The Buffalo Bills have benched quarterback Tyrod Taylor, and Nathan Peterman will start on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, coach Sean McDermott said Wednesday.

Peterman, a rookie fifth-round pick, replaced Taylor with less than five minutes remaining in a 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Taylor completed 9-of-18 passes for 56 yards before being benched.

Peterman went 7-for-9 for 79 yards and a touchdown over the final two drives for the Bills, who have lost two straight.

In the preseason, Peterman completed 43-of-79 passes (54.4% completion) for 453 yards and a 5.73 yards per attempt average. He threw one touchdown and no interceptions. The Chargers are a bad matchup for opposing quarterbacks (No. 9 in QB aFPA) but starting in Week 12, the Bills don't face a defense higher than No. 20 in that metric. If Peterman plays well, he could work his way into the streaming conversation.

The Bills signed Joe Webb on Monday in a move that gives them a quarterback option in the event neither Tyrod Taylor nor T.J. Yates is cleared from the concussion protocol in time for Sunday’s game against the Jets.

Webb would back up Nathan Peterman if that’s how things play out and starting the fifth-round pick in the first game of the year certainly isn’t how anyone in Buffalo drew things up. On Monday, though, coach Sean McDermott said that he thinks Peterman is ready to handle the job.

McDermott said Peterman could start if needed and he's ready to go if it comes to that. The team is still holding out hope Taylor will be able to play, but as the story said, they will reach a point this week where they will have to make a choice.

Coach Sean McDermott announced on Sunday that T.J. Yates also suffered a concussion during the game in Baltimore. Yates followed Nathan Peterman into the game in the second half and McDermott said Yates “took some licks later in the game” while discussing when he might have been injured.

Related players: Tyrod Taylor, Nathan Peterman

Of course, Taylor was injury last week with a concussion leaving Peterman as the team's only healthy QB. The Bills will likely have to sign another signal caller but this is an interesting situation to monitor as we draw closer to the start of the season.

Bills HC Sean McDermott: on Tyrod Taylor moving forward - "I've got all the confidence in the world in Tyrod." He'll start this week.

Related players: Nathan Peterman

McDermott was non-committal after Taylor threw two interceptions in a preseason game, so we're not convinced that he or the team are fully behind their quarterback. The decision to trade away Sammy Watkins, a player who fits Taylor's downfield strengths, indicates that the team isn't invested in Taylor's success. From a fantasy perspective, Taylor is a great asset given his ability to run, but the team may move on to Nathan Peterman sooner rather than later.