On Sunday, a banged up Buffalo Bills defense allowed 22 points to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers offense. The future Hall of Famer took several big hits from blitzing rookie defensive backs and was stymied for much of the day, but Buffalo’s offense couldn’t capitalize.
In 2018, teams that allow 22 points or less are 40-15-2, a winning percentage of almost 72%. Buffalo’s defense did a great job frustrating Rodgers and the Packers offense to keep it from being a blowout.
“We were terrible on offense,” said a frustrated Rodgers after the game. “We were a championship defensive-level and non-playoff team offensive-level today. That was not great by any stretch of the imagination. We need to find ways to get our playmakers in position to get some more opportunities.”
Rodgers was sacked twice; once by Siran Neal on a safety blitz and once on cornerback blitz by Taron Johnson, who jarred loose the ball and the Bills recovered. Rodgers was moved off his spot several other times, rushing five times for 31 yards when nothing was there in the passing game.
Green Bay gained 5.7 yards per play and amassed 423 yards of offense, so it’s not like they were falling all over themselves, but Rodgers has higher expectations, and the Bills were able to do enough to keep him in check.
“No, I’m happy,” said Rodgers. “I’m excited to go home and have a scotch or two. But I’m also a realist. That’s just not acceptable offense for us. Four hundred and twenty-three yards looks pretty good in comparison to some of the games we’ve put forward the first three weeks, but it should have been about 45 points and 600 yards.”
That would have made the game look like the opening week, when the Baltimore Ravens destroyed Buffalo 47-3.