Bills have the bottom three passers in the NFL

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 5, 2018, 10:11 AM EST
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The Buffalo Bills’ offense isn’t just the worst in the NFL. It’s among the worst in NFL history, and so impossibly bad that no matter which of their three quarterbacks are playing, they have the league’s worst passing attack.

There are 44 quarterbacks who have thrown at least 10 passes this season, and the Bills’ three quarterbacks rank 42nd, 43rd and 44th in passer rating. Here’s how the bottom of the passer rating chart looks:

30.7 Nathan Peterman, Bills
56.0 Derek Anderson, Bills
61.8 Josh Allen, Bills
62.5 Sam Bradford, Cardinals
64.5 Tyrod Taylor, Browns

So the Bottom 3 are Bills, with Sam Bradford (who’s now on waivers) and Tyrod Taylor (previously with the Bills) rounding out the Bottom 5.

Peterman is undeniably the worst of the three, and he only started Sunday’s loss to the Bears because Anderson and Allen are both hurt. Bills fans can take a little solace in the fact that Allen, their first-round draft pick and (they hope) future franchise quarterback, has the best stats of the three. Maybe some day Allen will get the Bills’ offense turned around. But that day looks a long, long way off.

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70 responses to “Bills have the bottom three passers in the NFL”

  4. There is a difference here, Taylor won 8 games last year to lead the Bill’s to the playoffs and had an 89.2 rating. So all of these are not the same.

  5. Go with Peterman, don’t ruin Josh Allen before he’s ready to start.
    Peterman can earn the Bills the #1 pick.
    With that they can trade down and rebuild the team.
    This year is lost, why bother trying to go 3-13 instead of 1-15?

  7. There is a difference here, Taylor won 8 games last year to lead the Bill’s to the playoffs and had an 89.2 rating. So all of these are not the same.
    ———–

    Yes, they traded the LT to the Bengals (Dawkins has looked ok in his place), but losing Wood to a freak injury and losing Incognito because he is cuckoo for coco puffs really hurt our chances this year. Our replacements for those 2 wouldn’t even start on any other team.

  9. I know so many get mad when we say Kaepernick and honestly, I am not here to start that debate. But if you’re a GM, personnel director or whatever, I would rather you just come out and say “signing Kaepernick will being unwanted attention or ‘distraction’ to our team” or whatever.

    But when you have these guys as your QB and you try to say w/ a straight face “we like our guys better” then we start to question you.

  11. But when you have these guys as your QB and you try to say w/ a straight face “we like our guys better” then we start to question you.

    ———-

    kennylc2015 don’t say that too loud in here.

  12. Somewhere Doug Whaley is laughing. In fact Doug screw the bills royally two years ago. He knew he was getting canned, so he traded the bills pick tobthe Chiefs so they could get mahomes. Maybe he expected to be hired by Dorsey or Reid at some point in the future.

    Well played Doug.

  14. I’m pro-Kaep, very much so in fact. However, what good would it do the Bills? They’d go 5-11 instead of 2-14 or 3-13? What the hell does that get you? They’ve won a game, so they won’t go 0-16. Its not September anymore, its halfway through the season and they’re not going to the playoffs, so what’s the point? You can’t deny that it would be a media circus, and the Bills can realistically look at that and say ‘We have Josh Allen, we think he can be the guy, but he’s currently hurt. We don’t need to bring in a guy that might hurt our draft pick and also cause all kinds of media issues with the guys that are already here.’

    The fit for Kaepernick would be someplace like Miami or maybe Jacksonville. He’d have to show up and try out and show that he can still play. He might not be perfect, but he’s gotta show SOMETHING. Show up in shape, learn the playbook and play decently in camp and pre-season. He’s been out of football for almost 2 years, so he’s gotta have time to get back into playing form with knowledge of the playbook. Otherwise, he’s gonna fail, and fail big time, which will only prove things that people are already saying.

  16. So…what did this say about the GM and HC that are making these great roster moves…young energetic and without experience. young staffs to boot not enough wisdom and experience on the staffs to help avoid the mess that is being made.

  20. Terrele Pryor is a better QB than Peterman and I’m not joking. They can run the wildcat with pryor at qb and lesean mccoy at rb and have a much better offense than they have now.

  21. .
    The Bills traded the 2017 #10 overall pick to the Chiefs. They promptly selected Patrick Mahomes. Now, it appears that the Chiefs will be highly competitive for another decade while the Bills are the new Browns.
    .

  22. These numbers do suggest that the team’s offensive problems go beyond the QB. At least they don’t have a bunch of cap money tied up in Peterman, or even Allen at this point.
    And really, they night as well wait until Brady retires to start fielding a competitive team. That’s what the Jets have been doing for the last several years. I assume.

