Coming out of Buffalo's third preseason game Sunday, there were no declarations made concerning the starting quarterback role from head coach Sean McDermott.
"No further quarterback developments from (Sunday). We're still coming off the game," he said. "A little bit unique practicing the day after and not having the day off. We're still coming off the game and processing all that information right now."
Nate Peterman performed admirably in the game. Entering the contest in the second half, Peterman led the team on their only two scoring drives of the game going 16-21 passing for 200 yards and a touchdown.
Josh Allen had his ups and downs, but in the eyes of coach McDermott gained valuable experience. The Bills head coach said he liked Allen's poise in the pocket at times and how he handled the struggles the offense experienced against the Bengals defensive front.
In a perfect world McDermott would like to have his starting quarterback declared at this point, but he knows he's got a unique situation on his hands.
"I think the ideal situation is you know who your starting quarterback is going into the spring and then into the fall camp," he said. "We're still working through that naturally with our situation. That's to be expected with the drafting of Josh, Nate still being a young player and AJ coming in through free agency. There's been good competition there and all three have played at a high level."
McCarron back throwing
He was lightly throwing late last week in practice, but the distance on those looping throws wasn't more than 10 yards and there were a handful at most. During pregame Sunday, McCarron was throwing more forcefully, which led to his participation in Monday's practice.
"He'll be working like the other quarterbacks," said McDermott. "He'll be out there and should be ready to go."
McCarron was part of the quarterback rotation as they worked through some passing target drills. The veteran QB did not appear to be holding back in the least coming off his shoulder injury suffered just over a week ago at Cleveland.
McDermott addresses pass protection issues
The stat line didn't look good on paper with six sacks surrendered on offense. Pass protection was an issue against the Bengals talented front. McDermott addressed it Monday after reviewing the game tape.
"It's never just one guy. There are a lot of hands in that cookie jar," he said. "We've got to work in sync. Ball has to come out on time, protection, running the right routes. So, there's a shared type of result of what you saw at times along the front. There were times on the front where we need to block them better too.
"That's a real good front and I think it just shows that we've got plenty of work to do. There's one way to go about it. Working hard, going back to the drawing board and correcting techniques, fundamentals and communication. That's why we'll continue to do that."
