Tyrod Taylor received backing from Ray Lewis, Ed Reed

Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan has always had issues finding a franchise quarterback to lead his team, as his list of failed franchise hopefuls includes former first-round picks Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, as well as former second-round pick Geno Smith. Now, he’s entrusting a long-time favorite of his, except this player, Tyrod Taylor, is only a former sixth-round pick.

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After a strong preseason in which he received Ryan’s full support, Taylor climbed up the Bills depth chart into the starting position, beating out E.J. Manuel and veteran Matt Cassel, who was once the presumptive favorite. Taylor’s first test will come today against the Indianapolis Colts at 1:00 p.m. ET, and he has a full gamut of attacking options of his side with injured RB LeSean McCoy healthy enough to get most of the work, per the NFL Network’s Albert Breer, against the Colts leaky run defense.

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Breer also reporting something related to Taylor this morning, and that’s the fact that Ryan tried to bring him to the New York Jets. According to Breer, Ryan was advised to take the then-Baltimore Ravens backup by former Ravens offensive coordinators Cam Cameron and Jim Caldwell, as well as former Ravens legends Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.

That’s not bad company.

Taylor, however, has plenty of questions to prove, and the Bills will probably hope that he’s just a “survivable” passer who can make life difficult on defenses with his scrambling ability. It will be interesting to see what Bills new offensive coordinator Greg Roman decides to do with Taylor in his first game as a pro, and we could see Taylor opening things up for Shady, just as Robert Griffin III significantly helped Alfred Morris of the Washington Redskins whenever both were on the field.

The fact that Tyrod Taylor has had the backing of so many influential people makes it less surprising that Ryan and the Bills gave him a shot to start in the first place, and he clearly made good on that by looking more dangerous than the other underwhelming Bills QBs in preseason action.

Even though the Colts defense is a weakness, they are a championship contender for a reason and have a few stars on defense worth monitoring. Veteran edge rusher Trent Cole, third-year trade acquisition Sio Moore, veteran safety Mike Adams, coverage linebacker Jerrell Freeman, and elite cornerback Vontae Davis are players who could give the Bills offense of Taylor, Shady, Robert Woods, Sammy Watkins, Charles Clay, and Percy Harvin some trouble. And don’t forget about former superstar Robert Mathis, who could get some snaps in if he’s declared fit to play.

Today, we’ll get to see if all of the kind words these one-time members of the Ravens organization were deserved, and we’ll see if the Bills are able to successfully hide his weaknesses as a passer.

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