ESPN’s John Clayton Feeling Optimistic About Tyrod Taylor

Before the 2016 season began, ESPN’s John Clayton wasn’t sure if Tyrod Taylor was right for the Buffalo Bills. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

ESPN’s John Clayton always has something to say about the Buffalo Bills’ situations and he has been doing it all year long.

It started during training camp, when Clayton didn’t really have anything good to say about the Bills’ quarterback or head coach situation. Then, he started to give us a little slack after he went through and named each NFL team’s blue-chip players.

If you want to see what Clayton had to say about our QB and coach situation, click here.

If you want to see which players he chose as blue-chip players on the Bills’ squad, click here.

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He’s back at it again, this time raving about the play of Tyrod Taylor and showing extreme optimism for his future. With the Bills’ option on Taylor at the end of the season, many fans are wondering if he’s even the guy they want on the Buffalo Bills.

John Clayton completely shut that down — and I completely agree with him — and even shut down the possibility of the Bills going after a veteran quarterback like Tony Romo in the offseason.

"“You don’t want to get older at quarterback. You want to get younger and better,” said John Clayton. “If you let Tyrod Taylor go, you don’t know if that next hit will knock out Tony Romo for his career. He’s missed so many games over the past three years… He went to Seattle, and the first hit in the preseason on him he’s out for 10 weeks automatically. He’s got a bad back, he’s had a broken collarbone twice. He may be right physically towards the end of his career. So do you want to take a chance somebody who’s at the end or somebody who you can build on and grow. It’s still just a matter of working the talent around Tyrod Taylor. I think right now you keep him, but who’s making the decisions? Is there going to be a change at coach? Is there going to be a change at general manager? My read is that’s not going to happen now. I think both guys are safe, and if both guys are safe, I think you stick with Taylor.”"

John Clayton also stated that Tyrod Taylor received high praise from the Seattle Seahawks after their Week 9 Monday Night Football matchup. Here’s what Clayton said about that:

"“If there’s any debate about the quarterbacking future of Tyrod Taylor, stop. They said he was as hard to handle as a running quarterback as anything they’ve seen. They just raved about him. They said he was a supreme challenge, he was good, he’s gained their respect. Remember, this is a defense and a team who will rip you. If they don’t like you, if you’re Michael Crabtree, if you’re Colin Kaepernick, they will rip you. They will give you their honest opinion. They came out with high reviews of Tyrod Taylor.”"

In my opinion, Tyrod Taylor has grown a lot this year and has adjusted to all of the distractions and injuries to his teammates very well. Many fans are concerned about his passing numbers, but when you look at how much LeSean McCoy, Mike Gillislee and Taylor run the ball it’s easy to understand why he’s not throwing for 300 yards every game.

It’s time to accept that he’s our starting quarterback and allow him to grow with this team, this head coach and this general manager. We’ve continuously brought in a number of great, young defenders. If we can start doing that with our receiving corps, it would do wonders for this team.

It was an extremely close game that came down to the final seconds. Ultimately, the Buffalo Bills held on for a 16-12 victory on the road.

Tyrod Taylor came out hot for the Buffalo Bills, going 5-5 in their opening drive that went 75 yards. That drive included an 18-yard pass to Reggie Bush, a 24-yard pass to Robert Woods and a 21-yard rush by LeSean McCoy.

It was capped off with a 7-yard TD run by McCoy, seen in the tweet below:

In the past three games, the Bills have opened the game with an impressive drive. In Week 9 vs. Seattle, they opened the game with an 80-yard drive that ended in a touchdown. In Week 8 vs. New England, they opened the game with a 70-yard drive that ended in a field goal.

They added to that streak with a 75-yard drive that ended in a touchdown.

However, the Bengals would respond with a nice, long drive of their own and score on a 2-yard rush by Andy Dalton. A missed extra point would give the Bills a 7-6 lead after the first quarter.

In the Bengals’ first drive of the second quarter, Andy Dalton was picked off by none other than Stephon Gilmore — who has had his fair share of struggles recently. The Bills would only turn it into a field goal, bringing their lead to 10-6.

