the Redskins in 2016. Had 5 INTs that day. Drew Bledsoe (NE) had 4 in the 2nd half against the Dolphins in 1999. Had 5 INTs that day. Daunte Culpepper (MIN) threw 4 in the 2nd half against the Bengals in 2005. Just missed the 5 in one half club by 1:06. 5 INTs that day. Brett Favre (GB) threw 4 on 4 straight drives in the 2nd half, also against the Bengals in 2005. Had 5 INTs that day. Josh Freeman (TB) had 4 in the 2nd half against the Panthers in 2009. Had 5 INTs that day. Dan Marino (MIA) had 4 in the 2nd half against the Cowboys in 1999. Had 5 INTs that day. Kyle Orton (CHI) threw 4 in the 1st half against the Bengals in 2005. Had 5 INTs that day. Ben Roethlisberger (PIT) threw 4 in the 2nd half against the Jaguars in 2017. Had 5 INTs that day. Tony Romo (DAL) had 4 in the 2nd half against the Bears in 2012. Had 5 INTs that day. Tony Romo (DAL) checks in again with 4 in the 1st half against the Bills in 2007. Had 5 INTs that day. Honorable Mention: Mark Sanchez (NYJ) threw 3 INTs in the 2nd half against the Bills in 2009. He also threw 1 INT in the 1st and 1 INT in OT. Steve Weatherford also threw an INT in OT on a fake punt attempt. Chris Chandler (STL) threw 3 INTs in each half against the Panthers in 2004. That lesson in symmetry resulted in 6 INTs on the day. The rest of the games can be found here and were mostly 3/2 or 2/3 splits between the two halves. But who cares about those -- It's not like any of them was a rookie throwing 5 INTs in one half in his 1st ever start, am I right? Actually, now that I think about it, I'm fairly certain that Nathan Peterman is the only guy on this list who was playing in his 1st NFL start. At least, since 1999. One more "Fun 5INT Fact" for today: A QB has thrown 5 INTs in a game 225 times in NFL history. Here's the link to the full thread if you're interested:

Great. I'm curious to see who the 20 guys behind him are, but you don't have to waste your time posting that. However, I'm talking about the 40-50 guys playing QB on teams in the NFL heading into the 2018 season. By "better", I'm looking at their overall value -- talent, potential, past performance, etc. I also just realized I forgot about Mahomes in KC. So there's 37 guys who are "better" than Tyrod Taylor in the NFL right now. Edit -- also forgot about Winston in TB, so now it's 38.

I mean, of course there's going to be some disagreement here and there on a couple of the guys. I personally think Brissett is better -- younger with more upside -- but he's not one I'd care enough about to debate. The point of this exercise is to show that you're not going to find 16-20 guys on there that TT is clearly better than to put him in the top 20 or 15 QBs in the NFL. Even if you took the 5 rookies off the list, there's still 31 names -- you would be really hard pressed to argue he's better than 11 of them. However, if your rationale is that "passing yards & passing TDs" are irrelevant to gauging a QB's production (like some of the #TeamTyrod guys around here) then maybe you could get him up into the top 20.

Now, just to clarify for us slow kids in the back of the room... you are saying that "passing yardage" is a "horrible metric" to judge a passing game by. You're right. Maybe we should be using "Goals Against Average" or "Slugging %" to really get a true sense as to how good or bad a team's passing game is. This right here is a big part of why I am so intrigued by the "Great Tyrod Debate". It has caused what I can only assume were once rational people to make -- and then resolutely stand by and argue -- statements such as: "passing yardage is a horrible metric to judge a passing game". By definition, passing yards are the measure of how many yards a team produces throwing the football. Now, as for my "top 30" comment. I used one simple criteria... "Would an NFL GM trade that player for Tyrod Taylor straight up?" So, lets do this one more time: Brady Brees Rogers Ben Rivers Ryan Wilson Wentz Goff Stafford Watson Luck Cousins Smith Garappolo Newton Bortles Dalton Carr Bridgewater Manning McCown Keenum Prescott Mariota Bradford Foles ...and then a few "borderline" guys: Tannehill Trubisky Flacco Brissett ...and then the new rookie class: Mayfield Darnold Allen Rosen Jackson There are 36 names for you right there. Now, granted, you could probably lump TT in at the tail end of that Tannehill-Trubisky group... but my point still stands. There are easily 28-30 guys that are clearly ahead of TT in the NFL right now.

You're not getting any of those 3 for Tyrod straight up in a trade. Also, JMcC & TB have both put up better numbers than TT. TB is by far a more talented passer & QB overall. (JMcC also only played in 13 games last year. He averaged 45 more passing yds/gm than TT.)

The NY Jets have 3 just on their roster.

I'm not denying that this doesn't exist. I'm sure they're out there. But "how many of them are there?" has been my question -- and no one seems to want to answer it.

Literally no one is saying that. In no way, shape, or form is TT the worst ever to play the game. He's just not nearly as good as the media wants to make him out to be and not really in the top 30 at the position currently in the league. Where the pushback comes from is the very real attempt to push a narrative that says "only racists think Tyrod should have been replaced". I resent and take personal offense at this notion that all Bills fans are practically klansmen because we were ok with them moving on from a QB who led the NFL's worst passing offense for 3 years and just happened to be black.