The Buffalo Bills will beat the L.A. Chargers if Nathan Peterman exceeds past performances

There are plenty of factors that will decide whether the Buffalo Bills can fly out to Los Angeles and come back with a win over the Chargers. Let’s not beat around the bush, though. The game is going to come down to how well just one-eleventh of the offense plays. The player I am referring to is obviously newly-named starting quarterback of the Buffalo Bills, Nathan Peterman.

This Sunday, Peterman follows in the footsteps of Brian Brohm, Cardale Jones, and Jeff Tuel. No, not the list of Bills quarterbacks since Jim Kelly. He is joining the group of 30 rookie and first-time quarterbacks since 2007 who have made their first start* after the first game of the season. I decided to look at those making their first start after Week one because those players did not have OTAs, training camp, and preseason games preparing them directly for their first start. Instead, these players had just a few days to take the step from back-up to starter.

In those 30 first starts, the quarterbacks’ teams are a downright dreadful 3-27. Those signal callers average 134 passing yards, 0.40 passing touchdowns, 0.97 interceptions, and a QB rating of 65.01. Those numbers are not exactly the injection of talented play that Sean McDermott appears to think Peterman will provide the Bills’ offense. The Los Angeles Chargers are not exactly world-beaters, but it will almost certainly take an abnormally good performance out of a first-time starter to lead the Bills to victory.

*Unfortunately, Pro-Football-Reference.com does not allow you to search by first start, just first game. I added a qualification of greater than 9 pass attempts in an attempt to weed out garbage time fill-ins.