Good evening, everyone. On Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. The Packers had a goal to get their second win of the season. To reach that goal, they had to overcome a Bucs team that, while wounded, can be tough to beat. Not only that, but the Packers have only won at Raymond James Stadium twice before (2003 and 2014). It was extremely ugly, but the Packers were able to pull it off. Here’s what exactly happened in this game.
The Packers defense was on the field first to start this game. The drive did not start great as the Bucs moved the ball down the field. They even converted a fourth and one on the drive. However, the defense forced the Bucs to only a field goal after Kenny Clark sacked Tom Brady on third and 5 from the 21. The kick by Ryan Succop was good from 45 yards away, giving the Bucs a 3-0 lead with 9:05 left in the first quarter. The worst thing that happened for Green Bay on this first defensive possession was Jaire Alexander exiting the game with a groin issue. Hopefully he recovers relatively soon. After the kickoff resulted in a touchback, the Packers offense took over. Included in that offense was David Bakhtiari, who came back at left tackle after a long knee rehab that lasted for almost two whole years. It was great seeing him out there again (albeit in a rotation with Yosh Nijman). Aaron Jones kicked off the drive by getting 21 yards in the first three plays. Then, on second and 2 from the Green Bay 46 yard line, Aaron Rodgers connected with rookie WR Romeo Doubs for a 21-yard pass play that got the Packers into scoring range. 3 plays later, Rodgers connected with Randall Cobb, who got some yards after the catch with some blocking help to get them to the Tampa Bay 12 yard line. After a two-yard loss by Jones, Romeo Doubs caught the next two passes. On 2nd and 12, Doubs gained 9 yards to get Green Bay to a manageable 3rd and 3. On that third down, he caught the pass and fought his way into the end zone for his first touchdown of his professional career. The extra point by Mason Crosby was good, giving Green Bay a 7-3 lead with 3:01 left in the quarter. The ensuing kickoff was nearly out of bounds, but it was caught by the Bucs return man and returned to the TB 23. A holding penalty on the first play doomed the Bucs, as they went three and out and punted back to Green Bay. Eric Stokes made the stop on third and 12. The punt was fair caught by Amari Rodgers at the Green Bay 29. From there, the Packers offense went down the field on another time-consuming possession. On third and 8 from the 31 (after two run plays didn’t do much), Aaron Rodgers evaded the rush and connected with Robert Tonyan for a 9-yard gain and a first down. 2 plays later, AJ Dillon ran for three tough yards and another first down that got Green Bay into Bucs territory. 3 plays later, Allen Lazard caught a pass that converted a third and 7. Three plays after that, Rodgers connected with TE Tyler Davis on a short play-action pass that Davis nearly took to the end zone. On first and goal from the 6, Allen Lazard caught Rodgers’ second touchdown pass of the day. With that TD and the extra point, the Packers took a 14-3 lead with 8:44 left in the second quarter.
The Packers defense then went out and forced a three and out (plus a false start penalty). On third and 12, Rashan Gary sacked Tom Brady for a loss of 6 yards. Amari Rodgers returned the ensuing punt only 7 yards to the Green Bay 38. The Packers offense then took over and went on another potential scoring drive. On the first play, Rodgers faked a handoff and then threw a dart to Randall Cobb, who took the pass all the way to the Bucs 22 yard line. Two AJ Dillon runs of 6 and 7 yards gave the Packers a first and goal at the 9 yard line. 3 plays later, disaster struck when Aaron Jones caught the short pass and fumbled just before he got into the end zone. The ball was recovered by Tampa Bay’s Logan Ryan in the end zone for a touchback. Thankfully, the Packers defense forced the Bucs to fumble the ball themselves. On second and 10 from the Green Bay 40, Tom Brady completed a pass to Breshad Perriman. Perriman then lost the ball thanks to a punch out by Quay Walker. The fumble was recovered by Darnell Savage, ending a potential scoring drive for the Bucs. The Packers, thanks to using two timeouts earlier, were not able to do much with the opportunity and punted back to the Bucs. After the punt, Brady kneeled down for halftime.
