To borrow a line from the late Dennis Green: We are who we thought they were. The Buffalo Bills suffered a 22-0 loss to the Green Bay Packers in what was an abysmal performance by the Bills offense.
Coming off of a 27-6 whooping of the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday, expectations for the Buffalo Bills heading into today’s game against the Green Bay Packers were high.
However, today the team looked more like the tire fire that we saw in the first two games of the season rather than what we saw last week.
Green Bay led 6-0 after the first quarter and the Bills were firmly in the game. The Packers then added 10 points to make it 16-0 at halftime, still not an insurmountable lead by any means. Buffalo’s defense allowed just six points in the second half, but the anemic Bills offense could do absolutely nothing to generate any life as the team lost 22-0.
Buffalo had an issue stopping the run and Aaron Jones as he had 65 yards on 11 carries. The secondary did a decent job in the pass game as Aaron Rodgers was 22/40 for 298, a touchdown and an interception. Davante Adams had eight catches for 81 yards and Geronimo Allison had six catches for 80 yards. This was all with Micah Hyde going out with an injury early in the game.
On offense, Josh Allen came crashing back to Earth after his performance last week. Far too often did Allen leave the pocket and turn his back to the defense, ultimately putting himself in greater danger of taking a sack and losing major yardage. He waited too long to pull the trigger on some throws and for the life of me, I cannot understand why he keeps under-throwing receivers on long balls – that should be his bread and butter.
One of Allen’s biggest mistakes was his interception, where he tried to force a ball into the end zone while shrugging off defenders, that was a wounded duck. It was picked off and ruined the team’s best scoring chance of the day. His desire to keep a play going by all means shot the Bills in the foot multiple times on Sunday, putting them in long second downs because he simply couldn’t just make a smart decision.
All of the offense’s woes cannot be solely placed on Allen’s shoulders, though. The offensive line could not hold their blocks and they more often than not let a free rusher come via the secondary or linebacker/defensive line. They did not give Allen nearly enough time to pass and he was hit with seven sacks and several knockdowns and hurries that really hurt the team.
Possibly the biggest issue I have with the team is the wide receiver group. The job of a wide receiver is to get open, catch the ball and run. None of the current receivers excel in any of those areas. I have had enough with Kelvin Benjamin, and my hopes for Zay Jones have dwindled. Allen has to hold onto the ball so long partially due to him having no one to throw to. Also, Charles Clay should be removed from the field because like Benjamin, he struggles to create any sort of separation.
For as well as the Bills game-planned against the Vikings, they did the complete opposite this game. It didn’t seem like there was any plan for the Packers defense, a unit that is relatively banged up. The run game has been borderline non-existent this season as well, making it much harder for a young quarterback to succeed.
It was a perfect storm of awfulness for the Bills on offense that resulted in no points. After two forced turnovers by the defense, the offense floundered and did nothing to give the defense a break or get the team back in the game. Getting Aaron Rodgers to throw an interception is difficult. The defense did that and the team still couldn’t capitalize.
Overall, the team is back to where they were when the game against the Chargers ended. The offense is lacking weapons and talent, the rookie quarterback looks like he needs a long way to go and fans are left wondering what the head coach and front office are going to do to make this team a contender again.
Next up, the Bills will host the Tennessee Titans next Sunday, October 7 at 1:00 p.m.