A Mild Flavored Defeat: Packers Lose to Bills 27-17

It wasn't the beatdown that some people were expecting this week, but the Buffalo Bills played well enough to hold off the Green Bay Packers 27-17 on Sunday night at Highland Stadium.

In a game where the Packers were missing two of their starting wide receivers, the offensive unit they did have found opportunities to move the ball against one of the league's top defenses. Those opportunities would come from their defense, who intercepted Bills QB Josh Allen twice and held the Bills to just 125 yards of offense in the second half.

However, the Packers just ran out of enough time at the end. While they only allowed a Bills field goal in the third quarter, the 24-7 halftime deficit made the hole the Packers dug themselves early on a task to climb out of.

Injuries stockpiled on the Green Bay sideline, before and during the game. Elgton Jenkins was ruled inactive during warmups with a foot injury, as he missed his first game since the season opener. Allen Lazard was also ruled out on Thursday with a shoulder injury he suffered in last week's game against the Commanders.

It only continued from there. Rookie Christian Watson left the game on the Packers' first drive after making his only play of the game, and would not return due to a concussion. Watson was listed as questionable leading up to the game with a hamstring injury, but was active for this week. Fellow rookie Samori Toure filled in his spot on the line of scrimmage.

Late in the first half, inside linebacker De'Vondre Campbell was seen leaving the field with his right knee wrapped up in ice. The former All-Pro did not return for the rest of the game, only recording 3 tackles on the night. Eric Wilson, who was signed by the Packers on October 4th, recorded 4 tackles filling in for Campbell.

Although he didn't go down with an injury, the Packers lost fellow linebacker Quay Walker when he was ejected in the second quarter after receiving an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for shoving a Bills personnel coach after making a stop out of bounds. Isaiah McDuffie, a 2021 6th round pick, took Walker's spot inside.

Despite the personnel setbacks, both David Bakhtiari and Rashan Gary started this week after limitations in practice. Gary suffered a concussion against Washington and cleared protocols a couple of days prior to Sunday. As he works through rehab on his knee, Bakhtiari's status is a week-to-week matter now after missing last week's game.

So with players going down, it's all about adjustment and who can be the next man up when that time comes. The Packers offense has tried to focus on this mindset the entire season, and they had a little showing of that against Buffalo.

With three different wide receivers out, Green Bay finally used the run game to set up the passing game. Aaron Jones made the most of his 20 carries for 143 yards, rushing for 7 first downs and forced 13 missed tackles, the most in any game during his career. He averaged over 7 yards a carry, which was his highest total since Week 2 where he averaged over 8 yards against the Bears.

Romeo Doubs showed some of the playmaking he had in the preseason, leading the Packers in receiving with 4 catches for 62 yards. The biggest highlight for the rookie on the night was making a spinning grab in the back of the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown that put the Packers on the board on a drive that took just under 9 minutes off the game clock.

Doubs wasn't the only rookie that got in the end zone. Although he only made one reception on four targets, Toure's lone catch was his first career touchdown- a 37-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers with under 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

The connection brought the deficit to only 10 points and after a Bills punt, the offense had themselves in a position to get a late score and then try for an onside kick, but a missed 55 yard field goal by Mason Crosby sealed a Bills victory.

Additionally, if the Packers did not have a touchdown catch by Robert Tonyan in the 3rd quarter taken off the board due to offensive pass interference called on Tonyan, the Packers may have trailed instead 27-21 late in the second half and it would have been a different kind of game. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich has not worked much on the 2-minute drill in practice with this core, and with a number of rookies and 2nd-year players on offense they haven't been in too many late-drive situations at the professional level.

Green Bay's defense still needs to straighten out the way they play on the ball. After forcing a three-and-out on the Bills first drive, the Packers defense gave up three touchdowns and two field goals on five straight drives. In that stretch, they gave up 246 yards with 130 of them on the ground. The run defense continues to struggle to limit carries on the ground, but the passing defense pressured one of the league's best QBs into making a few bad throws.

Against the Packers, Allen had only a completion percentage of 52.0 and a rating of 75.1, his lowest figures since Week 4 against the Baltimore Ravens.

Jaire Alexander did not give up a completion on 5 targets, as he deflected three passes and intercepted Allen at the goal line with 10 minutes left in the 4th. Alexander primarily went up against Bills WR Gabe Davis for most of the game, with the two exchanging words almost every other play. Davis was limited to just 2 catches for 35 yards,

Rasul Douglas made the other interception for Green Bay, but did not have as strong of a game as Alexander allowing 5 receptions and a 26-yd TD catch by Stefon Diggs. Douglas also missed 2 tackles, which was one of the biggest problems for the defense on the night with 16 total missed tackles- the most in any game this season for Green Bay.

The four game losing streak is the longest for the Packers since the 2016 season, which was the year Rodgers notably proclaimed the team could run the table at a 4-6 record. The road ahead for Green Bay has a rough terrain, with a combined .655 winning percentage between the Lions, Cowboys, Titans, and Eagles. With the amount of injuries from Sunday night's contest, as well as several others that have lingered over the last few weeks the Packers will just have to take it one game at a time if they hope to get themselves in a wild card spot in a weak NFC pool.