Photo Credit: buffalobills.com
Another week of preseason is in the books and it doesn’t look like the Buffalo Bills are any closer to deciding who will be their starting quarterback. With the regular season right around the corner, it’s hard not to wonder who will end up taking the coveted title or if the final decision will actually end up staying final.
The competition is between three QBs: EJ Manuel, Tyrod Taylor and Matt Cassel. Obviously, each quarterback has something that they can bring to the table which HC Rex Ryan explained in his press conference. The first question that Ryan was asked about obviously was who he would be choosing for the Bills’ starting quarterback and he responded with “I feel good about all of the quarterbacks.” Their tremendous performance against the Steelers on Saturday certainly did make the process any easier.
Cassel is the veteran of the group, about to start his 11th year in the league. Along with the Bills, Cassel has played for the Patriots, Chiefs and Vikings. In his career, Cassel has 96 touchdowns and 15,727 passing yards. Cassel’s experience might be the thing that will help him win the starting job. Of course, Cassel’s age could be a big drawback because if the Bills are looking for a franchise QB, Cassel is not it. He is a lot closer to retirement than the other two candidates and it really showed in their preseason game against the Steelers. Cassel had the worst performance, even getting beaten by backup QB Matt Simms who had a touchdown.
Next up is Tyrod Taylor. Taylor had a pretty phenomenal game against the Steelers, completing 12 of his 13 passes, ran for a 20-yard touchdown and he looks like he is the fan favorite out of the three. In terms of stats, Taylor doesn’t really have any, at least none worth noting and no career touchdowns yet. Most of Taylor’s career has spent as a back-up and it could possibly be time for Taylor to finally get his chance at being a starter. It looks like the competition is going to end up being between him and their last candidate.
Last but certainly not least is EJ Manuel. Manuel was drafted in the first round of the 2013 draft by the Bills and has the most experience playing with the Bills offense. About to enter his third year in the league, Manuel has appeared in 15 games in two years, has a 16-12 touchdown to interception ratio and 2,810 passing yards. In his preseason game against the Steelers, Manuel completed 7 of 8 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns, making him the star of the game. It looks like Manuel is trying to make his comeback as the Bills starter which is why it’s so difficult to exactly predict who will end up getting the starting job.
Now comes the fun part which is trying to guess who Ryan will pick to start. It seems like the race is between Taylor and Manuel. There is a possibility that Cassel could become a starter, but right now the oldest of the three is looking more like a backup. Between Taylor and Manuel, it’s hard to pick a final winner but if I had to, I’d go with Taylor being announced as the starter at least for the first week. Beyond that, it could get handed off to Manuel or Cassel, but Rex Ryan will certainly keep everyone guessing, like always, until it is announced.