  24. Sadly, despite a great fan base in Buffalo…….they’ll be ‘re-locating to San Antonio, Texas. The ownership wants out of the cold weather and high NY taxes. No state taxes in Texas. Too many, but not all, NFL owners don’t seriously care about winning. The Socialist style sharing of TV revenues takes care of that. The incentive to field a winning team is diminishing. The San Diego Chargers move to LA is a disaster, despite a winning team. The Las Vegas Raiders have deserted their fan base and the Buffalo Bills are next. Maybe the Jaguars down the line. Goodell and the NFL owners need to change their re-location and ownership/team performance policy’s. And soon.

  25. I guess that might prove that it isn’t the QB that is the problem. Maybe it is a team effort. No line or WR don’t help. They signed Pryor and all he did was tip a ball right into the hands of the D for a pick 6. He fits right in.

  26. Apparently you never saw Taylor play. The Bills certainly did not make the playoffs because of Taylor.The Bengals got the Bills into the playoffs with a virtual last second miracle play. Taylor’s rating is artificially high because he never took a chance, rarely threw the ball over the middle of the field, usually took one look and ran the ball. He didn’t read defenses well and was due more money than he was worth. Proof of that is his body of work in Cleveland. Cleveland!. Where he didn’t last 2 weeks.

  28. 30.6 QBR?!!! Wow. Back in the 90s when I took my SAT there was this myth that you got 200 points just for showing up and spelling your name right. I wonder if the same thing exists for QBR.

  29. Not sure how the GM is still employed. For a brief moment they had a clear thought of “What happens if Peterman doesn’t cut it? How do we keep from rushing our rookie out there if that happens?” So, they brought in McCarron. That clear thought disappeared after like a week and they totally set themselves up for what has happened the rest of the year. Peterman is beyond awful, Allen wasn’t ready AND they got him hurt for good measure. And they’re calling up grocery stores trying to find baggers who used to throw a football around on the weeknds.

  30. *******************
    6ball says:
    November 5, 2018 at 10:45 am
    .
    The Bills traded the 2017 #10 overall pick to the Chiefs. They promptly selected Patrick Mahomes. Now, it appears that the Chiefs will be highly competitive for another decade while the Bills are the new Browns.
    *******************

    Put Allen on the Cheifs and Mahomes on the Bills and see what happens…I’m not saying Allen is or will ever be as good as Mahomes, but the Bills supporting cast is nonexistent while the Cheifs are LOADED on offense…

  32. Head Coach and General Manager decided last season that they had a vision for the QB position. That’s why they sat Taylor for Peterman because Taylor doesn’t look like a franchise QB. He’s small and doesn’t have a big frame. Nevermind that he doesn’t turn the ball over and carries himself like a “franchise” QB.

    These threads are sprinkled with fans defending Peterman. Hilarious.

  34. I think we can safely say that sucking at talent evaluation is a big problem when you are trying to field a competitive team.

    Sorry to say that Josh Allen is not the answer either.

  36. Allen needs to get healthy and try to get whatever positive experience he can for the rest of the season, the HOPE they address the Oline and WR spots with all that cap and draft capitol.

  40. Sevenwords,

    Viking fan here, our offensive line has had worst issues. We have still have been competitive most of the time. So attrition is part of the game, so is better coaching & management. Not hating on you guys, just stating a belief

  42. “The Bills certainly did not make the playoffs because of Taylor.”
    _______________________

    Taylor had 14 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions that 2017 season. But he had absolutely zero to do with the team making the playoffs? Come on. I can see not handing him a $20 million per year long-term contract but he played extremely well in Buffalo. Nobody who isn’t pushing some other sort of agenda can argue with that.

  43. 50DrunksInABar says:
    November 5, 2018 at 10:35 am
    I’m pro-Kaep, very much so in fact…

    The fit for Kaepernick would be someplace like Miami or maybe Jacksonville.
    ——————————

    I won’t belabor the pro/anti Kaepernick argument since there’s nothing new to be added.
    That said I feel compelled to point out the complete lack of awareness involved in citing Miami or Jax as a ‘fit’ for him. Miami’s Cubano population population and Jax being a Navy town make them inherently bad ‘fits’ as potential landing spots. The fact that you espouse them shows how little you understand the true dynamic at work in keeping him out of the league. Business is busine$$.

  44. “don’t ruin Josh Allen before he’s ready to start.”

    To ruin him would suggest that he was once good…when has Josh Allen ever been any good? If he becomes good (and if I win the Powerball…) that would be a new development.

  45. Tyrod Taylor is not much better than these 3, but at least he was good enough to get them to the playoffs for the first time in umpteen years. Of course, there are people who claim that Colin Kaepernick is way worse than any of the 3 QB that the Bills have.

  46. I used to not like the idea of firing McDermott but he had 2 chances to get the offensive coordinator right and he failed both times. I thi k its time for a new staff.

  47. Sam Bradford has been paid 129 million dollars since 2010. His record in his 83 starts is 34-48-1.
    Stats:
    19,449 yds, 103 TD, 61 INT, 62.5 comp%.

    $3,794,117 per win, or
    $1,252,427 per TD, or
    $1,554,217 pr start.

    Sam should become an agent.

