ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Sunday's win over the Arizona Cardinals was a game of two extremes for Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

On the positive end, Taylor executed a designed option run for 49 yards, the longest by a quarterback in franchise history. He also scrambled for a 20-yard touchdown run, his fifth rushing score in 17 starts for Buffalo. Overall, Taylor gained 76 rushing yards, tied for the second-most of his career.

On the negative side, Taylor posted a 51.9 quarterback rating, which was by far the worst of his career as a starter. His 4.76 yards per attempt was the lowest of his career, as was his total of five passing first downs. He completed only 56 percent of his passes for 119 yards and was intercepted once.

Taylor has been held to less than 200 passing yards in four of his past five games, including the final two contests of last season, and he did not throw a touchdown pass in any of those four games. Since the start of the 2015 season, Taylor has averaged 209.5 passing yards per game, which ranks 38th among NFL quarterbacks over that span and is considerably less than the 251.5 passing yards that former Bills starter Kyle Orton averaged in 12 games in 2014.

In a season in which the Bills have a $27.5 million decision riding on the progress of their starting quarterback, there remains a gap between Taylor's performance as a passer and as a runner. Taylor's legs scare opponents, but his arm does not -- and the Bills know it.

"He's not a traditional pocket passer," general manager Doug Whaley told WGR 550 this week. "[Other teams are] going to try to exploit his weaknesses, and that's keep him in [the pocket] and not let him use his best asset, which is his legs, and make him develop into a guy who can sit into the pocket and pick you apart. That's a smart way to do it. That's what we would do against a guy like that.

"The onus is on him, and I think he loves the challenge. He's a competitor, and I think he's going to continue each week to get better and better."

Defensive players from the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets, who defeated the Bills in their first two games this season, said that their game plan involved keeping Taylor in the pocket and making him play quarterback. Coaching Taylor to beat that defensive strategy has become a double-edged sword for the Bills.

On one hand, anyone around the league would agree that Taylor's speed and open-field running are his best traits, and minimizing that part of his game will limit his potential to make game-changing plays. But Taylor's penchant for tucking and running carries an injury risk and prevents him from making throws that he could complete if he remained in the pocket as a passer.

"I think one of the things he'll get better at, and it's because he's a young quarterback -- maybe not in age, but in experience -- is just getting that comfortability factor in the pocket," Whaley said. "Knowing when to, instead of breaking out and running, maybe slide right or left or climb in the pocket and still keep your eyes downfield. And that's a tricky thing, really, to develop unless you have game experience, and that's why I think he'll keep growing and that's one of the areas he has to."

Asked Wednesday about Whaley's comments, Taylor was brief and did not address the concerns directly.

"I’m just doing whatever it takes to get a win," he said. "Can I be better? Yes. We can be better, and I can be better personally, but we’re doing whatever it takes to win."

That is precisely the problem for the Bills: Taylor wants to run, he's good at it, and when it works, the Bills tend to win. But when defenses are able to neutralize the threat Taylor poses on the ground, he generally can't beat them through the air.

Unfortunately for Taylor, there isn't a defensive coach in the NFL better at shutting down his opponents' strengths than Bill Belichick, whose New England Patriots host the Bills in a critical (for Buffalo, at least) AFC East contest on Sunday. In the teams' most recent meeting last November, New England held Taylor to one rushing yard, his lowest output as Buffalo's starter.

Offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn said Thursday that he fully expects the Patriots to again focus on taking away Taylor's running lanes out of the pocket, which means Taylor must buckle down and make throws from the pocket.

"We always tell him to remain a quarterback first," Lynn said. "Keep your eyes downfield, remain a quarterback first. And then if there's nothing there, then you can take off and create with your legs. And that's what we're coaching him through."

Yet as Lynn and Whaley discuss molding Taylor into a quarterback who could one day surpass 300 passing yards in a game -- he's yet to do it in 17 starts -- there are mixed messages coming from his coaches and teammates.

"Why wouldn’t you use, the players you have, use their best abilities?" running back LeSean McCoy said following Sunday's win over Arizona. "Tyrod, one of the best things he can do, is he can run the ball. I mean, he’s like a running back at quarterback, so why wouldn’t you not have him using his legs?"

Added coach Rex Ryan after the game: "Well, I just think that if you don’t use [his legs], that it’s a mistake, because I know how difficult it is to defend against a running quarterback."

Whaley wants his quarterback to find the middle ground between taking advantage of his running abilities and staying in the pocket as a pure passer.

"[It's] just gonna be a gradual process," Whaley said, "because of his background of being, 'If it's not there, let's go and take off.' That's no fault of his own, but that's something that he's gonna continue to develop and get better."