The Buffalo Bills need to fire coach Sean McDermott.
His infatuation with quarterback Nathan Peterman has become embarrassing and a detriment to the franchise.
McDermott started Peterman for Tyrod Taylor last year at San Diego, and Peterman responded by throwing five picks in the first half. They had to bring back Taylor, who took them to the postseason for the first time since 1999 but flopped in the playoff game at Jacksonville.
The Bills then traded Taylor to Cleveland, brought Peterman back this season, signed A.J. McCarron and drafted Josh Allen.
They then traded McCarron to Oakland, leaving Peterman and Allen as their two quarterbacks.
McDermott then gave Peterman the opening-day start, but he imploded against the Ravens as the Bills lost 47-3. He yanked Peterman for Allen in the third quarter, but Peterman remained as the backup.
Then when Allen hurt his elbow last Sunday in Houston, they had to go back to Peterman.
The results were predictable.
He threw a pick-six in a tie game to give the Texans a 20-13 win. Peterman had one last chance to tie the game and threw another pick to seal the Houston victory.
Peterman has now played in seven games, including a brief appearance at the end of the playoff loss against Jacksonville last January. He has completed 36 of 82 passes with three touchdowns, 10 picks and a 29.11 quarterback rating.
So now the Bills turn to – drum roll, please – Derek Anderson.
Remember him?
The 12-year veteran wasn’t resigned by Carolina where he had been Cam Newton’s backup the last seven years.
He’s now the Bills 19th starting QB since Jim Kelly retired.
McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane are familiar with Anderson because they spent time together in Carolina.
They signed him a week ago, but should have signed him in training camp so he could have had time to learn their system. And dumped Peterman.
Anderson will now start at Indianapolis after being with the team a week and a half.
It’s difficult to imagine a team mishandling the quarterback position this badly.
McDermott should go and Beane should go with him, and the Bills have to start over with a coach who can develop Allen and a general manager who makes sure Peterman is no longer with the Bills.
The shame is the Bills actually have a good defense, but they are wasting it.
Anderson has not started a game since Dec. 4, 2016, when Newton didn’t start for Carolina against Seattle because of a disciplinary situation.
Newsome’s first pass was intercepted and set up a field goal. Newton came in on the next series, but the Panthers were routed, 40-7.
The last time he played an entire game was two months earlier in 2016 against Tampa Bay. He completed 18 of 28 passes for 278 yards and two picks.
Anderson hasn’t been a team’s regular starter since 2010 in Arizona. He’s had a nice career as Newton’s backup for seven years from 2011 to 2017. He threw only 168 passes.
The Bills are his fifth team. His career quarterback rating is 71.1, and he has 60 touchdown passes and 60 interceptions.
The Bills could have been 3-3 if they had a better backup than Peterman and had beaten Houston.
Instead, they’re 2-4 and McDermott and Beane have some explaining to do about the way they handle their quarterback position.