Four years ago I happened to be sitting next to then-Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron on a flight, and, little did I know it at the time, but we would end up spending the better part of an hour talking about his rookie backup quarterback, Tyrod Taylor, who had barely seen the field the season before.
Sure, there was plenty of small-talk about Loyola Blakefield, where Cameron chose to wisely send his sons to school when arriving in Baltimore in 2008. The school just so happens to be where a certain NFL reporter graduated from (Roll, Dons, Roll). But for most of the flight to Indianapolis I listened to Cameron, who knows a thing or two about working with novice quarterbacks, gush about the relative unknown passer from Virginia Tech.
Sure, Cameron was there primarily to develop the team's first-round pick from 2008, Joe Flacco, but his level of intrigue in Taylor was unmistakable. There was an enthusiasm and a passion about what the kid had to offer, and Cameron was adamant with me that day that there was no doubt in his mind that Taylor would be an NFL starter somewhere one day -- obviously Flacco was entrenched in Baltimore -- and probably a very solid one if that.
Fast forward to Sunday afternoon and Taylor, all these years later, made Cameron look like a sagest of coaches, at least for one afternoon. Taylor's debut for the Bills really could not have gone any better. He confounded, confused and eluded the Colts in a dominant first half to stake Buffalo to a 24-0 lead it would not come close to relinquishing.
Somewhere down in Louisiana, Cameron, a cancer survivor and LSU's offensive coordinator, had to be smiling. But not nearly as wide as Rex Ryan, who left the Ravens to coach the Jets after the 2008 season but retained strong ties to that staff and would have heard plenty about Taylor himself over the previous years.
Taylor's signing in Buffalo -- a bargain-basement three-year deal with a $400,000 signing bonus and just $1.2M guaranteed -- was an afterthought at the time, especially with the signing of Matt Cassel to a much more lucrative deal. But the buzz around that building, throughout the spring OTAs and into training camp, was that Ryan had ample faith in the kid. The coach was blown away by Taylor's athleticism and knew that if Taylor played well in August the job would be his. Turns out Taylor saved his best for September, deconstructing a suspect Indianapolis defense and providing no shortage of highlight-reel plays.
This isn't a coronation -- far from it. I expect Taylor to have some three-pick games and suffer as most inexperienced quarterbacks do. His decision-making must continue to evolve. But he'll also have some very high highs, and some forget that even as a pup, Cameron would find ways to get him into games in wildcat scenarios, even with Flacco an ox and never needing to miss a snap. Taylor had moments in some preseason games in Baltimore where he looked the part, but also some struggles as well, and the Ravens opted for experienced former starter Matt Schaub in free agency.
Taylor wasted little time throwing his first NFL touchdown pass -- a 51-yard strike to Percy Harvin -- and while it was a lot of screens and safe routes after that, it was plenty effective. Taylor was 9-for-11 for 147 yards and a touchdown in the first half, and also ran five times for 43 yards in the half, and a new offense was born in Buffalo.
It's no longer Ryan's "Ground 'N' Pound" from the Jets, but let's dub this the "Rod 'N' Plod." Taylor needed to throw just 19 times with this run game and defense in place, and he completed 14 of them. Sure, nothing went to Sammy Watkins, and there is room for improvement, but Taylor executed the offense. Buffalo was able to rush the ball 36 times in all (nine times for Taylor) and he made plays with his legs and, most importantly, did not turn the ball over.
"You can ignore the film if you want, but we know who he is," Ryan said in his press conference after the game. "We felt great about it. So it's a tough decision because all three guys played well. But at the end of the day this guy's got some magic to him with his legs, he's smart, he did a great job."
Ryan, and Cameron, could have asked for nothing more.
A tale of two rookie QBs
Obviously there is nothing more that the Titans could have asked for from Marcus Mariota. His debut was a dream come true, and his amazing start only served to tilt the game even further in the Titans' favor against the Buccaneers.
His quick bomb and two early touchdown passes brought out the worst in Jameis Winston on the opposite sideline. Winston tried to do too much to overcome that early deficit and threw a pick-six on his first pass. While football is anything but a mano-a-mano sport, especially in terms of quarterbacks, make no mistake: This one was big for Winston.
