The Bills came out of their bye week and took care of business against a desperate Packers team, 27-17, under the National spotlight of Sunday Night Football. Winning by 10 or more in the NFL is not easy to do, let alone to do it more often than not, and despite the scoreboard, this was not really competitive in my eyes. If you read my weekly picks, you’ll know that I didn’t expect it to be either.
So, I didn’t get the cover but it was a narrow L there and I got two out of three. Not too bad. It was a bit of a back door cover too as the Bills had taken their foot off the gas in the second half and were working on some things, knowing they were in full control of the game. It’s not ideal to see some poor decision-making happen in that part of the game, but it’s not the end of the world either.
I don’t know if the Packers won the toss and elected to differ or if the Bills won it and elected to receive, but if Green Bay elected to that’s a strange way to implement a strategy focused on ball control and ground dominance. That said, Josh Allen went right after Jaire Alexander on the first series and the Packers’ top corner did his job, defending a pair of passes intended for Gabriel Davis.
It was a particularly interesting moment because Alexander and Stefon Diggs have a history from their shared time in the NFC North and the two had been chirping before the game even started. However, Alexander didn’t line up opposite Diggs to start the game. The chatter didn’t stop in the postgame and Alexander had a bizarre post-game interview in the locker room that looked like his edibles had just kicked into overdrive. In fairness, he did hold his ground against Diggs when they matched up, but the repeated gloating, on the field, in a game where his team was down three scores was a weird flex. If he was trying to annoy the Bills WRs he did a good job and even drew an unnecessary roughness by flopping a bit on some contact with Davis after one whistle. Super weird.
Anyway, it looked like the Packers kicking away might have worked out as they got into long FG range on their opening drive. However, facing a 4th & 3 and a 55-yard FG try, they opted to go for it. Well, the Bills have a good defense too and their “bend, don’t break” philosophy in this game showed up to deny the 4th down attempt. Once the Bills got the ball back, the avalanche began.
Devin Singletary was looking great on this drive, but it was Josh Allen who came away with the wow moments. On a 3rd & 14 from the GB 21, already well within FG range, Allen scrambled to his left and did his thing, juking and powering his way down to the 1-yard line. He did take a big hit on the play, but got right back up and loved every second of it. Singletary would be denied on the doorstep, but the follow-up play-action bootleg is the kind of stuff that compromises defenses in the worst way. Allen drew the attention, the defenders made a choice, and Dawson Knox was open for the easy TD.
Once that domino fell, the momentum bubble started expanding. The Bills’ defense quickly 3 & outed the Packers, who were already digging into flea flickers, on their second possession. It took the Bills only 4 plays to reach the end zone again, this time with Allen finding his favorite target, Stefon Diggs, for the 26-yard dime. Rasul Douglas had been toasted in coverage on the play and whipped Diggs to the ground after the play was over out of frustration or pettiness. He wasn’t flagged, but it didn’t sit well.
The Packers responded as their fans had hoped earlier. There was a 3rd & 1 that came with a very generous ball spot by the officials and I think it should have been challenged but, obviously, the Bills felt no threat. A sack was also negated by a very soft hands-to-the-face penalty (IIRC) on Dane Jackson, but GB capitalized nonetheless. On a 2nd & 12, Aaron Rodgers found his rookie WR Romeo Doubs for a great throw and an even better catch.
It was a fantastic play from the young WR at a time when they needed it badly. Fair play to him. The problem was that scores require you to kick off to your opponent and the Bills’ offense was already warmed up and humming. The ensuing drive was really a beautiful thing.
Buffalo went 80 yards in 8 plays, mixing in gashing runs from James Cook (who has taken on a bigger role in the offense), some short completions, and a massive 15-yard penalty on Green Bay’s Quay Walker who shoved a member of the Bills sideline and was subsequently ejected from the game. Rightfully so. Plus, it came on a solid run gain, so it was a big gain. Inside the GB 10-yard line, it was time to get dirty…Lil Dirty!
Isaiah McKenzie took a sweep handoff and then he took someone’s ankles and their confidence as he hit ’em with the stutter step and turned on the boosters to the pylon for the TD. It was a great sign to get him back and looking healthy after a rough road back after the concussion.
The Packers desperately wanted to get something, but Groot introduced himself to Rodgers and GB basically resigned on a 3rd & 16. They didn’t even attempt to convert through the air, opting to get Aaron Jones a medium gain with a minute to go in the half. However, a minute is a lot of time for this Bills’ offense and they went 56 yards in 4 plays. Most of that came on a 53-yard catch by Diggs and they narrowly missed a TD connection to rookie WR Khalil Shakir and settled for the FG. That was basically it.
The teams exchanged FGs to start the second half and then they exchanged turnovers for the next two possessions each. The Bills’ defense came up with a 4th down stop. Allen threw a bad pick near midfield. Rodgers had a ball batted at the line and picked by Matt Milano. To end that sequence, Allen was picked again on a similar play rolling to his right and throwing back into coverage right on the doorstep of the GB end zone. All that was mostly ugly, but they were already 5 minutes into the 4th quarter by that point.
Green Bay would find the last score of the game on a 37-yard strike to Samori Toure. That’s another good sign for a Packers WR group that needed some confidence. Jordan Poyer was already out of the game at that point, but it still counts. Neither team would score the rest of the way.
Even though Toure got behind him for the score, Damar Hamlin had himself a day for as the Bills starting safety. He had a rough go of things against the Chiefs a few weeks ago, taking less-than-ideal pursuit angles and missing some tackles that turned into big plays for KC, but I am glad to see the focus in his return. He finished with 10 tackles in this one and was especially big early on against the short-yardage tosses. It was a very encouraging sign that he can and will improve as the year goes on with Micah Hyde gone for the year.
It was very nice to have Jordan Phillips back and healthy too because he made his presence felt. He brought the lumber on a couple of massive, tone-setting hits and that is what he’s there to do. Well, he actually there to get pressure along the interior D-line and he did that too. Buffalo didn’t have a ton of sacks in this one, but Phillips did have 1 of the 2.
Even though the Packers did run the ball for 208 yards, I was encouraged by what I saw. They wanted to play that style and the Bills were content to let them, playing out of exclusively nickel packages. Had Buffalo been down at some point, it wouldn’t have been the same story but most of those ground yards came with the Bills leading by double digits, and all it did was take time away from the Pack, so it’s a little bit of fool’s gold.
The Bills next go to the Meadowlands to play the 5-3 Jets in an important divisional clash in the AFC East. The Jets have been an early surprise, but they are coming off a 13th straight (IIRC) loss to the Patriots and will have their hands even more full with the Bills.
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