ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Observed and heard in the locker room after the Green Bay Packers' 21-13 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium:
Bad ending: As poorly as the Packers played, they still had a chance for a go-ahead touchdown drive with 1:58 remaining. But on the first play of the drive, which began at the 10-yard line, Mario Williams beat backup right tackle JC Tretter and came up with a strip-sack of quarterback Aaron Rodgers for a safety. "Obviously it's a [expletive] way to end the game," right guard T.J. Lang said. "But that’s kind of how it went on offense." There was confusion over the play because running back Eddie Lacy picked up the ball and appeared to possibly get out of the end zone. But the play was blown dead because a fumble in the last two minutes cannot be advanced by anyone other than the fumbler. "There was the craziness of that rule -- it can't be advanced there by your own team, only by the fumbler after two minutes," Rodgers said. "Disappointing."
Filling in: When Bryan Bulaga left the game in the fourth quarter because of a concussion, it forced Tretter to play right tackle for the first time ever. The second-year pro had previously played in mop-up duty but only at left guard and left tackle. The Packers used more double-tight end sets to try to help Tretter, but he was one-on-one with Williams on the final play. "I tried to run him high, [but] he got an arm in between and just knocked it out," Tretter said.
Just relax: If there were two themes that came out of the Packers' locker room, they were: Don't panic, and everything is still in front of them. Or so they say. "We win out, we still win the [NFC] North," Rodgers said. "This is a tough team, good football team, and we just didn't play very well on offense."
