It’s been the constant narrative for Bills fans and media.
Where is the next Jim Kelly?
15 starting QBs since Jim Kelly retired after the 1996 season. The Bills haven’t really come close to finding their next franchise QB. Sure, some of it has to do with poor organizational structure and talent around the QB having a way to stunt his growth, but if you were to make an all-star team of players who have played for the Bills during the drought, you’d have a hell of a team…except for one position…QB.
The Bills have tried the high draft pick route (EJ/JP), the veteran route (Bledsoe/Fitzpatrick/Orton), the mid round guy (Trent) and I’m missing someone…oh, the guy who this piece is supposed to be about: Tyrod Taylor.
This is part one of a two part series where I will lay out the pros and cons for keeping #5.
At this point in my piece, my intuition is to lose Taylor. But that’s just me saying that with a snap judgment and not weighing in the good or bad of the situation. As fans, we tend to view everything in a instant gratification society and forget what happened in say October or October of last season. It is the 24/7 News cycle where it is all about NOW NOW NOT THEN, BUT NOW NOW (Spaceballs Joke).
These two pieces will go over Tyrod’s 29 games as a starter and give you the option to pick. No agenda. Just laying out facts and giving you guys a handbook when you are arguing for or against #5 at your favorite watering hole.
5) Why have a bridge if you plan on bombing it?
Look, I’m not a “OH MY GAWD! THEY ARE 26 MILLION UNDER THE CAP AND RANKED 6TH FROM THE BOTTOM!! RAISE THE GATES AND TAR AND FEATHER EVERYONE!!” guy. The worry about the cap is the most overrated panic narrative in football. Rich covered it pretty well the other day, but I’ll just add that the Bills are going to be 61-million under the cap next year. The rookie deals are going to be pennies for that cap and FA is normally not as sexy as some want to make it out to be. It boils down to development of your young guys and if you aren’t doing that, the cap won’t exactly matter. You won’t be paying for anyone if you don’t have any talent. Additionally, the Bills don’t exactly have Jack Eichel or Sam Reinhardt who are close to getting paid soon off their rookie deals.
While 15-million is the norm for the bottom 3rd of NFL QBs, it is not exactly a list I want my QB to be on because those QBs kind of suck. Here are the guys who average 15-million or less at QBs who aren’t on their rookie deals…Kaepernick, Cutler, Nick Foles, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Do you want any of those guys as your starters? You’d probably pick door #2 which would be the draft or the unknown. More importantly, Tyrod’s stats are near the bottom of the league (More on that later). Now, while I think the Bills aren’t in salary cap hell as some would like to make out of it, I can’t ignore that if you cut Tyrod you will have 15-million dollars to go after other needs like a WR or RT or safety or the other 10 needs this team has.
Still, this isn’t about saving money on your cap for me. If you are telling me he’s just the bridge guy which seems to be what the pro-Tyrod fans are saying, why not just build your own bridge if you think Tyrod’s bridge sucks to begin with?
Let’s simplify it in a dating fashion. I’m not a relationship expert, but you don’t stay with someone after you dated them for two years and have come to the realization you are not going to marry that person, especially if it costs a lot to keep that lady happy. You don’t settle. You go and hunt for someone else even if there are growing pains. Keeping Tyrod here is unfair to him and unfair to the team because you are just delaying the final result.
4) Can’t put the shit back in donkey
When your GM basically comes out and tells the HC of the team that you need to bench the QB for the final game after having the game of his life because you are worried about him getting hurt, that about tells you how the GM views him. If that didn’t convince you, please note how the GM drafted a QB in the 4th round last year and by some reports, he’d be alright with Cardale being the starter this year. In other words, Doug Whaley hates Tyrod Taylor.
Now, you have a new coaching staff and do you think both parties want to get off on the wrong foot by fighting over Tyrod? What did we learn from Whaley vs Marrone or Whaley vs. Rex? Its that you kind of want your GM and coach to be on the same page. If the coaching staff wants Tyrod back, it would go against what Whaley wants if you are reading the tea leaves. Does McDermott want to die on the Tyrod Island with a GM who hasn’t gotten along with his previous coaches? Why get off on a bad foot? Do you wanna have the same shit going on next year where your GM didn’t want the QB but the HC did? Just wipe the slate clean and start from scratch where your GM/HC have a clear conscience on what they want at QB.
3) It’s going to suck regardless of who the QB is next year
You remember when none of us knew what we were getting with Tyrod two years ago? None of us did cause he didn’t start any games. If the Bills were as good as what we thought they were on paper in 2015, I would sign Tyrod in a heartbeat with knowing he could game manage the shit out of the team. Number 4 defense mixed in with Clay/Woods/Harvin/Sammy/McCoy? Sign me up. Well, the Bills aren’t nearly as good on paper as they were in 2015. What Tyrod walked into 2 years ago is completely different than what he may be walking out of.
