Buffalo Bills: Josh Allen named starting quarterback after one game

The Buffalo Bills are making a change at starting quarterback after one game as the No. 7 overall pick will start sooner than expected.

Reports surfaced early Wednesday morning that the Buffalo Bills had named rookie quarterback Josh Allen the starter for Week 2 against the Los Angeles Chargers.

The first to report the news was Chris Mortensen of ESPN.

The team then came out and confirmed the report.

Many analysts had speculated that the Bills would make the move after another disastrous showing by second-year quarterback Nathan Peterman. Following his latest start, Peterman now has 11 completions and seven interceptions on his career. The Bills since decided that the time to start the Josh Allen era is now.

The Bills selected Allen with the No. 7 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft and he was thought by many to need some time to “season” and develop before becoming ready to start. However, Allen surprised many with his strong preseason and training camp and looked poised to perhaps win the quarterback competition heading into the third preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Allen got the start in the third preseason game but struggled to move the ball behind a terrible showing by the Bills offensive line. It was revealed after the game that the Bills had rotated offensive linemen during Allen’s time on the field to give the offensive line work at other positions. Whether the rotation or the lack of skill on the offensive line led to the poor performance, Allen suffered five sacks in the game.

When Peterman was announced the starter to open the 2018 regular season many cited this game as reasoning, saying that the Bills wanted to protect Allen from a pounding behind a bad line in his rookie season. That lasted two quarters into the 2018 season thanks to another putrid performance by Nathan Peterman.

Perhaps the Bills should have hung on to AJ McCarron or another veteran and not banked so much on Peterman after his preseason performance, but that is all water under the bridge now. The Allen era is reportedly set to begin and there is no going back now.

All aboard the Josh Allen train with fingers crossed that he turns into the franchise quarterback that the Bills have been waiting for since Jim Kelly retired.