Football unfortunately for the Green Bay Packers, is a four quarter game. For the first quarter Sunday in a critical NFC matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium, the Packers put together a pair of solid drives, covering 54 yards for a Mason Crosby 39 yard field goal and a 10 play, 90 yard march capped by a one yard touchdown run from Aaron Jones. A 10-0 lead that looked very much like the first four games. 144 total yards, 9 first downs and better than 12 minutes in time of possession.
Ah, the final three quarters was completely different. The Packers managed all of 57 yards, with 4 four first downs and they punted 7 times, as many as J.K. Scott had in the first month as the Buccaneers humbled the Packers to the tune of 38-10, dropping them a half game behind the Chicago Bears in the NFC North.
The ballyhooed quarterback matchup of Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady produced a dismal effort from Rodgers and a pedestrian game from Brady. The difference was in the defense. Brady’s unit helped flip the game in the second quarter while Green Bay’s defense was never able to slow down the avalanche.
Leading by 10 with a second straight stop from the defense, Rodgers tried to hit Davante Adams on a sideline route but Jamel Dean stepped in front the pass and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown. It was Rodgers’ first interception of the year and only the third pick six of his career.
Three snaps later, Rodgers tried to fit the ball to Adams in a tight window over the middle. The ball got deflected and Mike Edwards gathered it in, returning it 37 yards to the two.
Ronald Jones burst over on the next play and just like that, the Bucs moved in front 14-10.
Tampa’s defense came to life from there, forcing two straight three and outs while Brady led the Buccaneer offense on scoring drives of 65 and 62 yards. Touchdown passes to Tyler Johnson who beat Josh Jackson, subbing for the inactive Kevin King covered 7 yards for a 21-10 lead. Then Rob Gronkowski caught a corner route over Adrian Amos from 12 yards out to make it 28-10 at the half.
Gronkowski’s 31 yard grab to open the third quarter led to Ryan Succop’s 50 yard field goal and the Bucs got another one yard touchdown run by Jones late in the third quarter to close out the scoring. The TD was set up by a 40 yard pass interference penalty on Jackson.
The Tampa defense was relentless, sacking Rodgers 4 times, hitting him on 13 more dropbacks. He would finish with the second worst passer rating of his career in a game he started and finished, just 35.4 on 16 completions in 35 attempts for 160 yards, no scores and the two, game changing interceptions. Inside linebackers Lamont David and Devin White chased down wide zone run plays all afternoon. Aaron Jones managed 15 yards on 10 carries. Jamaal Williams led the team with 34 yards on four carries including a 25 yard burst in the first quarter.
It was a humbling trip to Florida for Head Coach Matt LaFleur:
Both LaFleur and Rodgers felt the team came off the bye week and didn’t have the same level of enthusiasm or crispness at practice last week and it haunted them on game day. Working out in blustery, 40 degree weather before playing on a humid, 88 degree afternoon sapped the energy from the Packers. Rodgers sensed even with an early lead, the less than ideal preparation would catch up to them and it did when a couple of rare turnovers by the quarterback irretrievably swung the momentum pendulum:
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Brady on the other hand, was efficient without being spectacular, going 17 of 27 for 166 yards and 2 scores. But he was never sacked and his running game kept the offense moving. Jones finished with 113 yards on 23 carries (4.9 average) and Tampa put up 158 as a team. Gronkowski had his best game with five receptions for 78 yards and his first touchdown since 2018.
The only player made available to the media after the game was safety Adrian Amos. Even though the offensive turnovers turned a 10-0 lead into a 14-10 deficit, Amos said the Packer defense was never able to get back control and help the offense recover:
The Packers offensive line couldn’t handle the Bucs pressure and it got worse when David Bakhtiari went down on the first offensive play of the third quarter. He walked off on his own but didn’t return with what was described as a chest injury. LaFleur was hopeful he’ll be OK and it won’t be a long term loss.
The Packers had only 51 rostered players so only three were declared inactive, Kevin King with a quad injury, Tyler Ervin with a sore wrist and rookie quarterback Jordan Love.
They weren’t going to go undefeated this season but as has been the case in four of the five games a LaFleur coached Packer team has lost, it was another blowout which is cause for concern. Maybe the egos were inflated a bit at 4-0 with two weeks to savor the fast start but that vanished in three brutal quarters in Tampa.
It’s on to Houston to face an angry Texans team that thought they had won their second straight game only to fall to the still unbeaten Tennessee Titans 42-36 in overtime. Time to see how this 2020 Packer team responds to a big dose of adversity thrown their way.