I went over it in details last week and I still stand by it. To paraphrase it, I feel Tyrod is someone who would do well on a team with loads of talent (See: Dallas/Denver), but not on a team that won’t have anyone left from their 2013 draft class and only gets pro bowlers when the replacements for the starters bail out. You can tell me all you want that the alternative is going to be worse if you let Tyrod leave which is what Pro-Tyrod fans are holding onto, and I agree with that, but it is still going to be an ugly season with him starting. The roster is old and are missing way too many parts at crucial areas.
The Bills current roster is a sinking ship and keeping Tyrod is basically keeping the floating door from Titanic. Yeah, it may save a life, but everyone else is going to die.
2) The stats don’t lie
Since the start of 2015
- Two teams have had just one 300-yard passer, the St. Louis Rams and the Buffalo Bills.
- The Bills are tied for 23rd in fewest 3TD and 2TD passing games (2 and 5).
- The Bills had 17 games where their QBs passed for less than 200 yards (3rd fewest in the NFL).
- The Bills have had 40 TD passes (tied for 24th) and 6,379 passing yards (tied for 30th)
- In 2016, the Bills were last in pass attempts, 27th in TD passes, and 30th in passing yards/passes that went 20+ yards.
Tyrod may be the best QB the Bills have had since Bledsoe, but he’s not very close in comparison to his peers in the NFL. Those are the teams you have to battle against. I’ve heard too many times where Bills fans get locked into comparing what they’ve had on previous Bills teams at QB instead of what other teams have at the same position. You aren’t battling old Bills teams with Trent or EJ Manuel at QB, you are battling against teams who happen to have better passers. I’m not asking for Tom Brady, but give me some QB stats that aren’t near the fricken bottom of the league, please.
1) Fresh tactics
For 17 years, I’ve been trying to find about 20 different ways for the Bills to make the playoffs that has nothing to do with our QB being someone who could win them games. I’ve done the “BUILD THE DEFENSE!!! BUILD THE RUNNING GAME!! QB MANAGE THE GAME!!! BRADY TORE HIS ACL, HERE’S OUR CHANCE!!” I feel I’ve just been dealing from a half deck when it comes to figuring out how the Bills are going to make the playoffs because I’ve basically tried to mask the problems at QB by building other areas of the team. While I still believe you can win in this league with average QB play, great defense, and a great running game…The Bills somehow keep fucking this formula up. Why? Because they are idiots. Alright, idiots to go along with how hard it is to do this formula.
It has come to the point where I just can’t muster the brain power to figure out how the Bills can make the playoffs without a top 12 QB. That’s what I want. I don’t need a Hall of Famer. Give me a passing team that ranks in the top half of this league. I know its hard, but the Bills just seem to be settling at QB instead of trying to get better. “Yeah, we know [insert QB name] isn’t going to set the league on fire, but look at all these other cool parts of the football team.” I’m tired of that POV. I’ve done it, the Bills have done, everyone has done it and it comes to the point where you shouldn’t settle at the position.
Since 1998, the Bills have drafted just 5 QBs (Levi Brown, Cardale Jones, JP Losman, EJ Manuel, and Trent Edwards) which is tied for 2nd fewest in the NFL over that time with Indy/KC/NO/NYG. Aside from KC (Note: Did have Trent Green and Alex Smith), it is pretty obvious why the other 3 teams haven’t drafted many QBs. For the Bills, I have zero idea why that’s the case. If that stat doesn’t depress you enough, then get this…David Carr has 14 300+yard plus games in 3 seasons. The Bills have had 15 300+ yard plus passing games since 2002!! I want to have that type of QB. That should be their goal until they achieve it.
Final word:
The Tyrod story arc has been so up and down this past season. I remember I did a poll after his 300-yard game against Miami about keeping him and almost 70% of fans wanted to. About 3 weeks earlier I did the same poll and that number was at 30%. Can you say Bills-polar? I even think the Bills benching Tyrod in the finale made fans want to take his side even more because it was so fucked up what they did to him after having a hell of a game. There are reasons why the Bills should keep Tyrod and the next article will establish why. It is a tough decision and I have changed my mind a few times.
But to me, it goes back to the makeup of this team and the fact that the GM doesn’t exactly want him. And, again, I think Tyrod can be an effective QB if he’s on a talented team, so, if he goes to Denver, he’ll do well. If he goes to Cleveland…well, that’s another story. I feel for Tyrod since he had some bad luck along the way with having a defense that didn’t live close to the hype and an E.R. unit at WR. His stats would have been better if the guys around him were healthier. Still, health concerns aren’t the issue here, it is the overall team.
The Bills SHOULD be a rebuilding team or at least it should be a rebuilding effort. If you are going to rebuild, I think you should do it across the board.
If we are starting from scratch, the Bills need to stop with the “surrounding the QB with a decent team” philosophy and go balls to the wall with “surrounding this team with a decent QB.”I don’t know how the hell they will do it, but I know that with the present situation with how the team is set up, it is not going to be Tyrod.
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