FanPost

Re-Watch: Buffalo at Oakland

With the Tyrod Taylor contract still hanging in the balance, I wanted to get a more thorough feel of our QB's recent play. Rumblers often point to the Oakland game, week 13, as showing how Tyrod will never be a championship level QB. So, since I happen to have that game on DVD, I cued it up tonight. Here's what I saw…

THREE GOOD, BUFFALO

(1) Shady McCoy. Da-yum, he had a game. Not only did he rip off an electrifying 54-yard run to set up a 2nd half TD, but he also made a clutch one-handed grab on a high swing pass late in the game.

(2) Mike Gillislee. Ran hard. More than capable #2 Back.

(3) Run defense. Not great, but pretty darn good. #99, #52, #53, #90, #57, #27.

THREE BAD, BUFFALO

(1) Defenseive secondary could not deal with Oakland's weapons (Crabtree, Cooper).

(2) Tyrod Taylor. After starting hot, cooled off completely in the second half. Throws were off-target, happy feet in the pocket.

(3) Jordan Mills gave up two big plays against Khalil Mack: once where #52 tipped Taylor's hand resulting in an INT; then Mack's strip sack/fumble recovery.

Comparing the Bills offensive weapons to Oakland's, it isn't even close. I found myself wishing Whaley would have drafted Khalil Mack instead of Sammy Watkins. That's two local products (Gronkowski, Mack) that we let get away, and are paying the price.

The Raiders owned the middle of the field. Can't stress enough how important that is. Carr looked very comfortable hitting his big receivers on slants, hooks, seam patterns and crosses. Tyrod did not; he had a few connections over the middle, but far fewer than Carr.

Despite the lack of offensive talent (Clay, Woods - out), Tyrod Taylor must take the lion's share of the blame for lack of production late in the game. His passes were inaccurate, and he also failed to see a wide open Sammy Watkins on a bomb. He did not look like a natural passer.

CONCLUSIONS:

While I do see a role on this team for Tyrod Taylor (at around 4yr/$40M), this game exposed serious limitations. Hate to be the back-and-forth guy (I've mostly supported re-signing TT), but an old saying of mine is: 'If it ain't a definite YES, then it's a NO.' My new opinion of Tyrod's contract as presently written is: NO.

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.