Savvy veteran added to help rookie QB Allen
New Bills backup quarterback Derek Anderson could only chuckle when he was reminded of the two times he beat the Buffalo Bills when he was Cleveland’s starting quarterback, despite two of the worst performances of his career.
He led the Browns to an 8-0 victory late in 2007 that not only kept alive Cleveland’s playoff chances but ended Buffalo’s. That game, played in a brutal snowstorm, saw Anderson complete 9 of 24 passes for 137 yards. And that was brilliant compared to the nightmare he suffered through in 2009 in Buffalo when he completed just 2 of 17 passes for 23 yards yet came away with a 6-3 victory.
“Two-of-17, but there were four or five drops,” Anderson said with a laugh. “It wasn’t pretty. And obviously there was the snow game in Cleveland, another fun one. I never played in games where it was that windy, but hey, they’re wins.”
Anderson came out of exile this week, signed by the Bills to serve as a mentor to rookie quarterback Josh Allen. After his contract with the Panthers expired in March, Anderson never hooked on with a team and was thinking his 14-year career was over.
However, Bills head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane worked several years in Carolina while Anderson was backing up and mentoring Cam Newton, and they decided the time was right to give Allen some help. Further, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was in that role in 2009 with the Browns, so he, too, had a relationship with Anderson.
“Obviously knowing Beane and knowing Daboll, there had been discussions previously,” Anderson said. “I think this is just the right time and I’m very happy to be here. It’s always good to have a guy who has been there, done that, and can act as sounding board. I’ve seen a lot of football. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs in my career. I can just be a guy he can lean on, ask me questions. I told him, ‘I’m here if you need me to watch a guy, something you’re unsure of.’ The last seven years with Cam, I obviously watched him grow. It’s fun.”
Allen has lacked that presence in the Bills’ quarterback room ever since AJ McCarron was traded at the end of the preseason. Second-year man Nathan Peterman can’t help Allen learn, so Anderson comes aboard to serve a role similar to what Josh McCown is doing with Sam Darnold in New York.
On Wednesday, following their first practice together as they prepared for their road game in Houston, Allen said, “It was awesome, just talking with him out at practice, after practice, just things that he’s kind of been through, the things that he sees. H’s got a lot of experience in this league, he’s a guy that going to help me and Nate out … very beneficial, just the experience that he brings to our room. Any tidbits that he has, you know, I’m going to take them and run with them and try to apply them to my game.”
The Bills relied on their running game last week to defeat Tennessee, and LeSean McCoy figures to get a heavy workload again, as long as the score dictates it.
“He’s a young player, so I think if you give a young player too much information, sometimes that can cloud them up,” said Daboll, explaining the theory behind leaning on the running game. “There’s a fine line between not giving them enough and then giving them too much. Each week, I think we try to balance it the best we can in terms of the amount of plays, the responsibilities.”
SERIES HISTORY: 9th regular-season meeting. Series tied, 4-4. The Bills won three of the first four meetings, then lost three in a row before a 30-21 victory in 2015. In that game, Tyrod Taylor threw three touchdown passes which remains his single-game career best. In the 2006 season, the Bills won 24-21 on a J.P. Losman to Peerless Price 15-yard touchdown pass with nine seconds left.