In the pursuing drive, the Bengals would turn another long drive into a touchdown — this time a  one-yard TD pass to Tyler Boyd. However, their kicker would miss yet another extra point, leaving the game at 12-10 in favor of Cincinnati.

With three minutes left in the half, things got a little weird. The Bills were about to bring the ball into the red zone when Tyrod Taylor threw his fourth interception on the season. That play is shown below:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/800422225660690432

It was a crucial play that could’ve given the Bills a lead going into halftime. Instead, they gave the Bengals another opportunity to score.

Luckily enough, nearly 40 seconds later Andy Dalton throws his second interception of the game — once again to Stephon Gilmore. It would spell the end of the half, with the Buffalo Bills trailing by 2.

Here’s  a look at Gilmore’s second INT:

The second half was dominated by the defense, who wouldn’t let the Bengals score one point the rest of the game. The Bills opened the second half with an 8-play, 32-yard drive that ended in a field goal, giving them a 13-12 lead.

Both teams would start to struggle on offense, until a little over 5 minutes were left in the third quarter when the Bills started to move the ball. They started the drive at their own 10-yard line and finally moved the ball into enemy territory off a 34-yard reception by Brandon Tate.

After pounding the ball up to the 2-yard line, the Bills were forced to settle for a field goal. They took a 16-12 lead with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Related Story: Grading the Bills' Offense Through Nine Games

Punts would spell the rest of the game with both teams combining for 6 punts in the final quarter. The Bengals would start to move the ball with a little over 2 minutes left in the game, desperate for a touchdown. They would bring the ball to the Bills’ 27-yard line, but would fail to score.

The Bills will enjoy their first Victory Monday in quite some time. They now sit at 5-5 on the season.

Let’s take a look at the final stats from the game and see how your favorite Bills’ players did vs. the Bengals.

The Buffalo Bills continued their excellent running and limited the Bengals’ offense from getting much going.

Buffalo Bills’ Statistics

Passing

Tyrod Taylor: 19/27, 166 yards, INT, two sacks

Rushing

Mike Gillislee: 14 carries, 72 yards, 5.1 average

Tyrod Taylor: 9 carries, 39 yards, 4.3 average

LeSean McCoy (left with thumb injury): 5 carries, 33 yards, TD, 6.6 average

Jonathan Williams: 4 carries, 26 yards, 6.5 average

Receiving

Brandon Tate: 2 receptions, 48 yards, 3 targets

Robert Woods (left with injury): 3 receptions, 41 yards, 3 targets

Charles Clay: 5 receptions, 23 yards, 7 targets

Defense

Zach Brown: 12 tackles, one tackle for loss

Stephon Gilmore: 6 tackles, 3 passes defended, 2 INT

Kyle Williams: 4 tackles, one tackle for loss, one QB hit

Marcell Dareus: 4 tackles, 0.5 sacks, one pass defended, one QB hit

Cincinnati Bengals’ Statistics

Passing

Andy Dalton: 24/43, 207 yards, TD, 2 INT, one sack

Rushing

Jeremy Hill: 16 carries, 62 yards, 3.9 average

Giovani Bernard: 7 carries, 21 yards, 3.0 average

Andy Dalton: 4 carries, 10 yards, TD

Receiving

Tyler Boyd: 6 receptions, 54 yards, TD, 8 targets

Giovani Bernard: 5 receptions, 40 yards, 8 targets

Tyler Eifert: 3 receptions, 37 yards, 6 targets

Brandon LaFell: 4 receptions, 32 yards, 9 targets

Defense

Vontaze Burfict: 13 tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, one QB hit

Vincent Ray/Karlos Dansby: 9 tackles each

Michael Johnson: 5 tackles, 0.5 sacks, one tackle for loss, one pass defended, one QB hit

Dre Kirkpatrick: 2 tackles, one pass defended, INT

Lastly, let’s get a look at the reactions from the locker room as the team prepares for their 5th Victory Monday this season!

Let’s take a look at what some of the players and coaches were saying following the victory.

Rex Ryan

Stephon Gilmore

Kyle Williams

Tyrod Taylor

Aaron Williams

https://twitter.com/ajwilliams23/status/800447273557577728