Watch: Highlights from Packers’ Loss to Bills
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers outgained the Buffalo Bills 398-369. They won the turnover battle 2-1. They won time of possession by about seven-and-a-half minutes. They were even better on third down.
And they still lost 27-17.
Aaron Jones ran for 143 yards and rookies Romeo Doubs and Samori Toure caught touchdown passes from Aaron Rodgers. But Green Bay’s defense gave up five consecutive scores and the team shot itself in the foot with eight penalties – one eliminated a touchdown, another eliminated a big-time kickoff return and the third eliminated starting linebacker Quay Walker.
“There’s a lot [that needs to improve]. Every area,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “We’ve got to improve on many things. I think there’s also just the discipline aspect. We’re getting killed with penalties, and it’s taking points off the board, it’s extending drives. You’ve got to be, when it gets chippy, you’ve got to keep your poise. We can’t be losing players to a personal foul, getting in a shoving match on the sideline. That was disappointing.”
Also disappointing – though perhaps expected – was the atrocious state of the passing game. When Rodgers was intercepted with 12:29 remaining in regulation, the Packers had a horrendous 61 net passing yards.
Rodgers got going late, leading a 95-yard touchdown drive that cut the margin to 27-17. That drive included a 26-yard catch by Doubs and a 37-yard touchdown by Toure.
“I was proud of Samori with his second adjustment on his touchdown,” Rodgers said. “That’s a big moment for the kid. First touchdown in the NFL, pretty special, even though it’s in a loss. That’ll be a good memory for him.”
But it was far too little, too late, against a powerhouse team that appeared to have called it a night after the aforementioned interception.
“I don’t know what it is but we’ve got to do something to win,” cornerback Rasul Douglas said. “3-5? That’s not how we play ball. That’s been the standard for the last few years. That can’t start to be the standard now. Collectively, we’ve got to come in here together and find ways to finish. Because I feel like we always play a good half, whether it’s the first half or the second half. Today, we played well in the second half but we didn’t play well the first half. We’ve got to put two of those together to play a complete game. I don’t think we ever played a complete game this year.”
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