Taylor Wins Bills Job

In Rex Ryan’s biggest decision so far as Buffalo Bills head coach, he hit the nail on the head by naming Tyrod Taylor his starting quarterback.

“I thought it was going to help us,” Ryan said. “But in actuality, I know the way it is. I know people get bombarded. I don’t want our players being bombarded about who’s getting reps, all this kind of stuff. … I’ll get that speculation over with, and then we’ll move forward.”

It’s rare that a long-term backup looks like he can be a starter, but Taylor did just that over this preseason.  He completed 24 of 31 throws in preseason, for 236 yards and looked like he was in complete control of the offense.

“Obviously, you know about [Taylor]’s accomplishments as a runner,” Ryan said. “I mean, it’s very well documented. When you have more rushing yards than Michael Vick at [Virginia Tech], that’s pretty obvious that he has that ability.

“But we brought him in because No. 1 — it’s a brand new offense — but how he grasps our offense, and then his ability, not just his mobility, but his ability to throw the ball was the overriding thing. And I think he did a tremendous job of that.”

Taylor is far from a sure thing, as he has never started an NFL game.  Occasionally, backups mature in a good system and learn, and that’s what happened to the former Virginia Tech product.  He spent the first four seasons of his career backing up Joe Flacco and learning from the excellent Baltimore Ravens coaching staff.

In the best case situation, the Bills have found an answer at quarterback and Taylor will be able to use the plethora of weapons that Buffalo has surrounded him with.  At worst, Matt Cassel is always there to steady the ship and maintain a level of mediocrity.

It’s always better to give with the high ceiling guy, even if you fall down on to the low floor.

Julius Thomas To Miss Up To 4 Weeks

The Jacksonville Jaguars, perhaps the most snake-bitten team in the NFL, was dealt yet another blow on Monday as it was reported that tight end Julius Thomas may miss up to four more weeks with his broken hand.

Jacksonville’s first-team offense has been a pleasant surprise this preseason, as they’ve been able to move the ball fluidly, mostly without Thomas’ services.

Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell explained what is going on with Thomas’ hand.

“It’s really just kind of a clean-up aspect to it,” Caldwell said.  “The bone, as is, some of the capsules surrounding it, not to get into too much detail. So, it’s just more or less just cleaning it up and tightening it up. This will assure that the bone will heal completely by the time he is ready to go. If he had to play in the opener, it wasn’t going to be completely healed. The risk would’ve been less, but there still would’ve been risk there. I think the fact that doing the surgery, tightening up the actual joint, cleaning it up, he should be ready to go.”

How will this affect the actual roster?  Caldwell explained.

“With Marcedes [Lewis], Clay [Harbor], and Nic [Jacobs], I think we should be good there,” the third-year GM said. “We’ll know more tomorrow, but initial results are this isn’t something that’s going to be a lot more extended than what we originally thought. We thought that it’d be touch-and-go from the opener, hopefully that he’d be ready, but if not, worst-case scenario around Week 3, and really worst-case scenario it could be Week 4 as we go into Indianapolis if he has to have the surgery.”

The Jaguars will likely be using more “11” personnel with Thomas down, and you could see some early production from wide receiver Allen Robinson and tight end Marcedes Lewis, who has been having a fantastic training camp and preseason.

This will certainly affect the Jaguars in the red zone, as Thomas is virtually unstoppable.  With that said, this will give the team a chance to lean more on the running game and it appears that they have capable backs in rookie T.J. Yeldon and Denard Robinson.

Smaller Moves

– As suggested by Football Insiders, the New York Giants have signed former Giants and former Houston Texans safety Stevie Brown.

The Giants’ safety corps has been depleted by season-ending injuries to Bennett Jackson, Mykkele Thompson and Justin Currie. Nat Berhe underwent surgery Saturday to repair a calf injury. Two other safeties, rookie Landon Collins and Cooper Taylor, have missed time with injuries, although they played in the preseason game against the New York Jets on Saturday night.

Brown, who played for the Giants from 2012-14, was released Saturday by the Texans. The 5-foot-11, 215-pounder signed with Houston on May 1.

Brown originally joined the Giants as a free agent on April 3, 2012. That season, he played in 16 games with 11 starts and led the team and was tied for second in the NFL with eight interceptions. He set a franchise record with 307 interception return yards.

– As a surprise to few who have watched him play, the Oakland Raiders released former first-round pick Trent Richardson.

After being selected third-overall in the 2011 NFL Draft, Richardson never materialized into the dynamic, explosive back that many envisioned.  He was clearly a product of being a “workout warrior” and benefitted greatly from the University of Alabama offensive line, which opened up holes the semi-trucks could go through.

Richardson never seemed to have much fire and his effort was questioned in his last two stops.