Live Updates: Buffalo Bills vs. Green Bay Packers

Not surprisingly, Josh Allen and most of the Buffalo Bills' starters outplayed Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers' backups in Saturday's preseason finale.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will have Jordan Love at quarterback for Saturday’s preseason game while the Buffalo Bills will start MVP candidate Josh Allen. Follow along all day for updates.

Final Score

Bills 19, Packers 0

The preseason is over, with Green Bay going 0-3. With most of the starters kept in bubble wrap, the Packers scored 21 points in three quarters. Jordan Love put up seven points in about five quarters of action. The big victory: the medical report. With coach Matt LaFleur focusing on the backups, his team will enter the regular season mostly healthy.

Fourth Quarter

Bills 19, Packers 0 (6:31 remaining)

Mason Crosby just punted. That’s a first. His 41-yard punt had 4.03 seconds of hangtime. According to John Kuhn of the Packers TV Network, Crosby wanted to punt as a just-in-case for the regular season.

Bills 19, Packers 0 (12:30 remaining)

The Packers had perhaps the best red-zone offense in NFL history last season. They’re 0-for-3 today. Of course, this is completely irrelevant considering who’s playing for both teams. On this drive, Dexter Williams didn’t have a prayer on a fourth-and-1 toss. Williams has done well, otherwise, with five carries for 28 yards.

Third Quarter

Bills 19, Packers 0 (end of quarter)

Kurt Benkert is in at quarterback. Love finished 12-of-18 passing for 149 yards for the day. He played about four-and-a-half quarters in the preseason. His numbers: 24-of-35 passing for 271 yards, with one touchdown, one interception and an 89.1 passer rating.

Bills 19, Packers 0 (3:28 remaining)

Jake Fromm’s 13-yard touchdown put the Bills up by three touchdowns. Safety Innis Gaines, who had put himself in position to make the roster, whiffed on Fromm inside the 5. Fromm ran a 5.01 in the 40 at the 2020 Scouting Combine, so he's not exactly Josh Allen 2.0. While Buffalo went with Fromm at quarterback and a different group of skill players, its No. 1 offensive line stayed on the field to open the second half. Meanwhile, cornerback Rojesterman Farris, who was signed on Friday, and cornerback Stephen Denmark, who was signed on Wednesday, were getting snaps.

Bills 13, Packers 0

Jordan Love returned to start the second half. Playing behind a mish-mash of second- and third-team offensive linemen, he converted a third down with a completion to Malik Taylor but he was buried for a sack when they missed a blitz from the left and right tackle Ben Braden was beaten.

Halftime

Bills 13, Packers 0

In a backups-vs.-starters matchup, Green Bay was outgained only 213-197 but trailed by 13. Jordan Love played relatively well, going 10-of-16 for 132 yards. However, he couldn’t get the ball in the end zone after his first and third possessions got inside the 5. His second drive almost reached the red zone but Love threw a terrible interception.

“I thought there was a lot of good out there,” coach Matt LaFleur told the Packers TV Network’s John Kuhn at halftime. “I think he’s composed and we’re moving the football. He’s got to make better decisions when we get close to the red zone. We can’t just throw it up if nothing’s there and we’ve had two of those.”

Bills quarterback Josh Allen, a leading MVP candidate entering the season, was 20-of-26 passing for 194 yards and two touchdowns.

“I thought there was a lot of good things going on but the key is finishing,” LaFleur said of his offense. “Defenively, our guys have gotten into a bunch of third downs and we’ve got to finish on third downs so we can get the ball back.”

Second Quarter

Bills 13, Packers 0 (28 seconds remaining)

Mason Crosby missed a 28-yard field goal. Hunter Bradley’s snap was fine; Crosby just missed. Love graduated from the Aaron Rodgers School of Cadence, drawing the Bills offside twice. On the first, he took advantage of the free play for a 21-yard connection to Malik Taylor, who made a leaping catch against double coverage and got bounced out of bounds. Love had a 10-yard run, and Kylin Hill had a run for 7 and a catch for 7 to make it second-and-goal at the 3. But Hill was buried on second down for minus-2, center Jake Hanson didn’t snap the ball on third-and-goal from the 5 and Love was almost intercepted after the delay of game when Jerry Hughes blew inside of left tackle Yosh Nijman.

Bills 13, Packers 0 (2:19 remaining)

Buffalo’s star quarterback, Josh Allen, continued to have his way against Green Bay’s defensive backups. With defensive tackle Jack Heflin barreling down on him, Allen threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to running back Zack Moss for the score. The touchdown came against rookie safety Christian Uphoff, who missed a tackle a play earlier. Allen is 20-of-26 passing for 194 yards and two scores. He’s dropped back to pass 28 times vs. five runs.

