A look back at Tyrod Taylor’s night against the Philadelphia Eagles

In case you didn’t hear, Tyrod Taylor didn’t play that well for the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night in Philadelphia. But as you know football is the ultimate team sport, so even though Tyrod will get most of the blame, there wasn’t much help around him either. I’m definitely not saying the quarterback had a good night, just that we look at his struggles in a honest way.

I’ve picked out 5 plays from the game versus the Eagles, to hopefully give a good review of what happened during Tyrod’s time in the game.

Play #1 - Completion to Clay

A common theme of this game was the Eagles sending a lot of pressure. Sending extra guys (especially from the secondary) is a bit unusual in the preseason, but Taylor does a good job here standing in the pocket and hitting Clay on the out pattern in stride vs man coverage. The accuracy of the pass allows Clay to run after the catch for an additional 6 or 7 yards. Coaches and teammates love to see their QB stand strong in the pocket to make a play.

Play #2 - Play action pass to Zay Jones

The Bills ran this same play a few plays earlier but missed on it as Tyrod threw the ball before Zay had made his break. Here the play action fake draws the LB up and opens up a nice window. Tyrod has a nice pocket, some good depth in his drop and fires a strike to Jones who beats his man to the inside. There will be a lot more play action in the offense this year and this is an example of what it can do.

Play #3 - Missed slant throw

This is a play that bothered me a bit more than I think it would bother others. The called play is a basic pass play, double slants to one side and slant/flat to the other. Eagles are in man coverage so Taylor does go to the correct side, but the quarterback just doesn’t release the ball on his 3rd step when the receiver is open. The quick rhythm passing game has been a problem for Taylor the past two years and this offense uses it more than the last one did, improvement is needed.

Play #4 - Interception to Darby

Eagles bring pressure and it gets home to Taylor quickly. (The right side of the offensive line, in particular, was a trouble spot all game.) However, the quarterback has to be smarter here. Some might say that he’s giving his receiver a chance to make a play 1-on-1, I see an awful decision. Turnovers lose ballgames, tossing the ball out of bounds is a better option here or the underneath pass to Nick O’Leary.

Play #5 - Jailbreak from the offensive line

True cover 0 here from the Eagles as they bring 1 more than the Bills have to block. It is actually picked up pretty well on the left side, but the right side gets blown up and there is nowhere for even the elusive Taylor to go. Just another example that football is a total team game. One quick thing to add is that the Bills have used a very basic game plan during the first two preseason games, so in the regular season this might play out differently due to checks/audibles.

In conclusion, it was a bad night for the 1st team offense. There is a lot for everyone to work on and with preseason game number three being the “dress rehearsal” for the regular season, a much better effort and result will be needed to calm the fears of the Bills Mafia.