Quick, who was the last Buffalo Bills quarterback to make the Pro Bowl before Tyrod Taylor?
It probably didn’t take you long to come up with the answer- the candidate list isn’t very deep. It was Drew Bledsoe in 2002. FOURTEEN YEARS AGO.
The Bills had an okay team for two more years after Bledsoe’s trip to Honolulu, but narrowly missed a chance to get into the playoffs against the Pittsburgh Steelers’ backups in the 2004 regular season finale, as another playoff-less season ended 9-7.
Since then the Bills have only matched that nine-win total once. They finished last in the conference six years in a row from 2008-2013. The playoff drought is now at sixteen grueling seasons.
Too “good” to ever bottom out and get game-changing players in the draft, the Bills propped up mediocre teams with free agent acquisitions like Takeo Spikes, Terrell Owens, and Mario Williams to make sure bodies kept flowing through the turnstiles at the Ralph. Six and seven-win seasons have been the norm in Buffalo.
The 2015 season was not a great one either. It followed the familiar, depressing pattern of many a Bills season during this absurdly long absence from postseason play: Early excitement, followed by a rapid decline into “Time to win out and totally make the playoffs!”-mode.
Rex Ryan’s “style” did not offer Buffalo fans a lot to be proud of either. The Bills were the most penalized team in the NFL in 2015 and 4th in unnecessary roughness penalties. The defense, Ryan’s specialty—which was expected to improve after a great 2014—regressed mightily.
There was one bright spot, however, in the emergence of quarterback Tyrod Taylor. He won Pro Football Focus Breakout Player of the Year for 2015, with analyst John Kosko noting Taylor’s proficiency on deep throws and in passing under pressure. PFF graded his 2015 performance 10th among quarterbacks with over 200 dropbacks, just a hair behind Matt Ryan and ahead of names like Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers.
The Bills front office has tilled the free agent scrap heap and sold us on Kelly Holcomb, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Kyle Orton at quarterback, or made big gambles on J.P. Losman and E.J. Manuel. After years of floundering, they have finally struck gold.
By no means is Taylor an unquestioned superstar. But he’s certainly the best option the Bills have had since at least the Bledsoe days, probably longer. And he’s only 26 years old.
So why the hell are the Bills pussyfooting around signing him long-term?
The notoriously frugal organization has wasted money and resources on many occasions. Draft a sleeper in Jairus Byrd and let him leave for nothing? Sure! First round pick + big salary for C.J. Spiller then let him walk too? No problemo! Extend Dick Jauron after two middling seasons because the third started off great? Absolutely!
But the dawn of the Pegula era was supposed to put an end to the frugality. Further, what investment could be smarter than an efficient, experienced, mobile quarterback who also still has considerable upside? Quarterback is the most important position on the field, by far, and increasingly so with the direction the rules are shifting in today’s NFL.
Whatever the cost, Terry, Doug, Rex, lock this guy down. Because Buffalo has been looking for a quarterback for a very, very long time and finally has one. Every passing day without a deal increases the chances of souring your relationship with him.
The Bills have met with Paxton Lynch and other top quarterbacks in this year’s draft pool. It doesn’t take a detective to infer that this reported interest is intended to send a message to Taylor’s camp, which is a mistake.
Playing hardball like that is fine…if you’re the New England Patriots. They can afford to because being part of their organization is a privilege. The results speak for themselves. If they balk at extending a player early and peruse the market for alternatives, the Patriots probably won’t lose a step. The player questions whether he should hold out.
Buffalo has no history of success to stand on in this negotiation, and does not elicit the same concern. It’s hard to make the tough-guy act work when your last playoff appearance occurred during Bill Clinton’s presidency.
Taylor is saying all the right things publicly, but it can’t make him feel great to see that the Bills are meeting with early-round quarterbacks and that they don’t seem to be in any rush to extend him. If pressed far enough, maybe he sets his sights on leaving Buffalo after this season and earning a fat free agent contract elsewhere, which would be a travesty.
Bills fans—members of one of the most passionate fanbases in the sports world—deserve to root for a winner at least every once in a while. Settling the quarterback position would be a great step in the right direction.
Here’s to hoping they don’t royally fudge this golden opportunity to do so.
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