Buffalo Bills: AJ McCarron injury pretty much closes door on QB competition

On Friday night, the Buffalo Bills took a huge hit when quarterback A.J.  McCarron suffered a fractured collarbone. With McCarron out for an extensive period of time, what does this mean for the team as a whole?

Prior to Friday night, the Buffalo Bills were set to have a tight quarterback race between Nathan Peterman,AJ McCarron, and Josh Allen. This was of course before McCarron suffered a hairline fracture in his collarbone which will sideline him for a better part of the season.

The race between Peterman and  A.J. McCarron for who was getting the most reps with the one  was an interesting one to say the least.

Neither Peterman nor McCarron had ever been starters for an extensive period of time, they were both career backups up until this point.  The latter of them was a newly signed Bill brought in to bolster the depleted QB depth chart.

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The Bills signed McCarron to a two-year $10 million deal with $6.5 million available based on playtime, back in March. With this being said, the race between McCarron and Peterman for starter was an unconventional quarterback race.

On one hand, you’ve got a guy who has started two games in his career, and in the more recent of which he threw five interceptions after starting over Tyrod Taylor.

On the other hand, you’ve got a guy who’s been around the league since 2014 and has made three starts over the span of his career.

To say the least the Bills were set to make an interesting decision, but then things took a turn for the worst.

On Friday night, quarterback AJ McCarron went down in the first quarter of their preseason game against the Browns with a hairline fracture in his collarbone.

McCarron started the game for the Bills and had completed three passes for only 12 yards and was looking rather sloppy. The Bills first team offense as a whole went for only seven yards and no first downs while McCarron was under center.

McCarron turned the ball over to Josh Allen in the second quarter who went on to have a great game.

Allen completed nine passes for 60 yards with one touchdown to go along with it before handing the ball over to Peterman in the third. Peterman then went on to complete eight passes for 113 yards and one touchdown.

With McCarron now out for what looks to be the better part of the season, the Bills must shift their focuses and figure out who will start between rookie wunderkid Josh Allen and Nathan Peterman.

The likely outcome is Nathan Peterman due to his performance in the preseason thus far.

Friday night alone, he nearly doubled the performance of Allen and he did so without throwing a single pick (which we saw was a problem last season).

In preseason game number one against the Panthers, Peterman went 9/10 for 119 yards and one touchdown.

This means that in two games combined he is 17/20 for 232 yards and two touchdowns as well as one interception.

To put that into perspective, Josh Allen is 18/32 for 176 yards and two touchdowns.

By comparing those numbers alone you could see that Peterman is clearly the better option.

With an 85% completion percentage Peterman has thrown for 232 yards while Allen carries a 56.25% completion percentage with only 176 yards.

The race between Josh Allen and Nathan Peterman for the Bills starting position could be an interesting one dependent upon the next couple of weeks, but if this keeps up expect to see Nathan Peterman take the job come September.