Former Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor still doesn't know exactly why he was "benched, I guess you could say" for a Week 11 game against the Los Angeles Chargers last season in favour of rookie Nathan Peterman in the middle of a playoff chase.

"I wasn’t being told the truth at the time," Taylor, traded in the offseason to the Cleveland Browns after three years with the Bills, told The Uninterrupted. "The GM [Brandon Beane] told me one thing and the head coach [Sean McDermott] told me something else."

 

After starting the season at 5-2, the Bills had lost back-to-back games to the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints heading into the November 19 game at the StubHub Center.

Peterman was rocked by the Chargers, throwing five first-half interceptions, and was replaced at the half by Taylor with the Chargers up 40-10 and the game already over for all intents and purposes. The Bills would go on to lose the game 54-24.

McDermott was unapologetic after the game about the choice to start Peterman.

"It wasn't what he or we hoped for, but young players experience things like this," McDermott said in his postgame media conference. "I don't regret my decision. I regret the result. ... This is in part about winning now and in part about winning in the future."

The Bills would go on to win four of their last six games to clinch the franchise's first playoff birth since 1999, ending the longest postseason drought in pro sports.

Taylor says his time in Buffalo was filled more with discouragement than encouragement.

"Everything that was told to me was, ‘Oh, he can’t do this’ or ‘Oh, he can’t do this’ and never, ‘Oh, he can do this’ or ‘He can do that," Taylor said. "People told me what I couldn’t do or what I wasn’t going to be and I was able to overcome that."

Taylor and the Browns open up their season on Sunday at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers.