Before we get into this week’s game, I want to go down memory lane for a little bit because Bills-Chargers is one of those matchups that, for whatever reason, unlocks a ridiculous number of very specific football memories for me, which is funny because when I was growing up these teams basically never played each other.
And I mean never.
The Bills and Chargers played twice in 1985, San Diego won both games, and then they didn’t play again for 13 years, which means the entire Jim Kelly era came and went without a single Bills-Chargers game. I started watching the Bills in 1989, so by the time they finally played San Diego in the 1998 season opener, I had been watching this team for almost a decade and had never actually seen this matchup.
Of course, that first one ended up being one of the strangest games possible.
My First Bills-Chargers Game
The 1998 opener was supposed to be the beginning of the Rob Johnson era, which at the time felt like a pretty big deal because the Bills had traded a first-round pick for this guy, handed him a five-year, $25 million contract and basically decided he was going to be the quarterback who carried them into whatever came after Jim Kelly.
The above image basically describes this game for Rob as he made it about a half before getting knocked out with a concussion.
Buffalo was down 10-0 when Doug Flutie came into the game, and one thing I remember about that time is that there really wasn’t this enormous Flutie Mania when he initially signed. Obviously people knew who he was and there were people who wanted to see him play, because Buffalo has always had the “hang up and listen, the backup quarterback should start” crowd, but nobody knew what the next couple of years were going to become.
Then Flutie came into that game and was really good.
He threw a pair of touchdowns to Andre Reed, Buffalo took a 14-13 lead and suddenly this 35-year-old quarterback who had spent the previous eight seasons in Canada was about to win the opener.
John Carney eventually kicked a 54-yarder to put San Diego back ahead, but Flutie drove Buffalo down the field one more time and gave Steve Christie a chance to win it from 39 yards with three seconds left.
Christie missed.
And the funny part is that he had already missed a 21-yarder earlier in the fourth quarter, which was almost impossible to believe because Christie was one of those guys I just assumed was going to make everything.
Buffalo lost 16-14, Rob Johnson was hurt, Flutie had almost pulled off the comeback and, without any of us really knowing it yet, the Flutie-Johnson civil war had basically begun.
Apparently Rob Johnson Just Couldn’t Finish Chargers Games
Two years later, they played again, and somehow it was another completely bizarre game.
The 2000 Chargers were awful. They came into Buffalo 0-6, eventually finished 1-15 and ended up with the first pick in the draft, but somehow they had the Bills down 24-14 entering the fourth quarter.
Buffalo came back, Steve Christie tied the game and they went to overtime, where Rob Johnson — because apparently his body simply rejected playing complete games against the San Diego Chargers — separated his shoulder.
So here comes Flutie again.
Henry Jones intercepted Jim Harbaugh who is coaching on Sunday, Flutie helped move the Bills into position and Christie eventually hit a 46-yard field goal to win it 27-24. Johnson’s injury opened the door for Flutie to get the job again, and Flutie ended up going 4-1 as the starter before Johnson eventually got it back.
It really is amazing how many chapters of that quarterback controversy somehow involved the Chargers.
The Flutie-Johnson Bowl
Then came 2001, which was basically the Super Bowl for Bills fans who had spent the previous three years screaming at each other about quarterbacks.
I was an intern at WGRZ Channel 2 at the time and I remember sitting there logging the game, and it felt enormous in Buffalo because it wasn’t just Flutie against Johnson. John Butler was running the Chargers, A.J. Smith had gone there, a bunch of former Bills had followed them, and there was this feeling that half the organization had relocated to San Diego.
Ralph Wilson even said he’d rather beat the Chargers than win the Super Bowl. If Terry Pegula said something like that today, I’d probably write 2,000 words about it and mail a dead fish to his house.
The other thing I remember is that Rob Johnson was actually really good that day. He threw for 310 yards, Buffalo had a lead late and it looked like he might actually win the game everybody in Western New York had turned into a referendum on him.
Instead, Flutie did what Flutie did.
He scrambled for the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter, Buffalo got one final opportunity and Jake Arians came out for a 44-yard field goal that would have tied it.
Blocked.
Chargers win 27-24.
The Bills ended up going 3-13 that season and San Diego went 5-11, so in the grand scheme of NFL history this game meant absolutely nothing, but if you were a Bills fan or Ralph Wilson, it felt like the spiteful Super Bowl of ass. .l
The Day the Power Went Out
Then there’s 2008, which is another one permanently stored in my brain because Buffalo entered the game 4-1, Trent Edwards was back after missing the Arizona game and Philip Rivers was on the other side.
The Bills won 23-14, Edwards went 25-of-30 for 261 yards and Buffalo improved to 5-1, and I distinctly remember thinking that maybe this was finally the year the drought was going to end.
Of course, because we’re talking about a Bills game, there also had to be something completely ridiculous happening, and part of Ralph Wilson Stadium lost power because Mylar balloons got tangled in power lines outside the stadium. The scoreboard stopped working, television monitors went out and portions of the game had to be played without the normal stadium electronics. I remember watching this game at Broadway Station in Astoria and when we got there to watch, we were asking the bartender where the hell is the game and he acted like we had 3 heads. He wasn’t sure. Finally we saw something on one of the other games explaining the situation. So we just had beers and waited until the 2nd quarter.
Buffalo was 5-1.
Trent Edwards looked good.
The Bills were going back to the playoffs.
Everything was great.
They finished 7-9.
The Nathan Peterman Game
There is no reason to spend 500 words reliving 2017, because if you watched it, you remember. Sean McDermott benched Tyrod Taylor for Nathan Peterman, Peterman threw five interceptions in the first half and the Chargers won 54-24.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a quarterback decision explode that quickly.
