Green Bay Packers: Reflective look at Sunday’s loss

Aaron Rodgers. Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports photograph

Rodgers: Receiver Connection

From the time the Packers walked out of the tunnel together in Buffalo, Rodgers was out of sync with his receiving corps.

There was a disconnect from the first throw and it never remedied itself, through four quarters of mediocre play. We saw consistent misses on the back shoulder fade that we have come to count on religiously from Rodgers and specifically Nelson/Cobb.

We saw clear overthrows, oversights and underachievement.

The Bills have a very capable defense, at every level. The front four was able to supply enough pressure on Rodgers to clear him from the pocket on several key plays; whereas those extensions usually end in long gains or touchdowns, on Sunday they were all duds.

The offensive line did everything in their power to hold the line – in fact, under normal conditions, Rodgers would have had more than ample time to find receivers wide open down field.

However, the Bills secondary was playing a particularly physical brand of bump and run coverage, knocking receivers off of their routes early and often. Rodgers’ scrambling often ended in misfire because receivers were unable to find open lanes or break from coverage.

Even the great Jordy Nelson seemed to be off target with Rodgers all afternoon [excluding the case of the drops, to be examined later].

Nelson was ineffective at sitting down in the open lanes, getting the first step off the line of scrimmage or gaining enough down the field separation for the big gains for which he is famous.

Though Rodgers’ uncharacteristic accuracy issues were on full display, it was the lack of connection and productivity from his receivers that wrote the other half of the story Sunday.