By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott is bringing it down to the wire once again.
Following a 47-3 loss against the Baltimore Ravens on opening day, McDermott declined an opportunity to name a starting quarterback for his team’s Week 2 meeting against the Los Angeles Chargers. It’s also Buffalo’s home opener in Orchard Park.
“I’m still going through (making the decision),” McDermott told reporters on Monday. “Going to continue to evaluate where we are. Dotting the I’s crossing the T’s, taking it one step at a time.”
Against the Ravens, second-year pro Nathan Peterman was pulled from the game in the third quarter after Buffalo only had 24 yards passing on 5-for-18 passing from him. Rookie quarterback Josh Allen didn’t fare much better in garbage time, only mustering 74 total passing yards on 6-for-18 passing.
Despite being yanked and putting up those numbers, McDermott did say he took some positives from Peterman’s game.
“I thought he made some good decisions and some decisions he’d like back,” McDermott said. Specifically, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said Peterman’s “internal clock” was good during the game.
Regardless of stats, or quarterback as things played out, Buffalo didn’t give much help to their signal callers. Both Peterman and Allen were sacked three times. Allen, at least, displayed some athleticism to extend plays a little, but even that didn’t help at times. With that in mind, the offensive line surely deserved some blame for the poor offensive showing with only totaled 153 yards of offense.
“I thought there was some times, particularly in pass protection, that were good enough and some times it wasn’t good enough,” McDermott said. “You can go around our team in all-three phases and say we didn’t do enough to win the football game. Not even close,” McDermott said.
What wasn’t there for the Bills, per McDermott, was the “execution.” What was there during a 44-point loss? Effort, evidently.
“Overall, for our football team, I didn’t question the effort, I didn’t question the intensity. They were playing hard right to the end which I appreciate,” McDermott said.
Specifically, McDermott said he didn’t question the effort of the offensive line or wideout Kelvin Benjamin, who made one catch on seven targets.
Following McDermott’s decision to delay actually making a decision at quarterback, the Bills will likely wait until Wednesday before naming a starter.