Moving on.
Josh Allen Start No. 1
One year later came the game that actually mattered historically, although none of us knew how much at the time.
September 16, 2018 was Josh Allen’s first NFL start.
Buffalo had just gotten annihilated by Baltimore in the opener, the Nathan Peterman experiment was mercifully over and Allen got the Chargers at home. If you’re trying to remember whether he immediately looked like the Josh Allen we watch now, let me help you out.
He did not.
Buffalo fell behind 28-6, Allen made some plays in the second half and finished with 245 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in a 31-20 loss. His first NFL touchdown pass went to Kelvin Benjamin, which is a sentence that makes 2018 feel like it happened during the Bush senior administration.
That was Josh Allen Start No. 1.
Eight years later, the Chargers are coming back to Buffalo and nobody is wondering whether Josh Allen can play quarterback anymore.
They’re trying to figure out how the hell they’re going to stop him.
CHARGERS STATHEAD OF THE WEEK
Five Things About Bills-Chargers
1. The Chargers Are Already in a Hole
Two weeks into an NFL season is way too early to decide what a team is, but it’s certainly not too early to say the Chargers haven’t looked good. Los Angeles comes to Buffalo 0-2 after losing both of its first two games by the exact same score, 26-14, first against Arizona and then against Las Vegas. So we’re talking about a team that’s scored 28 points in eight quarters and has been outscored by 24 points.
Meanwhile, Buffalo has opened the season by scoring 36 against Houston and 41 against Detroit, and now the Chargers have to play their first road game of the season in Buffalo. I’m not saying an 0-2 team is dead, especially in September, but 0-3 starts getting uncomfortable very quickly.
2. Justin Herbert Is Getting Killed
If there’s one number from the first two weeks that immediately jumped out at me, it’s this one:
Justin Herbert has been pressured on 45.5% of his dropbacks, the second-highest rate among qualifying quarterbacks.
That’s basically half the time Herbert drops back to pass. And he hasn’t exactly been overcoming it, either.
His PFF grade under pressure is only 28.7. Herbert’s overall numbers haven’t been very Herbert-like, either, with 401 passing yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions through two games.
Now here comes a Buffalo defense with seven sacks through two games and a Greg Rousseau who has looked like one of the best players on the field.
If the Chargers can’t protect Herbert better than they have so far, I don’t know how much the rest of their offensive game plan is going to matter.
3. And the Chargers Aren’t Getting to the Other Quarterback
Here’s where this matchup gets particularly interesting.
While Herbert is getting pressured constantly, Los Angeles has produced only three sacks through two games, which is tied for 25th in the NFL. And the Chargers haven’t been an especially blitz-heavy defense, either, with a blitz rate of roughly 25.6%.
So this is one of the things I’m watching immediately on Sunday. Do they trust their front four and continue playing the way they’ve played during the first two weeks, or does Chris O’Leary decide that letting Josh Allen stand comfortably in the pocket is an even worse idea and start sending extra people?
Because that’s the problem with Allen.
Blitz him and you better get there.
Don’t blitz him and you better have somebody who can win one-on-one.
Neither option is particularly appealing.
4. The Turnover Difference Is Massive
Buffalo is plus-2 in turnover differential and Los Angeles is minus-4.
Josh Allen has thrown five touchdown passes without an interception, while Herbert has thrown two touchdowns and three interceptions. Los Angeles has five giveaways through two games compared with only one takeaway, and against Las Vegas alone Herbert threw two interceptions while Omarion Hampton lost a fumble. That’s a six-turnover difference between these teams after two weeks.
5. The Chargers Are Already Getting Beat Up
The other problem for Los Angeles is that the injury report is getting crowded very early. David Njoku and Charlie Kolar are both headed to injured reserve, which leaves Oronde Gadsden as the only tight end currently on the Chargers’ active roster. Trey Pipkins III is dealing with a knee injury, which isn’t exactly what you want when your quarterback is already getting pressured on almost half his dropbacks, and Derwin James has a fractured finger, although he’s expected to try to play through it.
6. Don’t buy the West Coast-to-East Coast narrative
You always hear about West Coast teams struggling when they have to fly across the country for an early game, but the Chargers haven’t exactly been bothered by it. Since 2020, Los Angeles is 13–6 in regular-season road games played in Eastern Time Zone stadiums, including a 4–1 mark in 2024.
Buffalo was actually one of the teams to get them during that stretch, beating Justin Herbert and the Chargers 27–17 in Orchard Park in 2020.
Scoring: There’s No Advanced Stat Necessary
Sometimes we make football more complicated than it needs to be.
The Chargers scored 14 points in Week 1.
Then they scored 14 points in Week 2.
Buffalo has scored 77 points through two games.
Los Angeles has scored 28.
Whatever advanced statistic you want to use, eventually somebody has to cross the goal line.
The funny thing about Bills-Chargers is that these teams haven’t played enough for this to feel like any sort of rivalry, yet somehow almost every time I think about this matchup I remember something weird.
Doug Flutie replacing an injured Rob Johnson, then doing it again two years later. The Flutie-Johnson Bowl. Ralph Wilson apparently deciding a Week 8 game against a bad Chargers team was more important than the Super Bowl. Balloons knocking out the power at the Ralph. Nathan Peterman throwing five interceptions in a half. Josh Allen making his first NFL start. For a matchup that basically disappeared for my entire childhood, Bills-Chargers has given me a surprising amount of shit to remember.
We’ll see what gets added to the list Sunday.
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