Too often, football fans believe themselves just as capable as actual NFL general managers and head coaches. When it comes to the Bills, though, they might have a point.
Buffalo responded to its first playoff trip in nearly two decades with a busy offseason – shipping out its one-time Pro Bowl quarterback (Tyrod Taylor), drafting a big-armed project (Josh Allen), and trading away the stopgap passer (AJ McCarron) who would have given the rookie time to develop.
Which is how Nathan Peterman, whose name has quickly become shorthand for awful quarterbacking, could end up starting a second game against the team that intercepted him five times last season.
Peterman made his first-string debut last November against the Chargers, lasting one half in what turned out to be a 30-point blowout at StubHub Center. That was enough to force the Bills back to Taylor, with whom Buffalo always had a tumultuous relationship. Peterman threw 25 more passes that season, but it was Taylor who punched the team’s ticket to the postseason. In March, Cleveland acquired him for a third-round pick.
Buffalo filled that vacancy by signing McCarron to a two-year deal and drafting Allen, the most polarizing quarterback prospect in years. The idea, it seemed, was to have McCarron – who had a 97.1 passer rating in seven appearances for the Bengals in 2015 – to run the offense and keep Allen safe from a porous offensive line.
On Sept. 1, the Bills traded McCarron to Oakland for a 2019 fifth-round pick. Eight days later, Peterman started against Buffalo. He threw 18 passes, completing five to his teammates and two to the Ravens for a passer rating of 0.0.
For context, Peterman would have registered a passer rating of 39.6 if he had simply thrown every single pass into the dirt.
Coach Sean McDermott has yet to officially bench Peterman, saying that he still needed to “look at the tape.”
Bills QB Nathan Peterman has made 3 career starts, but has yet to finish a game.
Peterman has now been benched twice and left another game due to injury. pic.twitter.com/SWv0eNjtWh
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) September 9, 2018
WHO’S COACHING THE BILLS?
As a rookie head coach, McDermott helped Buffalo snap the NFL’s longest playoff drought. Judging from the start of his second season, the Bills might have to wait another 17 years to get back.
The 44-year-old burnished his reputation as Carolina’s defensive coordinator, where he put together a top-10 unit in four of his six seasons. He has yet to establish that sort of performance with his new team. Last season, Buffalo surrendered 5,682 yards, seventh-most in the NFL. The Bills then allowed 47 points in last weekend’s season opener against Baltimore, suffering their most lopsided loss in more than a decade.
After last year’s surprise trip to the postseason, Buffalo’s talent-deficient roster appears to be entering a long rebuilding process – one that could very well outlast McDermott’s own tenure.
BY THE NUMBERS
7: Interceptions thrown by Peterman on just 67 career pass attempts
0.0: Passer rating in Week 1 by Peterman, who went 5 of 18 for 24 yards and two picks
6: Completions by Josh Allen, who threw 15 passes after replacing Peterman against the Ravens
PLAYER TO WATCH
Buffalo drafted linebacker Tremaine Edmunds at No. 16 overall, one spot before the Chargers selected safety Derwin James. A month ago, online sportsbook Bovada gave Edmunds 19-to-2 odds at winning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, behind only Denver’s Bradley Chubb and Chicago’s Roquan Smith. James wasn’t far behind, tying for fourth with 14-to-1 odds.
The Bills’ defense looked awful on Sunday, but Edmunds stuffed the stat sheet in his regular-season debut. Just 20 years old, the 6-foot-5, 253-pound linebacker notched seven tackles to go with two pass breakups, a sack and a forced fumble.
WHAT DID HE SAY?
“You don’t just play the football team. You play 69,000 fans there too.”
— Anthony Lynn, who coached in Buffalo for two seasons before the Chargers hired him