With the Packers receiving the second half kickoff, the offense had a chance to go down the field and score some points. Instead, they went three and out after a weird penalty. Aaron Rodgers connected with Romeo Doubs on what would have been a first down if not for an illegal block penalty on Allen Lazard. After that penalty, the offense stalled out. It looked like Dillon nearly caught the pass on third down. The ball went through his hands and onto the ground. After the punt return, the Bucs took over at their own 21 yard line. During this drive, Darnell Savage was called for a terrible pass interference penalty. 2 plays after that penalty, Keisean Nixon (nephew of famous rapper Snoop Dogg) forced a fumble, which was recovered by Jarran Reed at midfield. The Packers then did absolutely nothing with the opportunity and punted the ball back to the Bucs. Thankfully, Nixon caught the punt and pinned them at the 2 yard line. Tom Brady then threw three straight incomplete passes and the Bucs punted it away. I felt bad for Amari Rodgers on the ensuing two punt tries. The first time, Rodgers returned the punt for 27 yards to the TB 32. The return was then nullified by a baloney running into the punter penalty called against Tipa Galeai, who was pretty much blocked into the punter. The second time, Rodgers returned the punt to midfield. The second penalty was an illegal block on Rudy Ford. Thanks to that ridiculous series of events, the Packers started at their own 35 yard line. 3 plays into the drive, Aaron Rodgers threw a terrible pass that was intercepted by Logan Ryan. Thankfully, the defense responded by forcing the Bucs to settle for a field goal by Ryan Succop. The score after that kick was 14-6 Packers over Bucs with 6:22 left into the third quarter.
The Packers’ next drive ended up going nowhere after the first play, which was a pass completion to Romeo Doubs for 15 yards. On third and 7 from the Green Bay 43, Aaron Jones caught a pass and was stopped for no gain by Lavonte David. The punt by Pat O’Donnell (who punted great in this game; more on that later) was fair caught at the TB 11. The Packers defense forced a three and out, which was almost not that due to a scramble by Tom Brady. Luckily, the scramble was called back because of a holding penalty. The next pass than fell incomplete and the Bucs punted it away. From the 44 yard line, the Packers did not capitalize on the great field position. There was a maddening moment when the offense was on the field on fourth and 4, but they did nothing. Rodgers wanted to draw the defense offsides, but they didn’t flinch. As a result, the Packers took a delay of game penalty and then punted the ball away. The defense then responded with a three and out, concluding with a third down stop by Rasul Douglas. The punt was fair caught by Amari Rodgers at the Green Bay 20.
The next drive for the Packers did not go as planned, though there was a sigh of relief on one play. After a holding penalty nullified an AJ Dillon run, Aaron Rodgers caught the defense with too many men on the field. Randall Cobb was wide open for the pass, but Rodgers threw the ball too late and was picked off. Thank goodness for the penalty. After that, the Packers didn’t do anything of note again and punted the ball away. Pat O’Donnell punted it all the way to the Bucs 9 yard line. Yes, it was returned to the 25, but that was an impressive punt. The first play of the Bucs’ ensuing drive went for 25 yards with a pass completion from Brady to Jaelon Darden (who has also been doing the punt returns for Tampa Bay). The next play, which was a reverse, was read beautifully by Preston Smith. Smith was the one who forced the fumble that was luckily recovered by the Bucs. The next play resulted in a sack of Brady by Kenny Clark for a loss of 8 yards. The Bucs were unable to convert a third and 30 and punted it away. Amari Rodgers fair caught the ball at the 14, even though he had room to run with it. The Packers’ final drive of the game started out well, with them getting a couple of first downs (including a big throw by Rodgers and a sideline catch by Lazard) and making Tampa Bay use their timeouts. At the TB 42 yard line, center Josh Myers exited the game due to cramps, which meant that Jake Hanson was substituted in at center. On third and 10, Aaron Rodgers made an awful decision by holding on to the ball and getting sacked for a loss of 7 yards. Romeo Doubs was open on the play and would’ve gotten the first down had Rodgers got rid of the ball in rhythm. As a result of the sack, the Packers punted the ball back to Tampa Bay.
After the punt was fair caught by Darden at the 11, the Bucs took over with the goal of tying the game. It’s safe to say that I was extremely nervous during this drive, as well as in the whole second half. Little by little, Brady was picking apart the defense and leading the Bucs down the field. Leonard Fournette helped matters as well with his running. Late in the drive, Adrian Amos was called for defensive pass interference that gave the Bucs first and goal at the 3 yard line. 3 plays and 2 timeouts later, Brady connected with Russell Gage for a touchdown. Obviously, they had to go for the two-point conversion to tie the game. After a delay of game brought the Bucs back 5 yards, the defense was ready for one final stop. Gage was the intended target for the two-point pass. He was covered well by Darnell Savage I the play. De’Vondre Campbell made the play of the game by leaping up for the pass deflection. Luckily, Allen Lazard recovered the onside kick to seal the 14-12 win. With the win, the Packers improve their record to 2-1 on the season. They also got their third victory at Raymond James Stadium overall.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page. Click on the Watch on YouTube link.)
