There wasn’t much to write home about from the Green Bay Packers Pre-Season finale in Buffalo, which is a good thing considering I was already home watching the Bills 19-0 shutout of the Pack on television.
Green Bay sat down another 31 players for the game, by my count, only three possible starters on either side of the ball dressed, rookie center Josh Myers and whoever wins the starting guard jobs among Lucas Patrick, Royce Newman and Jon Runyan. In all, they did not dress 93 players over three games.
Meanwhile, Buffalo Head Coach Sean McDermott had nearly most of his starters play, including new multi-millionaire quarterback Josh Allen who looked the part, completing his first nine passes on an 84 degree, humid afternoon and throwing a pair of touchdown passes against the Packer backups.
Jordan Love returned to the field after missing a week with what he said was a rotator cuff strain suffered at the end of the pre-season opener against Houston. He got back on the practice field this past week and felt good to go after unleashing a couple of long passes during the workouts. As was the case throughout training camp, Love flashed promising moments and displayed the impatience of youth in playing one series into the third quarter.
After winning the toss and deferring, the Packer defense was put to the test immediately. Running a no huddle opening series, Allen spread the ball around hitting 9 straight completions and after a sack by Jonathan Garvin set up a third and 20 snap at the Green Bay 31, the Bills QB delivered a strike. Gabriel Davis beat Issac Yiadom on a post for a 31 yard touchdown to put the Bills up 7-0 six minutes into the game.
Love had some answers against the Bills defense. He found a wide open Reggie Begelton for 24 yards and snapped a strong out to the right sideline to Malik Taylor for 13. Kylin Hill continued to build his case for the third running back spot by breaking off a nine yard run to make it first and goal from the 7. That’s where the drive stalled. A.J. Dillon was stuffed on third and goal from the one when tight end Jace Sternberger got beat on a block and on 4th down, Love tried to hit a well covered Begelton in the end zone but the ball went off his outstretched hands.
The young Green Bay defenders gave up two first downs before forcing a Bills punt and Love moved th team again. On 4th and 1 from the Buffalo 44, Love carried out an excellent play call from passing game coordinator Luke Getsy who called most of the first half for Matt LaFleur. A play fake with a roll right, Love found the short route of Amari Rodgers covered but found tight end Dominique Dafney open for a 23 yard gain.
On the next snap, inexperience reared it’s ugly head.
Love stumbled on his back peddle and thought Taylor was breaking free on a corner route. Instead of making sure, Love threw up what he said was a 50-50 ball that reached the end zone but had no chance of being caught by anyone other than former Packer safety Micah Hyde for a painful interception.
Allen’s last series was a 15 play, 80 yard drive after the pick where he converted three third downs and a 4th and 2 with his legs. On third and goal from the 3, Allen found running back Zack Moss in front of Christian Uphoff for the touchdown. The extra point snap was botched and Buffalo led 13-0.
Love threw a pretty back shoulder ball up the right sideline that Taylor pulled in for 27 yards to jump start the next drive. He also barked a hard count that drew Buffalo offsides but on third and goal from the five, back up center Jake Hansen never delivered the ball with Love pleading as the play clock expired and the penalty forced a third and goal from the 10 pass high in the end zone with under a minute left in the half.
The Packers came up empty again however as Mason Crosby, who didn’t miss a field goal in 2020, jerked a 28 yard attempt wide left.
Buffalo extended it’s lead on their opening drive of the third quarter as backup quarterback Jake Fromm bolted out of the pocket and eluded a half hearted attempt from Innis Gaines inside the five for a 13 yard touchdown run.
Green Bay had one last scoring opportunity in the 4th quarter as Kurt Benkert drove the offense to the Buffalo 16 but on 4th and 1, a toss to the right with Dexter Williams carrying was covered up.
The Bills outgained Green Bay 347-309. The Packers rushed for 118 yards compared to 62 but Buffalo put up 285 passing yards compared to 191 for the Pack. The Bills also converted 9 of 13 third down plays while Green Bay went 3 of 9. In the red zone, Buffalo was 2 for 2, the Packers 0 for 2.
Individually, Love went 12 of 18 for 149 yards with the bad interception and a rating of 69.0. Allen meanwhile was 20 of 26 for 194 yards and 2 scores (122.9). Hill led the ground game with 7 carries for 37 yards. Rodgers had six receptions for 41 yards, Taylor caught 56 for 69 and Begelton had 4 for 51. Defensively, Isaiah McDuffie piled up 9 tackles with a half sack and another quarterback hit. Henry Black had five tackles, all in the first half. The special teams cover units fared better, allowing 2 punt returns for 25 yards and one kickoff return for 25.
The Packers (0-3) endured their first winless pre-season since 1987, they were outscored 68-21.
Was there anything positive to take from the scoreless finish? Matt LaFleur’s post game comments suggested yes and no.
Sure the interception thrown by Love was a poor decision but otherwise, he handled himself pretty well in my opinion. Taylor has all but locked down the number six wide receiver position. Hill appears to have secured the number three running back role. If I had my druthers, I’d keep Dafney over Sternberger at tight end, even when Sternberger comes off his two game suspension. Newman and Patrick opened at guard and it looks like that’s how they’ll start when the games count until David Bakhtiari returns and pushes Elgton Jenkins back to his normal spot.
On defense, tackle Jack Heflin will be awfully hard to cut. He hustles, displayed toughness against the run and put some pressure on the quarterback. McDuffie missed almost all of camp with a hamstring injury and made his debut last week against the Jets. In his hometown of Buffalo, he made a lot of plays and should have secured a roster spot.
While LaFleur’s team couldn’t finish in Buffalo, training camp and the pre-season is complete. The final 53 must be established by Tuesday with a 16 player practice squad compiled by next Wednesday. In 15 days, the guys that never even put on a uniform in August will open against the New Orleans Saints, forced to run away from Hurricane Ida for their final two weeks of preparation.
Ready or not, here we go.
