Rex Ryan is well aware of the differing strengths and weaknesses of his current three man quarterback rotation.
“It’s different styles; you get Cassel the veteran who played to his strength, Tyrod whose got a little magic to him and EJ, who steps in and performs,” Ryan told reporters following the Bills 25-24 defeat at the hands of the Panthers.
The Bills couldn’t have asked for a better start to their preseason than Matt Cassel‘s first quarter performance: 7 of 8 for 45 yards with no turnovers. Cassel maintained a manilla and plain appeal, while Tyrod Taylor spiced up the first team offense. In other words:
Tyrod Taylor = Saturday night. Matt Cassel = Sunday morning.
— Marc Sessler (@MarcSesslerNFL) August 15, 2015
Cassel’s second and final possession of the night lead to a poor 37 yard field goal attempt by Jordan Gay which was very wide left with a little over 2 minutes remaining in the 1st quarter.
The Bills first team defense, as billed, lived up to the hype quite well. The defense gave up only one yard to Cam Newton in their first possession on three offensive plays. The Panthers offense didn’t return to the field for the second time in the first quarter until the 2:15 mark. The second Carolina possession ended in a touchdown against the same first team defense who blanked Carolina on their first possession.
“We did well. We shut down the run and that’s the thing we want to do, but we didn’t want to give them a TD as a first team defense,” said linebacker Preston Brown.
With just under one minute left in the first, Taylor came on in relief for Cassel and almost instantly a spark was lit with Taylor under center.
Cassel looked solid, just not as exciting as Taylor, who provided back to back scoring drives upon entering the game fueled by his athleticism. Taylor’s first possession was finalized with a one yard Karlos Williams Sr. touchdown. Taylor was 0 for 1 on the possession, however his only incompletion came on a beautifully placed deep ball down the left sideline that fell through Marquise Goodwin‘s open hands.
Newton and Derek Anderson attacked the Bills secondary at will, especially whomever covered Benjamin. Gilmore & rookie Ronald Darby were both on the hot seat against the Panthers’ aerial assault, including the two yard fade where Benjamin out-positioned an unsuspecting Darby.
Darby showed some good and bad tendencies in his NFL debut with the Bills. Let us begin with the bad, where Darby could be found out of position on jump balls and was often unable to turn his head in order to locate the ball in the air. In his defense, Darby gave up plenty of size to the larger Benjamin, who stands at 6′ 5″ and 243 lbs., while Darby stands at 5′ 11″ and 190 lbs.
While Darby’s head coach said Darby didn’t play as well as he was hoping him to, he did explain perhaps why the rookie struggled. “We fed him to the wolves…if anything, we pulled coverage away from him so we put him out there and let him learn…and I think he will learn and respond from it.”
On a good note Darby showed signs of short term memory loss, which is a good thing playing corner in the NFL. Carolina’s quarterbacks threw at him on plays where he was beat the play before. On those subsequent plays Darby showed his mental toughness by recovering with pass break ups and good positioning.
As this was his first taste at actual NFL competition, Darby can find a place in the Bills secondary so long as he cleans up his technique and learns to locate the ball better while in the air.
At half time Taylor lead the Bills in rushing (6 attempts, 47 yards) and passing (5 of 8, 49 yards). Entering tonight we knew Taylor could make plays with his legs but he was pleased with his decision making skills as well. “It was more so that run-pass option. The defense gave me a couple lanes to go out there and make some plays and that is what I did,” Taylor said following Friday’s game.
You may remember a quarterback by the name of EJ Manuel, who played the entire second half mostly with third stringers. Although he had limited resources (i.e. countless dropped passes and errant shotgun snaps) EJ performed quite well. The best throw of the night came from Manuel’s 51 yard beauty which hit Deonte Thompson perfectly in stride down the seam which enabled him to stroll in to the end zone beyond the secondary.
Manuel ended his night 4 of 8 for 77 yards with 1 touchdown. Keep in mind of those four incompletions, two were drops on perfectly thrown balls where Ryan proclaimed “Our tight Ends decided they were tackles.”
As this is only week one of the preseason, the quarterback controversy will be sure to last up until the regular season opener agains the Colts.
“This isn’t ideal. Obviously. But, when you have three guys battling you want it to be a hard decision with all three guys. That all three are playing at a good level and they all clearly played well tonight,” Ryan said following his first game as Bills head coach.
Ryan did confirm Taylor will be starting next week in Cleveland and claimed “All guys will get opportunities.”
