After a tougher than it should have been win over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Green Bay Packers face the Buffalo Bills this Sunday to kick off their slate of home games at Lambeau Field this season.
One week of games is not enough time to cause any NFL team to press the panic button, but we still got some early indications of how this season will pan out for the Green Bay Packers.
If you are looking for a team that is the polar opposite of the Eagles, the Buffalo Bills are that team. The Bills have not made the playoffs since 2000. They drafted another franchise RB after their last one failed to pan out which also includes some questionable off the field decisions.
After coming oh so close to beating the Miami Dolphins last week, the Bills enter this game thinking they are not quite as bad as everyone thought they might be. Thus, they could sneak up on the Packers and upset them at home. The Packers, in turn, sometimes have issues with games like these and I don’t need to remind any fans about what happened in Tampa Bay last year.
Despite it being only the second game of the season, this game cannot be overlooked for its importance by the Packers. By handily defeating the seemingly hapless Bills at home, the Green and Gold will exorcise any demons remaining from that brutal defeat to the then-winless Buccaneers last season.
Breaking down the Bills
The Bills offense seems to be as sluggish as the Packers offense is explosive. Quarterback Trent Edwards won the starting position by default and has shown little ability to be a franchise quarterback since his supposed “breakout” season a few years ago. Wide receiver and former Wisconsin star Lee Evans is the lone bright spot on the Bills offense.
That said, there is hope for the future. Rookie RB C.J. Spiller comes out of college highly touted and could be a big contributor this year if the shaky offensive line holds up for the Bills. Don’t underestimate Fred Jackson either. He has shown great explosiveness and could give the Packers fits in certain situations.
On defense, the Bills dumped their best player (Aaron Schobel) overboard this offseason, once again placing this unit into solid rebuilding mode. The scariest player in their secondary would have to be second year safety Jarius Byrd who had nine interceptions last year and was selected to the Pro Bowl as a reserve.
With Buffalo having a weak defensive line, this is the perfect time for new starting Packers RB Brandon Jackson to get his feet under him for the rest of the season.
When the Packers have the ball….
Look for the Packers to try and avoid Byrd. That shouldn’t dampen the Packers offense too much as they have too many weapons and the Bills have no way of shutting them all down. Aaron Rodgers will have a much better performance than he had against the Eagles and the Packer offense will begin to show some of the promise that it displayed during the preseason.
The Bills likely will bring pressure as the Packers offensive line showed some signs of weakness early on last week against the Eagles, before getting it together in the second half. Jackson is much better in pass protection than Ryan Grant, so look for him to help keep the pressure off of Rodgers.
When the Bills have the ball….
Linebacker Clay Matthews will give the Bills fits. He has the burst necessary to contain Spiller yet also has the ability to throw Evans off his route in coverage. If Matthews was able to have that much success against the Eagles, he should have a field day against the Bills.
The Bills will likely try and establish the run early. Should Spiller falter, look for Fred Jackson to see an increased load. Don’t rule out an air war either. With Al Harris and Atari Bigby being out, Edwards may try to take advantage of rookies Morgan Burnett and Sam Shields.
The good news? Trent Edwards is NOT Michael Vick.
Three keys to the game:
1. How will Brandon Jackson perform?
This is the obvious main concern for the Packers. Losing Grant for the season is a big blow, but the Packers seem to be deep enough to recover from it. Jackson settled into his third down role rather nicely, but now he (and the rest of us) gets a chance to see if he can be “the guy.”
2. Will A.J. Hawk be a distraction?
Despite all of the trade rumors, Hawk will likely be a Packer this Sunday and inserted into the starting lineup. Since he plays in the base package, he will see a fair amount of playing time this week. However, Hawk’s comments to the media this week raised more than one eyebrow for a lot of people. He’d rather be traded than be a part-time player, and his performance this week will speak volumes about where his head is at.
3. Will the Packers O-Line hold up?
It seems like a broken record, but with a very shaky start to the game last week the same questions about the Packers offensive line that dogged the team in 2009 are once again popping up this season. It will take a lot more than a solid performance against a weak Bills pass rush to convince skeptical fans.
Prediction: Packers 34, Bills 17
Anything less than a 10 point victory over the Bills will be disappointing. While a win is a win in the NFL, this is the chance for the Packers to flex their muscles. Game three for the Packers will be the Bears on Monday Night. They need to show in the Bills game that they will not falter in trap games like they did against the Buccaneers last year.
Lambeau will be rocking and so will the Packers.
——————Kris Burke is a sports writer covering the Green Bay Packers for AllGreenBayPackers.com and WTMJ in Milwaukee. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) and his work has been linked to by sites such as National Football Post and CBSSports.com. Follow @KrisLBurke
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I think this is more likely to be a 17-3 game than a 35-21 one. I still think we’re going to win, but the Bills are good enough on special teams to eat up some clock with a field position battle. The Bills generally keep themselves in the game.
Hmmm, I’m really expecting the Packers to put up A LOT of points….
The Packers have shown enough improvement on coverage that I don’t think the Bills special teams are that dangerous. Even if I’m wrong, the Buffalo offense is inept enough that they won’t be able to take advantage of shorter fields.
Was it A.J. Hawk that made comments to the media or was it his agent? Everything I’ve seen says that Hawk hasn’t been accessible to the press this past week. If it’s the agent doing the talking I wouldn’t be too concerned, otherwise…..
I agree we’ll probably put up a lot of points.
I do believe it was mostly his agent…
Hawk talked too. I think it was both.
Yeah, but I think his gent said a bunch of stuff and then Hawk responded to questions about what his agent said. So I don’t think it was Hawk that initiated anything, at least not publicly. It’s always possible he told his agent to start something, but Hawk doesn’t seem like that type to me…
Who said what or was told to say what is moot…it’s out there now.
The Packers must show solid defense and put scores up period.Doing less will just be holding open the water faucet for the ( you know who’s)to wet their whistles’ at the pending arrival of their chance at us.
A statement must be made even if it is the Bills!!!
Taryn, I wish you would have some strong opinions once in a while… 🙂
So how bad is Packers nation going to freak out if this is a 20-17 slugfest? I’m telling you, this could very well be a low scoring, closer-than-everybody-thinks game. I watch a lot of Bills games…my wife is from there, as I have likely mentioned.
The Bills aren’t good. And they really haven’t even had a decent team for years, yet they always manage to hang around in games. They aren’t going to lay down. They work hard. They always find ways to lose games, but they don’t get blown out a lot. Yes…the Packers are the better team, and should and will win. But don’t freak out if it’s not a blowout.
We’ll see, ruppert. if you’re right, I think you’ll be pretty much the only guy that was…