He wanted to erase thoughts of how Mariota's Oregon team destroyed Florida State in the national semifinal and exact some measure of revenge here. Instead, this was an even more lopsided defeat -- from start to finish -- than what transpired in the Rose Bowl. Better days are ahead, I'm sure, but for the Bucs to get destroyed by the team that they picked ahead of at the top of the draft doesn't bode well. The Bucs have issues all over and we'll see if Lovie Smith has a dynamic response for all that ails them right now.
More new and notes from around the NFL:
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Baltimore Ravens |
| Baltimore's lack of proven skill players beyond Steve Smith was bound to be a factor this season. And it only took about a series to materialize. Joe Flacco isn't a miracle worker, and it's probably wishful thinking to expect first-round pick Breshad Perriman, who missed all of camp with a knee injury, to be a factor anytime soon. Even his decoy threat of pure speed would be welcome, however, to an outfit that is starved for it. Combined with the injury to left tackle Eugene Monroe, the club offered no protection for Flacco, and his pick-six changed the game for good. It was a rough start made rougher by the loss of Terrell Suggs for the season. This was always going to be a year where the Ravens needed a young pass rusher or two to step up -- no one could just bank on 30-plus sacks from an aging Suggs and Elvis Dumervil -- and now it has been expedited. | |
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Cincinnati Bengals |
| It looks like Jeremy Hill will be a bell cow for the Bengals. That game against the Raiders was a blowout, but it was a back-and-forth first quarter and Hill's ability to make something out of a fourth-and-short run that looked like it was going nowhere sent Cincinnati on its way. Hill had to run several yards back, outrace a defender to get an angle, and then managed to cut into the far corner of the end zone. It's clear Gio Bernard is the change-of-pace guy, and in a division where rushing the football remains imperative, I can only imagine Hill's workload ends up being very significant. | |
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Cleveland Browns |
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The Browns are the early front-runners for the first overall pick. They were atrocious against the Jets, seemed fairly disinterested in the second half of that game, and will be in trouble if Johnny Manziel needs to start anytime soon. The defense is supposed to be their strength, but they gave up 154 yards rushing to the Jets and were out-muscled all over the place. Besides Manziel's big 54-yard touchdown pass early in the game, the offense was largely inept, and Manziel led the Browns with 35 yards rushing. Cleveland better find a way to win a game this month when the schedule seems somewhat manageable. Except the Titans, their Week 2 opponent, put on a show Sunday. Besides the Raiders in Week 3 there might not be a game this season that the Browns are favored in. We'll see how long owner Jimmy Haslam's vote of confidence (from like the third day of training camp) holds up. I'd bet the under. |
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Denver Broncos |
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It was hard to stomach the Broncos offense on Sunday. Peyton Manning may not be done, and heaven knows he's made any doubters look foolish over the years, but he looked every bit the part of an aging, limited quarterback. There was no calf injury or anything else, as was the case when this offense constricted in the second half last season. This was Week 1. And while it was against a solid defense and all, this was a mammoth struggle for him. It takes a full-body effort to get the ball anywhere downfield, and when he does, he was usually overthrowing an open receiver in the few big chances Denver took. Manning should avoid any far sideline throws -- one resulted in a pick-six Sunday on a day when Baltimore had no offense to speak of. Pass protection is a huge issue as well. Manning was getting pummeled frequently -- he can't run or throw his way out of trouble it seems -- and the offense was moving sluggishly throughout. There is a reason no quarterback his age has ever won a Super Bowl, and while a game ain't a season, it's also naïve to believe Manning wont be picking up plenty of bumps and bruises as the weeks mount. It's only one week, but I'd have some concern, and with him knocked around Sunday and facing a menacing Chiefs defense on Thursday, there could be more pain and discomfort in his future. |
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Jacksonville Jaguars |
| The Jaguars have plenty to be worried about. They can't do enough to help Blake Bortles and the offensive line is still all kinds of messed up. Luke Joeckel was in and out of the game with regularity and his health is already a concern. The run game was barely a factor as well. This is a huge year for that front office and coaching staff and they need to find a way to win a few games in the first half of the season this time around or it might start getting late early. | |
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Kansas City Chiefs |
| The Chiefs pass rush can make any offensive line look bad, but that had to serve as a wake-up call for the Texans. They were completely manhandled and it's not going to matter whether it's Brian Hoyer or Ryan Mallett under center if that's the way that unit performs. Mallett definitely sparked the team after it fell desperately behind, and he has the bigger arm. Guess we've got our first quarterback controversy just a week into the season. | |
