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"I'm pretty sure we might've felt a little disrespected," Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Casey Hayward said of the Buffalo Bills' decision to start rookie quarterback Nathan Peterman against them on Sunday, per Dan Woike of the San Diego Union-Tribune. "We've got two really good pass-rushers, probably the top tandem in the NFL. We've got really good corners. … We've got really good safeties. They do it against us?

"Trippin'."

Trippin', indeed. Peterman had one of the worst starting debuts in NFL history after looking half-decent against a New Orleans Saints defense that was in "get out of town mode" at the end of their 47-10 blowout of Buffalo. To have Peterman make his first NFL start against a team with Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa against an offensive line that has been problematic at best was sheer folly, and for Bills head coach Sean McDermott to say that he'd have to review the tape before making a decision as to whether Peterman or Tyrod Taylor would start next week against the Kansas City Chiefs, per Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com, is an absolute joke. Peterman is in no way ready for the rigors of NFL defenses, and he showed that over and over in a game where he threw five interceptions before he was mercifully benched. He completed six passes in 14 attempts to his own receivers, which is one good thing, we suppose.

Though not all five picks were Peterman's fault, most of them were, and he looked overwhelmed from the start. The first intercepted pass, a pick-six by linebacker Korey Toomer, bounced off the hands of fullback Patrick DiMarco. The second pick, with 10:51 left in the first quarter, saw Peterman attacked from both defensive ends—Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa—and instead of stepping up in the pocket, he fell back off his base and threw a floater to Hayward. Dragging back in the pocket when pressured is a fairly common mistake for young quarterbacks (Jared Goff still does it once in a while), and this was the root cause on Interception No. 2.

Interception No. 3 came with 1:20 left in the first quarter—here, Bosa slammed Peterman to the turf as he threw, the ball didn't have enough on it, and safety Tre Boston was the lucky recipient this time. Hayward got his second pick of the game with 12:49 left in the second quarter. Bosa came free to the pocket, hit Peterman again, and Hayward jumped the route on a pass intended for receiver Deonte Thompson.

The Bills chose to keep the shell-shocked Peterman in the game, and his fifth interception was fairly predictable. It happened with 41 seconds left in the first half, as Peterman overthrew Thompson, and the ball was caught by cornerback Trevor Williams. Mercifully, the Bills pulled Peterman in favor of Tyrod Taylor to start the second half.

This is not to blame Peterman—he's a fifth-round rookie who was thrown to the wolves by a coaching staff (and possibly an ownership group) that clearly had no clue how to evaluate the readiness of their player. The short-term question is how this will affect Peterman's confidence and development; the long-term question is how long this staff will be allowed to make such rash decisions without professional consequences. The Chargers were right to feel disrespected by Peterman's appearance; one can only imagine what the Bills' veteran players are thinking right now.