Los Angeles Chargers felt disrespected the Buffalo Bills started rookie quarterback Nathan Peterman

The Los Angeles Chargers took out some frustration on the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott decided on Tuesday that it would be a good idea to start rookie quarterback Nathan Peterman over incumbent starter Tyrod Taylor against the ferocious Chargers pass rush. The pass rushers didn’t take too kindly to that.

“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.”

Peterman was intercepted five times in the first half before being benched and while not all of them were the quarterback’s fault, the defensive line thought they got into his head.

“He’s a rookie, (so) obviously coming in there he’s going to be a little shaken up,” Joey Bosa said after forcing an errant throw that was picked off. “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.”

The book on Peterman was written in the preseason, when he looked rattled under pressure. Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said the plan was to bring the heat to make Peterman uncomfortable and it worked.

“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.”

Now McDermott will have to weigh the decision to go back to Taylor or start Peterman again on the road against an AFC opponent.