The Buffalo Bills Only Need Tyrod Taylor To Be Average

On August 31, just 13 days before the opening game of their regular season, the Buffalo Bills cut running back Fred Jackson, arguably the most beloved Bill of this century. The team also named former Joe Flacco-clipboard-holder Tyrod Taylor as starting quarterback. In a sad Buffalo sort of way, this was an exciting day for Bills fans.

The Jackson decision was the sort of brutal practicality that happens across the NFL every year around this time. Jackson is still productive, but is the oldest running back in the league at 34, and the money saved can be used to extend the borderline dominant and bizarrely under appreciated defensive tackle Marcell Dareus. It was the Taylor announcement that got people in Buffalo stirring. It's not that Bills fans know that he's going to be any good; no one knows that. It's just equally uncertain that he'll be bad. It says a lot about where this team has been that Bills fans will gladly take those odds.

Buffalo hasn't made the playoffs since 1999, currently the longest drought in the NFL. The Bills have started 15 different quarterbacks since Jim Kelly stepped off the field for the last time. Taylor will be No. 16.

However effective Taylor proves to be as a starter, he'll have one distinct advantage over every other starting quarterback in the league: he won't have to face the Bills' defense.

Rex Ryan is, by consensus, the best defensive head coach in the league. During his stint with the New York Jets, Ryan consistently leveraged the talents of elite players like Darrelle Revis into a tough, full-spectrum team defense. When Ryan was searching for another head coaching opportunity after being fired by the Jets after last season, it would have made sense for him to take over a balanced team whose average defense he could have turned into a formidable unit. He did not do that. Ryan only likes to play with his toys on defense, and the Bills have more than a handful of them. There's a reason he seemed more excited to go to Buffalo than anyone in recent memory.

On paper, Buffalo's is perhaps the most talented defense Ryan has ever worked with; in August, Ryan compared it to his defense with the Super Bowl-champion Ravens in 2000, and his historically dominant 2006 Ravens D. The Bills have speed and ball-hawking to spare in the secondary, but more importantly, Ryan will not have to disguise blitz packages to manufacture a rush like he did in New York. He'll have at his disposal a defensive line that consists of Dareus, Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, and Jerry Hughes. In his opening press conference, Ryan shot down comparisons to the Bills' fourth-ranked defense a year ago, "Fourth in the league is probably a little disappointing to be honest with you. That's not my expectation. I know we'll lead the league in defense." That might sound like Rex being Rex—the polar opposite of Belichick being Belichick—and it is indeed that. But it's far from an outlandish prediction. Buffalo will win games this year based solely on dominating that side of the ball.

And then there is the other side. The Bills came into training camp with a tangled quarterback triangle of striking mediocrity. In their first three preseason games, they started three different quarterbacks; two of them represented a road that no one seemed to have much interest in going down. Signing Matt Cassel is like providing vanilla ice cream for a child's birthday party; the fact that it's better than nothing is overshadowed by all the more appetizing options. E.J. Manuel, the team's 2013 first round draft pick, is like an embarrassing purchase that was far too expensive in retrospect; you'd probably rather just throw it in the garage so as to not be reminded of what you spent.

Then there was Taylor. The former Virginia Tech standout has thrown 35 passes in his three-year career. He's an unknown. But unknowns are, by definition, not boring. More than that, he carries no baggage—not Cassel's long and middling C.V., and not Manuel's more recent duffel of disappointment.

The fact that all three of these quarterbacks would have trouble locking down a second string spot on about a third of NFL teams is a real shame considering the rest of the offense, much like the defense, is built to be dangerous. They are loaded with playmakers. LeSean McCoy and Bryce Brown are speedy, pass-catching running backs and big play threats. Charles Clay and Percy Harvin can each line up on the outside or in the backfield. Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods have the athleticism and hands to catch anything thrown in their general time zone; Marquise Goodwin is the kind of guy who casually wins silver medals in long jump at the Pan Am Games during the offseason. This is a Chip Kelly fantasy team, except without even a Nick Foles or Sam Bradford to run it.

So it will be handed to Taylor, who if nothing else, can run with it; Taylor will be one of the fastest starting quarterbacks in the league, and can make plays with his feet even if his arm is a work in progress. Taylor will pose the biggest threat. Through three preseason games, he's gone 24-31 passing for 236 yards. That's a step above mediocre. That's pretty good. With that dominant defense behind him, Taylor mostly needs to avoid making mistakes. Opposing teams will have trouble avoiding three-and-outs and winning the field position battle. If Taylor does not actively make things easier for the opposition, he'll be doing his job.

Everything else is set up for something interesting, here. Even pretty good quarterback play will get Buffalo to the playoffs. If Tyrod Taylor can provide that, Ryan—and Bills fans—believe that the defense will do the rest.