You want to give a rookie quarterback his first start against the Chargers defense? Just know that they’re going to make you regret it.
The Chargers were playing with a little extra fire on Sunday for one reason: They felt insulted by the Bills’ decision to throw rookie Nathan Peterman behind center for his first start against their defense.
Peterman and the Bills paid the price as the Chargers gave him a rough welcome to the NFL. The rookie’s third pass as a pro was picked off by linebacker Korey Toomer, who ran it back 59 yards for a touchdown:
It snowballed from there.
“I’m pretty sure we might’ve felt a little disrespected,” cornerback Casey Hayward said after the game, via the team’s official website. “They started a rookie against a really good defense. We have some good edge-rushers, and we have some good guys in the secondary. So we had to take advantage of that.”
Hayward did make the most of it. He snagged two of the Chargers’ five picks against Peterman.
The Chargers rank third in the league in sacks and even though they didn’t land any on Peterman, he was feeling their pressure nonetheless. Defensive end Joey Bosa said the Chargers planned to exploit Peterman’s inexperience.
“He’s a rookie, (so) obviously coming in there he’s going to be a little shaken up,” Bosa said. “Getting some pressure in there, and once we got the first one or two, then it kind of shook him a little ... (Melvin Ingram) and I both knew that if we were able to build pressure and get in his face that he would make some bad decisions with the football.”
Bosa’s pressure was a direct cause of Peterman’s last interception, which he threw right into the waiting arms of Chargers cornerback Trevor Williams:
Head coach Anthony Lynn knew from Peterman’s preseason film that bringing pressure on him was the key.
“We studied all the preseason film, and every time he was under pressure, his completion percentage was a lot lower,” Lynn said. “We didn’t have to manufacture the pressure. We have guys (who) can apply it. They did a good job of that.”
The Bills benched Peterman and brought in Tyrod Taylor after Peterman threw the most picks any quarterback has thrown in one half in NFL history. The Chargers already had a 37-7 lead at that point, and the game was too far out of hand for Taylor to save it. The Chargers won 54-24.
The Chargers are just 4-6, but they looked like the best team in the AFC West on Sunday. They might actually be a threat in the playoff race if the defense keeps playing with this chip on its shoulder.
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