By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Buffalo Bills will face another NFC North opponent on Sunday as they’ll head to the Green Bay Packers.
Buffalo is a week removed from beating the Minnesota Vikings, but will the Pack be too much to handle?
With that, here are five things to know about Sunday’s opponent, the Packers:
Can Clay tackle?
Linebacker Clay Matthews is one of the players in the NFL who probably knows exactly how to sack a quarterback. In 130 career games, he has 80 career sacks. However, he should have 83.
The NFL instituted new rules on roughing the passer in 2018 and nobody has been harmed more by the rule than Matthews. In every single game so far this season, Matthews has been flagged for hits on the quarterback that have appeared to be… pretty clean. If he hits Josh Allen and a flag is thrown on Sunday, Lambeau Field might actually explode. Here’s how his most recent one looked against the Washington Redskins:
Rodgers not 100 percent
He might be the best quarterback in the NFL, but he’s not the healthiest. Aaron Rodgers has showed signs of injuries in both legs early in the season. On a bum knee he led a comeback against the Chicago Bears in Week 1, but suffered the knee injury in that game. That one has bothered him since and he’s also suffered a hamstring injury in his other leg, which he says is doing much better than the knee.
Regardless, it’s clear he doesn’t have his full mobility at the current time.
The Packers had a 100-yard rushing game last week against the Redskins, but they’ve also had a running back-by-committee approach behind Rodgers in recent years. This year features Jamaal Williams, Ty Montgomery and Aaron Jones, who just returned from injury and averaged seven yards-per-carry last week.
Montgomery is the most interesting of the bunch, for no reason other than the fact that he’s a running back and wide receiver, so you’ll see a No. 88 in the backfield at times.
Wilkerson out
Muhammad Wilkerson was the Packers’ marquee free agent signing this offseason to help Green Bay along the defensive line. He should be familiar to Bills fans as he spent the first seven years of his career with the New York Jets. In his 14 games against the Bills, he’s had 6.5 sacks.
He’ll have none on Sunday as the Packers unfortunately lost the dominate force, who has two career seasons with double-digit sack totals (2013, 2015), for the season with an ankle injury he suffered last week.
Buffalo’s defensive line was all over Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins on Sunday. Now they could be all over Rodgers. He was sacked four times last week with his lack of mobility. He also hasn’t had a great offensive line in front of him, when they’re tested. Green Bay’s offensive line might also struggle as tackle Bryan Bulaga and guard Justin McCray and both dinged up.
Minnesota struggles
In this short season, the two teams have a comparable game and it’s very much in favor of the Bills. Both the Bills and Packers have played the Minnesota Vikings. Buffalo went into U.S. Bank Stadium and thrashed the Vikes, 27-6, on the road. A week prior, the Packers hosted the Vikings and couldn’t beat them. Instead, the two teams tied and really, Minnesota should have won if it wasn’t for poor place kicking in the game.
Historic scenes
Plenty of history on Sunday will be found on the grounds of the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. The frozen tundra that is Lambeau likely won’t be frozen this early in the season, but the stadium which opened in 1957 is a football shrine right down to its grass field surface. Per usual at Lambeau, be prepared to see the crowd littered with cheesehead hats as well.
Familiar face
The Packers have had a knack for being great on offense in recent memory. That’s likely because of Rodgers. But, he can’t play defense. So the Pack turned things over to a new person this offseason. He’s known for his ability to turn around defensive units. That man is former Buffalo defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. He spent the 2013 NFL season with the Bills as their defensive coordinator.
So far in 2018, Pettine has had mixed results, though. The Packers run defense isn’t great, allowing 124.3 yards per game (27th in NFL).