Live Updates: Green Bay Packers at Buffalo Bills
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers need a bounce-back win. Hitting the road to face the powerhouse Buffalo Bills on Sunday night doesn’t seem the ideal scenario to get it accomplished. Follow along all night for updates for Packers (3-4) vs. Bills (5-1).
Final Score
Bills 27, Packers 17
The Packers have lost four in a row to fall to 3-5. Here is our game story, including game ball and much more.
Fourth Quarter
Bills 27, Packers 17 (6:32 remaining)
Aaron Rodgers threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to rookie Samori Toure, who wove his way through the secondary and cut back inside to get away from safety Damar Hamlin. The unsung hero of the play was AJ Dillon, who blocked Greg Rousseau for about 5 seconds. It was a 95-yard scoring drive. The Packers, rather incredibly, have a 352-327 edge in total offense.
Bills 27, Packers 10 (10:02 remaining)
Jaire Alexander came to play. On third-and-goal at the 3, it looked like Josh Allen was throwing the ball away. Instead, Alexander came out of nowhere and made a diving interception.
Bills 27, Packers 10 (12:29 remaining)
Do the Packers have hope after Rasul Douglas’ interception? Nah. Aaron Rodgers’ pass was batted at the line and intercepted by star linebacker Matt Milano. The Packers have 61 net passing yards.
Bills 27, Packers 10 (12:34 remaining)
Buffalo had torched Green Bay for five consecutive scores. But, on third-and-10, Josh Allen extended the play and threw across the middle, where he was intercepted by Rasul Douglas.
Bills 27, Packers 10 (14:12 remaining)
The Packers might be able to build on their running game going forward. It’s hard to win that way, though. Green Bay ran right into scoring position but, on fourth-and-1, Aaron Jones was swallowed by Buffalo’s defense. Von Miller destroyed right tackle Yosh Nijman on the play.
Injury update: RB AJ Dillon, who went down awkwardly with a knee injury in the third quarter, returned to action and had three carries for 12 hard-charging yards.
Third Quarter
Bills 27, Packers 10 (5:59 remaining)
Tyler Bass kicked a 38-yard field goal. The big play was a 29-yard completion to Gabe Davis in which safety Darnell Savage continued his bad-tackling ways.
Bills 24, Packers 10 (10:20 remaining)
The Packers scored on a 38-yard field goal but what an awful drive. AJ Dillon was twisted down awkwardly by linebacker Matt Milano, his left knee going the wrong direction. Dillon didn’t stay down long and hopped off the field. A moment later, Aaron Rodgers connected with tight end Robert Tonyan for a 10-yard touchdown but Tonyan was flagged for interference. It looked like pretty good acting by first-round cornerback Kaiir Elam. Aaron Jones had a 32-yard run that included 20 yards after contact and two missed tackles. Dillon had a 27-yard run that included 26 after contact and two missed tackles.
Injury update: De'Vondre Campbell (knee) is not in the lineup for the ensuing possession.
Second Quarter
Bills 24, Packers 7 (0:00 remaining)
Tyler Bass kicked a 42-yard field goal on the final play of the half. Starting at their 20 with 53 seconds, Josh Allen uncorked a bomb to Stefon Diggs for a gain of 53. Diggs ran a corner-post, getting wide open over the middle. The best Rasul Douglas could do was flail his arms in hopes of accidentally deflecting the ball.
The Packers will get the ball to start the second half. Down by 17, how on earth are they going to rally? The Bills lead 234-132 in total yards. Aaron Rodgers has 62 passing yards.
Injury update: Adding injury to insult, the Packers are down both of their inside linebackers. De’Vondre Campbell walked to the locker room with a bag of ice wrapped around his right knee. With the ejection of Quay Walker and Krys Barnes already on injured reserve, the Packers are down to Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson.