  48. GM Kim Pegula and her husband Terry are the root of the problem, they know absolutely nothing about sports but pretend they do. Both the hockey team and the football team have been rebuilding for many years.

    They’ve been planning to leave since the get go and have their eyes on an out in the lease in 2020

  49. Yesterday was the first time in about 30 years I didn’t watch one second of the bills game. this is, without a doubt the most clueless HC/GM combo i,ve ever seen in buffalo. McDerrmott looks like a deer in the headlights. he put this crap show together and brought his buddy beano in to ok all of his decisions. doug whaley didn’t screw up the PM situation, fetus head did. also like to add most fans didn’t want any part of JA. now my personal silver lining is witnessing JA bust, making arrogant McDerrmott look like a dope. there’s no hope in sight….again.

  50. WRONG !! The owners of the Bills said they are staying in Buffalo !

    Guy Hence says:
    November 5, 2018 at 10:54 am
    Sadly, despite a great fan base in Buffalo…….they’ll be ‘re-locating to San Antonio, Texas. The ownership wants out of the cold weather and high NY taxes. No state taxes in Texas. Too many, but not all, NFL owners don’t seriously care about winning. The Socialist style sharing of TV revenues takes care of that. The incentive to field a winning team is diminishing. The San Diego Chargers move to LA is a disaster, despite a winning team. The Las Vegas Raiders have deserted their fan base and the Buffalo Bills are next. Maybe the Jaguars down the line. Goodell and the NFL owners need to change their re-location and ownership/team performance policy’s. And soon.

  51. Reading the posts here it looks like everyone is interested in getting rid of the GM and Coach. I agree! they are amateurs at this game Especially the GM!. I could do a better job and I didn’t even play football!

  52. The Bills probably should have kept Taylor and done what the Browns did with him (before his injury). Failing that, they should have kept McCarron to give Allen time to gradually ease into the game. Failing that, they should have better evaluated their backup (Peterman) and realized he wasn’t starting material. Failing that, they should have signed one of the many average not-currently-employed QBs who’d had action more recently than Anderson.

    That’s a lot of failing around the most important position in the game. The ignorant masses like us could have made better choices and saw this coming; why couldn’t team leadership?

  53. We know Allen’s starting next year. The smart move to play Peterman the rest of the year and earn the number 1 draft spot, and use it and your other high picks in each round (due to your record) to select offensive help in every offensive position. The Bills are in need everywhere on that side of the ball (HB is the only area with proven production, but McCoy is closer to the end of his career than the beginning, so insurance is always good to have).

    The other upside is, in addition to letting Allen rehab at his own pace, it gives the maximum opportunity to Peterman to either develop into an acceptable replacement or lets the Bills see the he will never be good enough to take up that roster spot. Either he becomes an okay backup who has experience running the offense, or he blows it up and they cut him loose. Either way, they end up with higher picks and a healthier starter next year.

  56. Not hating on you guys, just stating a belief
    __________________________________________________________________________

    No need to hate when our “belief” is your reality – the Vikings got blown out by this team on their home field….

  57. qckappa says:
    November 5, 2018 at 10:19 am

    There is a difference here, Taylor won 8 games last year to lead the Bill’s to the playoffs and had an 89.2 rating. So all of these are not the same.
    ——————————————————————

    Why are they not the same? The article said THIS year and nothing about last year. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.

  58. Here’s an idea – have the current Sabres put cleats on and have the Bills put skates on. Pegulas’ own both teams. They could make this happen. Could not be any worse for either team.

  59. I never comment twice on a story but after reading what other bills fans think I can say unequivocally, buffalo has the most gullible supporters in the NFL. they can’t see the forest for goddamn trees.

  61. To put Peterman’s passer rating in perpective, if every pass he attempted was an incompletion, his rating would be 9 points higher.

    Last season he had a game where his rating would have been higher if you considered the defending team HIS receivers and vice versa.

    The others were always going to struggle, but Peterman puts the epic in epic fail.

  62. “The San Diego Chargers move to LA is a disaster, despite a winning team.”

    It might be a different story if the Rams weren’t so damn good now. Two team cities always have a favorite, depending on which team is having more success at the moment.

  63. If the Bills could get Pryor to plant his feet instead of rolling out to the right every other play, they’d have a decent QB the rest of the season.

  64. Bills: We’re running the table on lowest passer rating.
    Darnold: Hold my Hostess fruit pie.

  67. It makes you wonder if the Bills are even trying to win games.

    ===============================================================

    No it actually doesn’t. IF anyone thinks the Bills are actually trying to win games (and by Bills I don’t mean the players) then I have some land to sell you

  69. “No it actually doesn’t. IF anyone thinks the Bills are actually trying to win games (and by Bills I don’t mean the players) then I have some land to sell you”

    Right…because it’s super logical that THIS year they’d go for a tank…when they already have their QB (at least in their minds) and there’s currently no top of the draft offensive prospects. They might not think they’re equipped to compete now, but they’re not losing on purpose. If they were about tanking, last year would have been the smart time to do it.

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