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Miami Dolphins |
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Give the Dolphins marks for winning on the road, but, man, it was a struggle in Washington. I'm bullish on Miami making a real run this season, but that defense wasn't what I expect just yet. Sure, they made some splash plays -- particularly on acrobatic interceptions of Kirk Cousins -- but there is a lot of room for improvement after this one. They gave up two epic drives in the first half, getting gashed on the ground, with one going nearly eight yards and another going 9:30. They had some bonehead plays and decisions -- untimely penalties and a poor decision to bypass an easy field goal to end up getting stuffed on fourth and short -- and quarterback Ryan Tannehill held the ball too long at times. He struggled once again to stretch the field much at all against a defense that frankly I figured was game to give up some big stuff. He looked good connecting with new tight end Jordan Cameron downfield but Miami had no passing play over 27 yards, and until there is more explosion in that regard, I'll have my reservations about the quarterback. Either way, it was a must-win type game and they got it and they'll need to stack early wins against un-established quarterbacks before their schedule takes a drastic turn. |
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Oakland Raiders |
| I expected a lot more from the Raiders. When Jack Del Rio questions their effort in the home opener to kick off a season that had some higher hopes than normal, and the quarterback is quickly knocked from the game with a hand injury and you trail, 33-0, after three quarters, suffice to say it's a brutal start. Not what I saw coming. One tackle from Aldon Smith, zero sacks as a team, and giving up a bunch of big plays won't engender much confidence, either. | |
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Seattle Seahawks |
| I honestly don't mind the Seahawks' attempt at an onside kick to start overtime. With that defense, you should count on getting a stop or giving up no more than a field goal, which was the case. The problem was blowing the late lead on the road when Dion Bailey, replacing holdout safety Kam Chancellor, stumbled to get beat for a long touchdown. There's also the fact that the Seahawks offensive line lacks the horses when it comes against better pass rushing units -- and few are better than the Rams. Any holdout is a leverage game -- a calculated gamble. And while Chancellor would never want his team to lose, the fact is giving up 31 points and losing in overtime to a division foe only helps his cause. With another very tough game looming -- at Green Bay -- Chancellor might gain leverage by the week. | |
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St. Louis Rams |
| That's a great win for the Rams, but if a bear knocks over a tree in the forest and no one is there to see it, does it make a sound? Owner Stan Kroenke has alienated his fan base, some of the shots of open swaths of seats were stunning, and with ownership deadset on a move to Los Angeles, you have to wonder what kind of support this team gets all season long. | |
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Washington Redskins |
| I was impressed with how hard the Redskins played on Sunday. Credit new GM Scot McCloughan. Some of the culture change he's talked about -- certainly with how physically he wants his team to play -- was impossible to miss and the offensive line held up better than expected most of the game against a fearsome front seven. Cousins ran the offense well overall and had Washington not lost DeSean Jackson early in this game perhaps they could have pulled the Week 1 upset. I'll say this much, on a day where many lesser teams rolled over and took a beating with little push-back (you know who you are), the Redskins showed signs of life that maybe, just maybe, there are some better times ahead. | |
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NFL News |
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I would love to see the competition committee make substantive changes to the way final roster cuts are handled. It's a total cluster for the teams and the players and numerous officials and agents reached out to me last week -- after the transactions flurry subsided -- to vent. There is barely enough time to weigh the tape of all the players teams must cut, much less be ready to evaluate the hundreds of players waived and released by other clubs and then manage to put together the best roster for Monday's practice and a practice squad as well. Teams are under a time crunch and the players don't get a moment to breathe. They are forced to make potentially life-altering decisions in a blur, figuring out where to go as scouts and personnel guys press them to make a quick decision whether to join their practice squad over others. Players are concerned about being left without a seat at the table, and teams are competing wildly for these final roster spots and it's like the Wild, Wild West. Same as the madness that surrounds signing un-drafted college free agents after the draft (but really during the draft because far from every team is playing by the letter of the law). Considering there is like six months between when the Super Bowl is played and the start of Week 1, is it really that hard to alter the cuts so that an extra day comes before practice squads have to be put together? Start preseason a day earlier, every Week 3 preseason game must be played by Saturday and play all Week 4 exhibitions on Wednesday instead of Thursday. Anyway, just my two cents. |
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