Buffalo Bills fans will see their third starting quarterback of the young 2018 season as Derek Anderson gets the nod in Week 7.
Derek Anderson is the starting quarterback for the Buffalo Bills this Sunday. What an odd sentence.
It came down to Anderson or Nathan Peterman, and Sean McDermott made the right choice.
Even if he didn’t think it was a season-defining decision.
Sean McDermott on if he had fear of losing locker room if he started Nathan Peterman. “No."
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) October 17, 2018
Anderson was relaxing a few weeks ago and then decided to come to Buffalo as a mentor to Josh Allen. He will still be a mentor, but will be playing actual, meaningful football in the process.
The good news to come out of Buffalo today is that Allen’s injury isn’t too serious.
Coach McDermott: "Josh Allen has an elbow sprain. There is no plan for surgery but he will be week-to-week. Derek Anderson will be our starting QB this week." #GoBills pic.twitter.com/cPRRMknh9r
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) October 17, 2018
Surgery could have meant missing the rest of this season and most of next. Alas, now he once again gets to learn from the sideline.
This is not the way things were supposed to go this season. The hope in March was that AJ McCarron could serve as the bridge quarterback to allow a rookie to learn from the sidelines.
Then Peterman fever struck the Bills facility and McCarron was sent to Oakland. The mistake was realized once Peterman starting playing in meaningful games once again. This left Allen unprepared and leading an offense that was dealing with a new signal-caller after preparing with Peterman to start the year.
Now comes Anderson. He is a veteran so hopefully he understands the situation and can gel with his new teammates. This is much better than throwing another young player onto the field and having him need extra help when he is supposed to be the leader.
The opponent this Sunday is a lowly Indianapolis Colts team. That offense has to go up against what looks like an elite Bills defense, so it is possible that Anderson can lead this team to victory with average quarterback play. As long as he doesn’t throw a pick-six late, the Bills will have a chance.
There is really no expectation for what he can do because he has been a backup for the past decade. Bills fans just have to hope for the best in what hopefully isn’t a lost season just yet.