Bills 21, Packers 7 (1:54 remaining)
Isaiah McKenzie got the ball on an end-around for a 7-yard touchdown and lead by two touchdowns. On the score, McKenzie ran through Adrian Amos’ tackle attempt around the 2. The Bills have scored on three consecutive possessions and have 183 yards on just 23 plays against Green Bay’s vastly overrated defense.
Bills 14, Packers 7 (3:49 remaining)
The Packers are losing the game and just lost linebacker Quay Walker. The team’s promising first-round pick tackled his former teammate, fellow Georgia rookie James Cook, for a gain of 7. As Walker tumbled out of bounds, someone on the Bills’ sideline appeared to reach out to stop Walker from tumbling into him. Walker got up and shoved that person, a 15-yard penalty and the ejection. Isaiah McDuffie replaced Walker as the linebacker alongside De’Vondre Campbell.
Bills 14, Packers 7 (6:15 remaining)
Romeo Doubs made the best play of his career, a spinning, all-hands touchdown catch against Taron Johnson for a 19-yard touchdown to get the Packers back in the game. The Packers got marching by running the ball 10 times in a span of 11 plays. That set up third-and-1 conversions by Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. Jones broke four tackles, including two on a 13-yard run, and Dillon broke one to turn a tackle for loss into a gain of 2.
Bills 14, Packers 0 (14:53 remaining)
Josh Allen threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs. Diggs, one of the great route-runners in the NFL, was matched on Rasul Douglas. Diggs stuttered and went vertically, faked an out, then went upfield. Diggs was wide open for the touchdown. On the final play of the first quarter, Diggs caught a ho-hum pass for 9 yards. Diggs was giving himself up but had the ball punched loose by rookie linebacker Quay Walker. The ball fell between Diggs’ legs and, after a lengthy scrum for the ball, the officials ruled it was Buffalo’s ball at Green Bay’s 26.
First Quarter
Bills 7, Packers 0 (1:41 remaining)
The Packers went three-and-out. On first down, a flea-flicker bomb to Romeo Doubs went just through Doubs’ fingertips. A second-down pass to Robert Tonyan gained 3. A third-and-7 screen to Aaron Jones was ruined by one big forearm by 330-pound defensive tackle Jordan Phillips.
Injury update: The Packers didn’t elevate any of their receivers from the practice squad. They’ll play the rest of the game with only four. Christian Watson is out with a concussion.
Bills 7, Packers 0 (3:34 remaining)
Josh Allen threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dawson Knox. Allen was a stud on the 61-yard scoring drive. On third-and-14, Allen rolled out to his left and quickly made up his mind that he was going to run. He had clear sailing up the sideline, got safety Darnell Savage to whiff around the first-down marker, and plowed ahead to the 1. The Packers, by our count, missed six tackles on the drive. One of those was on Devin Singletary’s 30-yard run that got things going. The last was by Preston Smith, who had a chance for the sack but couldn’t make the play on the touchdown.
Packers 0, Bills 0 (8:51 remaining)
The Packers picked up two quick first downs, with Sammy Watkins making a nice grab along the sideline to pick up a third-and-2 and Aaron Jones moving the chains on a backward pass that gained 7. However, the drive stalled. Rookie Zach Tom, in at left guard, gave up a swim move and sack to Tim Settle. Then, on fourth-and-3, Ed Oliver bulldozed Tom into Rodgers’ lap to force an incompletion.
Injury update: On third-and-15, Christian Watson picked up 12 on a bubble screen. He took a hard hit and the training staff quickly came out for assistance. He walked off on his own rather than being carted off on a board. He wound up walking to the locker room.
Packers 0, Bills 0 (14:02 remaining)
Jaire Alexander broke up a pair of passes to Gabe Davis. On third-and-4, Josh Allen took off up the middle but was cut off by linebacker Quay Walker and safety Adrian Amos. So, Allen fired deep to Davis. The ball was underthrown and Davis prevented an interception by Alexander.
