Two games into the season, and the Bills faithful are already questioning the quarterback position … and rightfully so.

On Sunday afternoon at Bank of America Stadium, Buffalo wasted an inspired defensive effort in a 9-3 loss to Carolina.

It was a defeat that rested squarely on the offense which lost  time-of-possession by a staggering 18 minutes while mustering a mere 176 yards.

This run-oriented team finished with 69 rushing yards on 23 carries and feature back LeSean McCoy had one of his worst days as a pro … 12 attempts for a paltry nine yards.

Of course, part of the problem was that Buffalo’s passing game was some anemic, it didn’t loosen up Carolina’s run defense, which was stacking eight defenders in the box.

And, despite McCoy’s struggles, the player in the Bills’ fans crosshairs was quarterback Tyrod Taylor, now 16-15 in his 31 starts for Buffalo since being acquired in a trade with Baltimore in 2015.

Against the Panthers, he was 17-of-25 passing for 125 yards and a 79.6 passer rating.

Yet as much as he struggled, Taylor could still have pulled out the game on Buffalo’s final offensive play.

Facing 4th-and-11 on the Carolina 33 with 23 seconds and a timeout remaining, the Bills opted for rookie second-round draft choice Zay Jones running a corner route to the right side.

Incredibly, Jones got behind the secondary and though Taylor’s throw was a bit off-target, the ball still hit the wide receiver’s hands but glanced off, incomplete.

Afterward Taylor admitted, “We didn’t execute the play that was called … point blank.”

By inference, he seemed to be blaming Jones, who was tearfully inconsolable in the locker room.

But on Monday afternoon, offensive coordinator Rick Dennison saw it as shared blame.

“I think it was execution on both (quarterback and wide receiver), let’s just put it that way,” he said.

But most fans are blaming Taylor for missing an open receiver on a play that decided the game.

Already, there are calls for him to be replaced by rookie fifth-round draft choice Nathan Peterman as Tyrod has shown precious-little improvement in his Buffalo career, two games into his third season.

Clearly, new coach Sean McDermott’s defense has shown impressive improvement from the previous two years under Rex Ryan.

But, no matter how good its performance, it requires at least minimum help from the offense.

As McDermott noted of Sunday’s game, “I feel the frustration out there. I thought we got into a rhythm at times, other times we didn’t. At the end of the day, three points … it’s hard to win games in this league when you’re scoring three points.”

Still, he’s adamant Taylor remains his starter.

When asked if he considered putting in Peterman, McDermott said, “ I expect Tyrod to come out this week and put in a good week’s work and come out firing come Sunday.

“We look at every position, I’ve said that before. There’s things we can do better at every position, it’s never just one guy and that’s what you have to understand. There’s 11 guys on the field, so it’s never just one guy. We can all do our own part and do a better job.  Would I have loved to see us come out yesterday with a win? Absolutely.  We all (need to play better) … the quarterback, myself, all parts of this football team need to do a better job.”

But doesn’t Peterman merit some consideration for playing time?

“You stay with the plan,” McDermott said. “I’ve been around a couple coaches that have had, what I consider, pretty good success in this league, one of which is Andy Reid, and  I watched when he was in a similar situation. He stayed true to his plan … you have to adjust the plan from time to time.

“Every decision Andy made and every decision we’re trying to make is  what we believe to be the best interest of this team and this organization, both short and long term. I keep saying that, but that’s really how you stay the course.”

And Dennison echoed that thought when asked where his confidence was in Taylor.

“High … I have complete confidence in him,” he said. “I think he did some good things, even though he did some bad things.  (He) managed the team when things weren’t going well, but kept us in the game. Some people might’ve gone south, he kept us all rolling. He had to make some plays with his feet when things weren’t there. He’s coachable. You tell him to do something, he’ll do it right, he’ll fix it. We just have to be better as an offense.

“It’s execution. Whether it’s a wide receiver creating separation or a protection, there’s many things. I don’t have to go through a play-by-play for you, we just didn’t execute. We didn’t get the ball down the field. We didn’t make those plays, so we’ll move on.”

But if Taylor doesn’t play better, the calls for Peterman will merely get louder.

(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)