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Bills bench Nathan Peterman, turn back to Tyrod Taylor

After punting a game last week while in the wild-card race, the Buffalo Bills are going back to Tyrod Taylor at quarterback.

Last week the Bills made the baffling decision to bench Taylor for fifth-round rookie quarterback Nathan Peterman. It was easy to see that backfiring, but nobody predicted Peterman would be as bad as he actually was. Peterman threw five interceptions in the first half against the Los Angeles Chargers, more than Taylor had thrown in his nine starts combined, and the Bills lost 54-24.

Coach Sean McDermott announced Wednesday he’s going back to Taylor.

“Tyrod Taylor will be our starting quarterback this week,” McDermott said. “It’s the right thing for our team. It was my decision and it will always be about what’s best for our team.”

The beauty for the Bills, who haven’t been to the playoffs since 1999, is giving away a loss to see what they had in Peterman didn’t hurt them that bad. They’re still 5-5 and the rest of the combatants for the sixth seed in the AFC aren’t exactly intimidating. But it’s also possible the disastrous one-game quarterback switch ends up costing the Bills their first playoff berth this century.

It also creates an uncomfortable situation with Taylor. Taylor has played fairly well for the Bills since becoming their starting quarterback, but the team clearly couldn’t wait to bench him to try out Peterman. Now the team has to turn back to a quarterback it inexcusably benched and ask him to help with a playoff push, while Taylor likely assumes these are his final few games with the team before it moves onto someone else at quarterback.

For the present, Taylor is back at starting quarterback. McDermott screwed up making the change in the first place, but at least Peterman was so bad in his first start it only cost the Bills one game before McDermott had to go back to Taylor.

Quarterback Tyrod Taylor is once again the Buffalo Bills' starter, after he was benched last week. (AP)
Quarterback Tyrod Taylor is once again the Buffalo Bills’ starter, after he was benched last week. (AP)

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!