Bills bench QB Taylor in favor of rookie Peterman
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. » Rather than continue watching a pedestrian offense muddle through a third consecutive game, Bills coach Sean McDermott sent his team a jolt by making an abrupt change at quarterback.
Tyrod Taylor was benched Wednesday and rookie fifth-round pick Nathan Peterman will make his first career start on Sunday, when Buffalo (54) plays at the Los Angeles Chargers (3-6).
McDermott acknowledged taking a “calculated risk” in making the switch at a time when the Bills have a winning record. They sit sixth in the AFC standings, and control their own destiny in a bid to end a 17-season playoff drought — the longest active streak in North America’s four major professional sports.
“This is about becoming better as a football team,” he said. “As a decision maker, you have to be able to or willing to take calculated risks to get to where we’re trying to go. And I’m comfortable doing that.”
As for the Bills record, the first-year coach said his objective isn’t being a winner in November.
“It is and will be for the time that I’m here be about becoming the best team we can possibly become,” McDermott said. “We are made for more than 5-4. And I’ve come here to be more than 5-4.”
The quarterback switch comes after Buffalo’s offense and defense were overmatched in a 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints . While the defense allowed 298 yards and six touchdowns rushing, the Taylorled offense was hardly better.
Taylor was benched after Buffalo produced 99 yards and four first downs on eight drives. In two series, Peterman finished going 7 of 10 for 79 yards and a 7-yard touchdown pass to Nick O’Leary.
McDermott backed Taylor as his starter immediately after the game and again on Monday, before having a change of heart upon waking up on Tuesday.
Buffalo has lost two straight with Taylor overseeing an offense that ranks 28th in the NFL in yards and 30th in yards passing. Take away the final two drives of each of Buffalo’s past two games, including a 34-21 loss at the New York Jets , and the Bills have produced 10 points, 305 yards, 16 first downs and committed four turnovers on 18 possessions.
Chargers optimistic about Philip Rivers
COSTA MESA » Kellen Clemens has learned plenty about preparing and not playing. After all, he has been the backup to Brett Favre and Philip Rivers, two of the most durable quarterbacks in NFL history.
That’s why Clemens believes he could step in smoothly for his first significant NFL action in nearly four years if Rivers doesn’t start for the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday for the first time since 2005.
Clemens and the Chargers are increasingly confident they won’t have to find out, however.
Rivers practiced with the Chargers on Wednesday while progressing through the league’s concussion protocol, and coach Anthony Lynn is optimistic that the veteran quarterback will play at home against the Bills.
“I just let the doctors handle that, and Philip will be brutally honest with us,” Lynn said. “I told him, ‘Be honest with us about this injury,’ and he has been so far. That’s all we can go by.”
Rivers has started 194 consecutive games for the Chargers since the 2006 season opener, racking up the fourth-longest streak of consecutive starts by a quarterback in NFL history. Favre holds the longest streak at a jaw-dropping 321 games between 1992 and 2010.
Vikings sticking with Keenum vs. Rams
EDEN PRAIRIE, MINN. » Case Keenum will start again at quarterback this week for Minnesota, a natural decision for coach Mike Zimmer with the Vikings on a fivegame winning streak and Keenum coming off a career-high four-touchdown performance.
With Teddy Bridgewater hovering as the fully healthy backup and Zimmer’s reluctance to declare Keenum the indefinite starter , though, the quarterback situation has been a weekly question if not a mystery.
Zimmer answered it Wednesday, staving off the speculation for at least a few more days by announcing that Keenum would start Sunday against his former team the Los Angeles Rams.
“I just figured I might as well count on it,” said the affable Keenum, who has clearly grown weary of the constant attention given to his tenuous status but kept up a positive public attitude because, well, that’s what backup quarterbacks have to do.”