Offensively, it was basically a tale of two halves. The Packers played great in the first half, scoring on their first two drives and nearly scoring on a third. After the fumble by Aaron Jones near the end zone, the offense pretty much went stagnant the rest of the game. I do have to give credit to the Bucs defense for playing well, but it was still maddening to see the Packers go from 5 for 5 on third down to not converting 8 straight third downs. Aaron Rodgers did not play his best game on Sunday. He did make some good throws, especially the two touchdown passes and the big pass to Randall Cobb. Other than that, he made some bad decisions with the ball. There was the interception in which he threw an awful pass. There was also the sack in which he should’ve hit Romeo Doubs (who caught 8 passes for 73 yards and a touchdown) for a first down to try and ice the game. The duo of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon combined for only 85 yards this time around. Granted, part of the decrease in yardage was because of the Tampa Bay defense stopping some plays near the line of scrimmage. I do have to give major credit to David Bakhtiari for coming back to play on Sunday. He rotated with Yosh Nijman at the left tackle position, but it was great seeing him back out there. I hope that he can play more snaps next week at home. Allen Lazard caught only 4 passes for 45 yards, but he did score a touchdown and made some great blocks on other plays, including one on the 17-yard catch and run by Randall Cobb that set up Doubs’ touchdown. Speaking of Cobb, he showed flashes of his younger self, especially on that big catch and run that should have set up a third TD for Green Bay. I hope that the offense as a whole gets much better next week. The key from here on out is to avoid turnovers and not let one bad play mess up the whole game, which has been a problem earlier.
On defense, the Packers played their butts off. Even when Jaire Alexander exited the game early with a groin issue, the secondary played well. Keisean Nixon, in particular, played great in place of Jaire. He forced a fumble and played great coverage on a pass that was aimed towards the end zone. Rasul Douglas also played well on a few plays. One in particular was when he did not allow a catch by forcing the receiver out of bounds. There were a few times, however, that the receivers were open for easy catches. A couple of those catches went for 25+ yards. Meanwhile, the running game was held in check, with Leonard Fournette only rushing for 35 yards on the day. The pass rush sacked Tom Brady 3 times (2 by Kenny Clark, one by Rashan Gary), although there were plenty of times where the rushers were held and couldn’t get to him. Preston Smith did not get a sack, but he made a great play by reading the reverse play perfectly and forcing a fumble. Quay Walker also played well and forced a fumble of his own. De’Vondre Campbell saved the day for the Packers by leaping up to deflect the two-point conversion pass after the Bucs scored a touchdown. One thing that I do hope for is that Jaire’s groin issue is not too serious and he can come back to play sooner rather than later. I am confident that the defense will continue playing great with or without Jaire (as long as no more major players get hurt).
On Special Teams, the Packers played great. Yes, there were a couple of bad penalties that nullified two straight punt returns, but the rest of the game by the unit was great overall. Pat O’Donnell punted 5 balls inside the Bucs’ 20 yard line, which helped the defense a lot. Keisean Nixon even pinned the Bucs at their own 2 yard line on one of those punts. Amari Rodgers made good decisions with the ball, although he had room to run on his final fair catch. Mason Crosby made both extra points and kicked off no balls that went out of bounds (one of then was close though). The coverage unit did make sure that no long returns were allowed, which was good to see. I was glad that no kicks were blocked by Tampa Bay. I have a great feeling about Rich Bisaccia. His coaching is working so far for the Special Teams unit. All I’ll say is here is that I hope the Packers keep playing well in this aspect.
Overall, it was an extremely ugly win for the Packers. The defense and special teams played great, while the offense sputtered after the first 2 drives and the fumble. To go to Tampa and get a win in that stadium with the humidity is still great for the Packers. Thankfully, they’re at Lambeau Field for their next game against the New England Patriots. I’ll get into that game later. In the meantime, I hope you all have a great week. Go Pack Go!
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