Bills 7, Packers 0 (9:42 remaining)

It was the good and bad of Jordan Love on back-to-back plays, just like it has been all summer. On fourth-and-1, Love went through his progressions and hit tight end Dominique Dafney for a gain of 22. It was an excellent play to get to the Bills’ 21. On the next play, Love tried to boot to his right, stumbled and threw the ball deep to receiver Malik Taylor. It was a wing-and-a-prayer heave, and former Packers safety Micah Hyde grabbed the end zone interception. So, on two series against Buffalo’s front-line defense, Love has led the Packers to 128 yards but zero points.

Bills 7, Packers 0 (14:02 remaining)

With Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen staying in the game, Green Bay’s backups on defense forced a punt. Cornerback Isaac Yiadom, who gave up the opening touchdown, had excellent coverage on third-and-9. It’s great work for Green Bay’s secondary. Allen has dropped back to pass 17 times while handing off only once.

First Quarter

Bills 7, Packers 0 (42 seconds remaining)

The Packers, with only one locked-in starter playing on offense, drove the ball right down the field against Buffalo’s No. 1 defense but stalled at the 1. On third-and-goal from inside the 1, tight end Jace Sternberger failed to block Kimberly native A.J. Klein and AJ Dillon was stopped outside the 1. On fourth-and-goal, Jordan Love threw incomplete to Reggie Begelton against tight coverage by Cam Lewis.

Love was 3-of-4 for 46 yards on the drive, with a 29-yard completion to Begelton and a 13-yard catch by Malik Taylor. The pass to Taylor, against premier cornerback Tre’Deavious White, was especially impressive.

Green Bay’s offensive starters: left tackle Yosh Nijman, left guard Lucas Patrick, center Josh Myers, right guard Royce Newman and right tackle Ben Braden, tight ends Jace Sternberger and Bronson Kaufusi, receivers Malik Taylor and Reggie Begelton, running back AJ Dillon and Jordan Love at quarterback. Only Myers and Patrick are depth-chart starters, and Dillon was the only other key player on the field.

Bills 7, Packers 0 (8:56 remaining)

Buffalo’s star quarterback, Josh Allen, and the rest of the No. 1 offense picked apart for Green Bay's backups on defense the opening touchdown. On third-and-20, Allen had a month of Sundays before finding Gabrial Davis streaking away from Isaac Yiadom for a 31-yard touchdown. It was not a good drive by Yiadom, who is battling for a roster spot.

Green Bay’s defensive starters: Jack Heflin and TJ Slaton on the line, Jonathan Garvin and Chauncey Rivers at outside linebacker, De’Jon Harris and Isaiah McDuffie at inside linebacker, Isaac Yiadom and Kabion Ento at corner, Shemar Jean-Charles in the slot, and Henry Black and Innis Gaines at safety. Harris and McDuffie are the No. 3 tandem at linebacker.

Allen dropped back to throw the ball on all 12 plays of the drive. He was pressured only once – an impressive rush by Garvin and a sack by Rivers.

31 Players Inactive

Coach Matt LaFleur placed 31 players on his did-not-dress list, meaning 49 players will be available for the game.

By position, they are:

Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers.

Running back: Aaron Jones.

Receiver: Allen Lazard, Davante Adams, Randall Cobb, Equanimeous St. Brown (injury), Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Juwann Winfree (injury).

Tight end: Robert Tonyan, Marcedes Lewis.

Offensive line: David Bakhtiari (injured), Elgton Jenkins, Billy Turner, Dennis Kelly (injured).

Defensive line: Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry, Tyler Lancaster (injured), Kingsley Keke.

Outside linebacker: Za’Darius Smith (injured), Rashan Gary, Preston Smith.

Inside linebacker: Krys Barnes, De’Vondre Campbell, Ty Summers (injured).

Cornerback: Jaire Alexander, Kevin King, Eric Stokes (injured), Chandon Sullivan.

Safety: Darnell Savage, Adrian Amos, Vernon Scott (injured).

As LaFleur said earlier in the week, Love will be the starting quarterback and play at least the first half. During the Packers Radio Network pregame show, LaFleur said Love had a "good week" of practice after missing a week with an injured throwing shoulder and will play "about a half" against a Buffalo defense that will feature many of its starters.

1️⃣0️⃣ warming up! 🏈@jordan3love | #GBvsBUF pic.twitter.com/Y6nZoIXSLw

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) August 28, 2021

Of note, St. Brown (vs. Malik Taylor and Reggie Begelton) and Lancaster (vs. Jack Heflin) missed Thursday’s practice due to injuries and won’t play in this game.

NFL teams must cut their roster to 53 players by 3 p.m. Tuesday.

"There’s always guys in that last preseason game that end up making the team because of what they did in the last preseason game," general manager Brian Gutekunst said on Sunday. "I think this preseason, our young guys have had a ton of opportunity. They’ve gotten a ton of snaps, and this game in Buffalo next week is going to be very, very important and they’re going to get a lot of snaps. So, sometimes you never know where that’s going to come from. Maybe that’s on special teams, maybe that’s somewhere else, but there’s always guys in that last preseason game that make a name for themselves."