Buffalo Bills: Week 7 hopes rest on Tyrod Taylor

There’s no guarantee that Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor will be able to play in this week’s London game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, as the only guarantee with Taylor is the fact that he’s much better than E.J. Manuel, who seemingly can’t drive the ball downfield and consistently plays into the hands of the defense (the Cincinnati Bengals let him pick on dink-and-dump passes to tight ends after building a massive lead).

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Fans around the world tuning in to this week’s battle between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Bills would be sorely disappointed if the superior quarterback isn’t able to play, but it looks like we’ll be able to avoid that letdown. The NFL Network’s Conor Orr reported that Taylor took the Bills first snap at practice today, and while that doesn’t lock him in as healthy to play, it does mean that we should expect him to be out there. If Taylor can play, then there’s no doubt Manuel will ride the bench after showing only marginal progression in last week’s loss.

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On paper, the Bills couldn’t ask for an easier matchup, because the Jaguars secondary has been atrocious this season. Free agent signing Davon House has been one of the better cornerbacks this season, and Dwayne Gratz has always been an underrated player.

However, the Jaguars have forced just one interception on the season in six games, and just two teams are allowing more points per game. They were totally torn apart by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5, and they made Brian Hoyer look like a stud in their last game.

With 6.9 net yards per attempt allowed and struggles against pretty much every type of pass-catcher, Gus Bradley’s pass defense has been one of the NFL’s worst. The pass rush could be better, but, ultimately, this all comes down to ghastly safety play and struggles from most members of the Jaguars back seven.

Unfortunately, the Bills might not be able to take full advantage of the defense in front of them this week, because they have some big injuries to worry about. Percy Harvin hasn’t been much of a factor this season, but you have to figure that missing him for another week will hurt them.

The bigger injury, of course, is the one to No. 1 wide receiver Sammy Watkins, who has quickly become one of the league’s most injury-prone players. He never missed a game last season but was limited by an injury for most of the year. Watkins has already missed two games this year and is already on track to miss a third after injuring his ankle on a touchdown last week. The Bills aren’t ruling him out, but it would be a shock if he plays. That’s a real shame, because there’s no denying his talent.

These two injuries to Watkins and Harvin rob the Bills of their best vertical threats, but all could be well if Taylor plays. His QB Rating is the sixth-best mark in the NFL right now, and he completes an excellent 70.1% of his passes with 8.0 yards per attempt. He avoided potentially hurting his stats against a tough Bengals defense, but he should still receive a boost against the Jaguars even with Charles Clay, Robert Woods, and Chris Hogan left as his top three options.

Taylor has shown that he can succeed without Watkins anyway, and while a similar set-up of pass-catchers (Harvin did play but had no catches on four targets) failed him against the Tennessee Titans defense, he still managed to find a way to pull out the 14-13 win. In that game, Taylor had 76 rushing yards, leading all players in yards from scrimmage (not counting passing yards).

Oct 11, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor (5) prior to the game against the Tennessee TItans at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

If all else fails the Bills, Taylor’s legs will continue to be a weapon, so, going forward, it’s all about the starting quarterback’s health. He’s entrenched as “the guy” for the rest of the season, and it’s hard to see the Jaguars pass defense giving him too many issues.

That said, without Watkins and Harvin (though the former hasn’t been ruled out and is also the much more important player to the Bills offense), this team’s hopes just might rest on Taylor.

I mean, for as bad as the Jaguars pass defense is, they have allowed just 3.4 yards per carry on the ground. The Bills running game isn’t short on talent, but it would be nice for them to gain some yardage via work done by Taylor.

Until we receive more positive updates, it’s hard to call Taylor more than a 50-50 shot against Jacksonville, and all we can do is hope for continued optimism on the injury front throughout the week.

If he’s able to play, then he should be the difference for a 3-2 Bills team against a 1-5 Jags team that hasn’t won since beating a dysfunctional, Joe Philbin-led Miami Dolphins team 23-20 in Week 2.

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