Bills Praise Aaron Jones
Will this be the week the Packers get back to running the football? The last three games, they’ve run the ball 29.4 percent of the time, the third-lowest rate in the NFL.
If Packers coach Matt LaFleur does plan on leaning on Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, they’ll be running into one of the best defenses in the NFL. For all the focus on the Josh Allen-led offense, the Bills are No. 1 in total defense and points allowed due in large part to a run defense that has allowed a league-best 3.52 yards per carry. They’ve done so by playing nickel (four linemen, two linebackers, five defensive backs) on 95.8 percent of their defensive snaps; no other team is at even 75 percent, according to SportRadar.
Jones ranks 14th with 432 rushing yards and 10th among running backs with 5.54 yards per carry but is only 21st with 78 rushing attempts.
“He runs hard,” Bills pass rusher Von Miller told reporters in Buffalo this week. “He can slip and slide from A gap to C gap. He has the speed to take it the distance. Have a whole lot of respect for Aaron Jones. He's a great back in this league. Dillon is running the ball amazing, as well, too. We've got to play the run well. If they run the ball on us and they've got A-Rod, too, it's not going to look good for us.”
Bye-Week Blues?
As if the challenge isn’t daunting enough for the Packers, the Bills are coming off their bye week. That’s a big advantage, right?
Oddly, not so much.
Since the start of the 2019 season, teams coming off a bye are just 47-49. However, Bills quarterback Josh Allen is 4-0 in his post-bye starts. They’ve won by 10-plus points in each of the last three.
Big Underdogs
With Aaron Rodgers at the helm, the Packers have never been double-digits underdogs.
Until this week.
Green Bay is a 10.5-point underdog at Buffalo. It’s easy to see why: The Packers are 3-4 and losers of three straight. The Bills are 5-1 and rank No. 1 in total offense and total defense. The line inched up to as high as 11.5 points at some sportsbooks, including BetMGM, but is back down to 10.5. At FanDuel, where the spread is 10.5, 63 percent of the money and 60 percent of the bets are on the Bills.
According to BetMGM’s John Ewing, Rodgers is 0-4 in games in which he’s a seven-point underdog but is 3-1 against the spread.
“The world may count us out but it’s a long season for a reason,” outside linebacker Preston Smith said. “They don’t hand out Lombardis at the beginning of the season and they don’t hand them out after the preseason. We’ve got a lot of football left in front of us. We’ve got a lot of things we can improve on to be a better team and improve our record.”
Packers-Bills Inactives
Both teams are down a starting offensive linemen. Left guard Elgton Jenkins (foot) is down for Green Bay while right tackle Spencer (Brown) ankle is out for the Bills.
Here’s the full report, including some notes on Christian Watson’s return.
Zach Tom, who started at left tackle in place of David Bakhtiari last week, will start at left guard this week. That means a line of Bakhtiari at left tackle, Tom at left guard and, like last week, Josh Myers at center, Jon Runyan at right guard and Yosh Nijman at right tackle.
Packers-Bills: How to Watch and History
TV: NBC. This is the weekly Sunday Night Football showcase, with Mike Tirico (play-by-play), Cris Collinsworth (commentary) and Melissa Stark (field reporter) on the call.
Live stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial).
Radio: Packers Radio Network (Wayne Larrivee and Larry McCarren; click here for affiliates), Sirius (Channel 83 or 226 on the app) and Westwood One Radio (Ryan Radtke and Mike Golic).
History: The Bills lead the series 8-5, including 6-0 in Buffalo.
Green Bay won the last meeting, 22-0, on Sept. 30, 2018. Rather than feeling the thrill of victory, quarterback Aaron Rodgers called it “championship defensive level and non-playoff team offensive level.” He criticized “the plan” put together by then-coach Mike McCarthy for not getting the ball into the hands of the top playmakers.
The series dates to 1974. Buffalo won that game 27-7. O.J. Simpson was limited to 62 rushing yards but Jim Braxton scored on runs of 1, 1 and 2 yards.
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