In a surprising move, the Buffalo Bills have decided to start rookie Nathan Peterman against the Los Angeles Chargers this weekend. What I want to do today is examine what Peterman has done well in a Bills uniform, what he will bring to the offense, and also look at some things that could get him into trouble.

Strengths

Anticipation

One of Peterman’s biggest strengths is his anticipation. What I mean by this is if he sees post-snap what he thought he was going to see pre-snap he will throw the ball to receivers before they are open.

This is a west coast offense play that the Bills have run this year. Ran it last game vs the Saints.



Peterman does a nice job fitting the ball into tight coverage anticipating the open area when the "rat defender" moves to cover the curl pic.twitter.com/LR84u8JuVO — YardsPerPass (@YardsPerPass) November 16, 2017

The pass to Kelvin Benjamin on Sunday is another good example:

Best throw of the day by a Bills QB



Dagger route is a good one vs cover 2 pic.twitter.com/h4bDGCmaKA — YardsPerPass (@YardsPerPass) November 14, 2017

Tight window throws

Another strength of Peterman is his ability to make tight window throws. This one against the Philadelphia Eagles in preseason is an absolute dime. Tight underneath coverage and a safety coming down hard:

One of my favorites pic.twitter.com/B3Z6FdJynd — YardsPerPass (@YardsPerPass) November 16, 2017

Getting rid of the football

Peterman gets the ball out on time and this is just a basic example, but more often than not his back foot hits on his dropback and he is getting rid of the ball. I would imagine the Chargers will focus on the short stuff on Sunday because of this.

The ball will come out on time though pic.twitter.com/liu4iDGp2g — YardsPerPass (@YardsPerPass) November 16, 2017

Pocket Passing

He will stand in the pocket and take some shots, he doesn’t have nearly the escapability that Taylor has. This is both good and bad, you don’t want you QB getting beat up. But you also want a guy that isn’t afraid to stand there and deliver the football.

Stands in the pocket and takes a big hit pic.twitter.com/239j5g3sXs — YardsPerPass (@YardsPerPass) November 16, 2017

Weaknesses

Footwork

One thing that I have seen from Peterman is that his footwork can get messy at times. Here he makes a great throw to Jones and Zay’s catch is fantastic. But I wanted to look at the footwork on this throw. Now, no QB has perfect footwork all the time, but as a rookie, the speed of the NFL can cause problems and throws that would have been fast enough in college get defended in the pros. This one just happened to be perfect, but don’t confuse process with results.

Fantastic catch from Jones pic.twitter.com/ylzAEfVz66 — YardsPerPass (@YardsPerPass) November 16, 2017

“Gunslinging”

I use this term because it is what Micah Hyde called the young QB. Peterman looks like he is the type to always think he can make a play, this can have some negative consequences. You can’t let a bad play become a disaster and this is what almost happens here.

It isn't all rainbows and butterflies w/ Peterman pic.twitter.com/eiVyMFcbr6 — YardsPerPass (@YardsPerPass) November 16, 2017

Anticipation

I wanted to end on this one because I think that while Peterman’s ability to anticipate will be one of his biggest strengths it also might be the trait that causes some turnovers to occur as well. Peterman tries to throw the 2nd slant through, thinking that the 1st slant would occupy the defender. He’s incorrect and the Saints almost had a defensive touchdown to add to their collection. Peterman is still a rookie and will get fooled at times. As we all know getting fooled and not waiting until you see it can lead to interceptions.

On another day, this might be 6 the other way pic.twitter.com/2tTLm9h1hD — YardsPerPass (@YardsPerPass) November 16, 2017

I hope I was able to illustrate some of the things that we will see from Nate Peterman on Sunday. The offense is going to look a lot different with Peterman under center, hopefully it looks more good than bad.