Game Preview: Packers at Bills, Week 15

What to watch when the Green Bay Packers travel to Buffalo to take on the Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The Green Bay Packers (10-3) travel to Ralph Wilson Stadium to take on the Buffalo Bills (7-6) on Dec. 14 at noon CT in a game televised on Fox.

 

The Big Picture: What's at Stake?

Currently on a five-game win streak, the Packers look to keep the momentum going against a Bills team with a winning record and a tough defense coordinated by a familiar face, Jim Schwartz, the former head coach of the division rival Detroit Lions.

Green Bay can potentially clinch a playoff berth with a win this week, but they need help. The Packers need the Cowboys to lose, and they need to clinch the strength of victory tiebreaker over Dallas to ensure a spot in the playoffs.

 

What to Watch When the Packers Have the Ball

A) Packers O-Line vs. Bills D-Line: The Packers offensive line has been dominant since the bye week, opening up holes in the run game and rarely allowing Aaron Rodgers to be touched in pass protection.

This week, the challenge for the Packers offensive line is perhaps the toughest yet when they face a Bills defensive line that's loaded with first-round talent like Mario Williams, Marcel Dareus and Jerry Hughes.

Don't expect the Bills to blitz very often, because they can get pressure with just their front four. It'll be up to the Packers offensive line to keep the pocket clean. Keep an eye on David Bakhtiari, who allowed the only sack in the Packers' last game against the Falcons.

B) James Starks Complementing Eddie Lacy: After suffering a hip injury in the Monday Night Football game, Lacy has been classified as a limited practice participant all week and may be at less than 100 percent when the Packers take on the Bills.

Luckily for the Packers, they didn't miss a beat when Starks stepped in for Lacy and had his best performance in weeks, averaging 7.5 yards per carry, catching two passes out of the backfield, and helping the offense run out the clock at the end of the game on a 41-yard scamper with less than two minutes to go.

Starks figures to be highly motivated to return home to his native upstate New York and play in front of family and friends. There's a good chance he and Lacy split their playing time almost equally.

C) Aaron Rodgers and Turnovers: One of the the things the Bills defense does best is force turnovers, ranking fifth in the NFL with a plus-nine turnover margin.

"The Buffalo Bills do a great job defensively in their coverage units," said head coach Mike McCarthy. "I think they're No. 2 in the league in takeaways. It's important for us to take care of the ball every week, especially on the road. This is a tough environment we're going into play."

Unfortunately for the Bills, they're taking on the team that protects the football better than any other team in the NFL with plus-16 turnover margin. Rodgers and his 35-to-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio aren't likely to give the Bills an extra possession.

 

What to Watch When the Bills Have the Ball

A) Cornerbacks on the Rebound: Nearly every Packers cornerback was exposed at some time or another during Monday night against the Falcons, allowing wide receiver Julio Jones to set a single-game record for the most receiving yards by a Packers opponent. Tramon Williams, Micah Hyde and Casey Hayward all need to play better than they did a week ago.

After missing the majority of the week of practice due to a concussion, Sam Shields was one of the worst culprits, eventually giving way to the taller and more physical Davon House in the fourth quarter, who probably did the best job on Jones.

The Packers can't turn to House this week, however. He'll miss the game with a shoulder injury, but at least Shields is back to healthy, not listed on this week's injury report. He's likely to face Bills rookie phenom Sammy Watkins.

B) The Inside Linebacker Rotation: A.J. Hawk has held the same role for two consecutive weeks, playing solely in the team's 3-4 base defense, which on Monday accounted for just eight total snaps on the defensive side of the football.

Sam Barrington and Clay Matthews continued to be deployed at inside linebacker in the Packers' nickel defense, which is scheme the Packers use most often. And as long as all players remain healthy, that doesn't figure to change.

The one new tweak at inside linebacker last week was Brad Jones getting the call in the team's dime defensive package. Jones had a missed tackle and struggled in pass coverage, allowing the only two passes into his zone to be completed, according to ProFootballFocus.com. Matthews played the dime role the previous week against the Patriots and could go back if the Packers feel they need to switch.

C) Pass Rush: Part of the reason Julio Jones had such a big game against the Packers last time out was because Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan could sit in the pocket and make his reads without being harrassed.

The Packers had only one sack and just four quarterback hits, numbers that need to improve against Bills quarterback Kyle Orton, a former Packers nemesis from his days in Chicago.

After giving Julius Peppers $26 million in the offseason, the Packers expect more pass rush than they got last week from the longtime veteran. Peppers isn't the only one, though. Mike Neal, Nick Perry, Mike Daniels and others could all stand to step up their game. 

 

What to Watch on Special Teams

Watch Out for Blocks: After allowing an extra point to be blocked against the Falcons, the Packers have now allowed five blocks on the season: two point after touchdowns, two punts and one field goal.

Offensive lineman Lane Taylor has been particularly exposed with the most recent block by Atlanta's Ra'Shede Hageman coming by splitting Taylor and defensive lineman Josh Boyd.

Josh Sitton and T.J. Lang have been taken off the kick protection units after the bye when they suffered toe and ankle injuries respectively, but the Packers can't allow this ridiculously high amount of blocks to continue. They might need the services of Sitton and Lang once again.

 

Brian Carriveau is the author of the book "It's Just a Game: Big League Drama in Small Town America," and editor at Cheesehead TV and its "Pro Football Draft Preview." To contact Brian, email [email protected].

NFL Categories: 
0 points
 

Comments (5)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Lphill's picture

December 13, 2014 at 06:17 pm

close game? so that would mean the Bills are ranked as high as the Packers, sorry yes they are a good young defense just like Miami, Minny, etc..... Packers O line is very underrrated , maybe the Pack wont put up 50 but should score enough to pull away. I will take 24 t o14 thats close enough.

0 points
0
0
Thegreatreynoldo's picture

December 14, 2014 at 01:09 am

A) GB has a dominant pass protecting O-line. The run blocking has improved to probably somewhat above average.

B) GB will probably miss a beat if Starks splits snaps with Lacy evenly, especially against a good pass rushing team like Buffalo. Lacy provides much better pass protection, and also has better hands, than Starks.

0 points
0
0
Mario Willis's picture

December 14, 2014 at 08:05 am

The Bills Secondary held Manning they concern me.

I think Shields will have a big game against the ROOKIE.

Special Teams WOES look to continue.

It will be a interesting game and will tell us a lot about what we are going on OFFENSE. On the road see if RODGERS snap count has an effect on the BILLS rush as it does at home. #GoPackGo

0 points
0
0
NickPerry's picture

December 14, 2014 at 09:09 am

Packers need to and will shut the media up, at least till week 17 that they can't beat these physical defensive teams away from Lambeau. GO PACK!

0 points
0
0
LASVEGAS-TOM's picture

December 14, 2014 at 01:43 pm

It amazes me that you cannot win betting GB -2 against Buffalo.

0 points
0
0