Petering out
Bills QB produces 0.0 rating in opening-game trouncing
In protecting rookie quarterback Josh Allen, the Buffalo Bills exposed Nathan Peterman as a not-ready-forbig-time player. Perhaps for good.
Six days after head coach Sean McDermott announced that the second-year Peterman had won the starting quarterback race over Allen, Peterman absolutely stunk it up as the host Baltimore Ravens creamed the visiting Bills 47-3 on Sunday, in both teams’ NFL opener.
When he was mercifully, pulled for Allen with 11:22 left in the third quarter, and Baltimore leading 40-0, Peterman had completed five of 18 pass attempts for just 24 yards, no touchdowns (obviously) and two ugly interceptions. He also took three sacks.
All for an official passer rating of … 0.0. Go ahead and jam pencils up your nose, Bills fans.
“Obviously, it wasn’t a good showing,” Peterman told Buffalo sports radio station WGR. “We’ve got to do a lot better, starting with me.”
Indeed. Peterman’s career stats to date, after three starts and three relief appearances including the playoff loss last January, are as follows: 30-of70 (43 per cent) for 280 yards, two touchdowns and eight interceptions, for a 24.4 passer rating. For perspective, a passer rating of 70 is unacceptably low.
“What quarterback in the history of the NFL has had a worse career?” post-game co-host Mike Schopp asked on Buffalo sports radio station WGR.
A harsh but hard-todispute assessment.
Bills GM Brandon Beane and head coach McDermott obviously had hoped that whatever improvements the team had been seeing from Peterman in spring and summer practices, as well as in some impressive preseason moments, were believable indications that he was now far more capable than he’d shown in that awful first pro start last November.
You’ll recall that, against the Los Angeles Chargers, Peterman threw five first-half interceptions before being pulled, an NFL record of infamy for a first-time starter.
Alas, if Peterman has improved in real-game, regular-season situations, it’s undetectable by the naked eye.
I had blamed a large chunk of his embarrassing stats against the Chargers on then-offensive coordinator Rick Dennison’s terrible play-calling.
I still don’t believe Dennison helped Peterman any at all that day. But new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll’s entirely different playbook coaxed no better passing from the 24-year-old on Sunday.
Peterman was so awful, the Bills offence ended the first half with zero first downs. In contrast, at halftime, Baltimore’s Joe Flacco had almost as many completions (23) as Peterman had passing yards (25).
Never mind that driving rain splashed throughout the game. Flacco played in it too, and he was consistently sensational. Hopefully, his performance doesn’t get drowned out.
Afterward, McDermott refused to shed any light on who might pilot the Bills attack in their home opener next Sunday against — guess who? — the L.A. Chargers.
“I’m going to look at everything,” McDermott said, adding over and over that he and his coaches will “look at the tape,” and that it’s “too early to go one way or another.”
Really, there’s only way now the Bills can go. Punt the pretend and start Josh Allen for the remainder of the season.
On one garbage-time pass attempt, he bought time in rolling right, then cannon blasting a pass into a receiver’s hands for a first down, through a briefly existing window. Never mind that it was negated by a holding call. Allen is capable of things that Peterman isn’t. He’s young, he’ll learn fast and figure it out. Peterman’s ceiling on his best day is so much lower than Allen’s already.
One last point. When the scoreboard says 47-3 in the other team’s favour, you stunk it up at most positions, not just at QB.
“It’s not just one guy. It’s a total team effort there,” McDermott said, adding that the first Sunday performance he’ll critically assess is his own.
This was Buffalo’s first regular-season game since clinching an unlikely playoff berth last New Year’s Eve, which ended the Bills’ miserable 17-year postseason drought.
A second straight playoff appearance in 2018 is, um, not looking likely.