Bills To Stick With Tyrod Taylor For Week 15

Tyrod Taylor will have at least one more week to attempt to convince Bills management he is capable of being the team’s long-term answer at quarterback. The Bills will start Taylor against the Browns, Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com tweets.

Categorizing Taylor as the player who gives the team the best chance to win, a conclusion he did not announce after the Bills’ loss to the Steelers on Sunday, Rex Ryan will continue to use Taylor as his starter, just as he has throughout his Buffalo tenure.

The 27-year-old quarterback is slightly off his 2015 pace, completing just more than 60 percent of his passes, with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions. Last season, the run-centric signal-caller completed over 63 percent of his throws and paired his six picks (in 14 games) with 20 touchdown tosses. The Bills boast the second-worst passing offense in football at 183.5 yards per game, and Taylor’s passer rating sits at 85.6 — in the lower echelon of the league and nearly 15 points lower than his 2015 figure.

Last week, GM Doug Whaley did not give Taylor his full support for 2017, when the franchise has a seminal decision to make regarding his status. If the Bills were to pick up Taylor’s 2017 option, they’d be kickstarting a new five-year deal worth more than $80MM. Given the franchise’s issues at finding a consistent answer at quarterback since Drew Bledsoe‘s exit after 2005, moving on from Taylor might not be that simple. Although the former Ravens backup is averaging 6.2 yards per carry — higher than his 5.5 mark in 2015 — en route to 471 rushing yards and six TDs, his 2016 passing performance leaves much to be desired.

“He’s got four more games to write this chapter. Then after this season, like everybody on the team, we’re going to do an evaluation and then we’ll go from there,” Whaley said.

Buffalo has expiring-contract backup E.J. Manuel and developmental rookie Cardale Jones behind Taylor, who if given the opportunity to keep the team’s quarterbacking reins through the end of the season will face the Browns, Dolphins and Jets.