Mario Williams stripped the ball from Aaron Rodgers' hands, giving the Buffalo Bills a game-sealing safety in Sunday's 21-13 upset victory over the Green Bay Packers. Our takeaways:
- The Bills entered the game as the NFL's No. 1 pass defense in Football Outsiders' metrics. They are particularly impressive at Ralph Wilson Stadium, where they fly to the ball in a frenzy. Led by a pair ofinterceptions from Redskins castoff Bacarri Rambo, Jim Schwartz's troops harassed Rodgers into the worst completion rate (40.5), passer rating (34.3) and yards per attempt (4.4) of any game he has finished in his magnificent 10-year career. The victory keeps Buffalo in the playoff hunt, with road games at Oaklandand New England in the final two weeks.
- Rodgers and his receivers were out of sync from the opening whistle, leading to misfires and at least a half-dozen drops. On his first interception, Rodgers failed to notice a wide open Jordy Nelson on a play with long touchdown potential. Nelson then dropped a perfect pass late in the game that likely would have resulted in a 94-yard touchdown. The loss has a massive impact on the NFC race, perhaps robbing Green Bay of the game's best home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
- Sunday's game shined a light on two weaknesses for the Packers: special teams play and physical opponents. They had their sixth kick of their season blocked and allowed a 75-yard punt-return touchdown to Marcus Thigpen. Three of the Packers' losses have come against the Seahawks, Lions and Bills, three teams with physical ground attacks and dominant defenses. That has to be a concern for January.
- If the Bills' defense was thoroughly impressive, the opposite can be said about Kyle Orton's offense. The Packers' pass rush got heat on him throughout the game, and the only big play was a 40-yard completion to running back Bryce Brown, taking advantage of blown coverage. Orton will have to raise his level of play if the Bills are going to pull off another upset versus the Patriots in the season finale.
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