Green Bay Packers at Bucs: Instant Takeaways from Ugly Loss

The Green Bay Packers suffered a brutal loss in Tampa Bay. Here are your instant takeaways from today’s performance.

Yikes! Well, the good news is that it’s over. After a fast start, the Green Bay Packers had as bad of a second-quarter as you’ll see, and from that point on, Tampa Bay rolled to an easy win. As always, here are my instant takeaways from what ended up being an ugly loss.

• As Will Ferrell said in his role as Ron Burgundy in the movie Anchorman, “boy, that escalated quickly.”
• Perhaps the biggest key to the game for the Green Bay Packers’ defense was putting pressure on Tom Brady, and they weren’t able to do that at all. The Smiths, Kenny Clark, and everyone else was contained.
• Speaking of pressure, let’s get rid of those 3-man rushes on third downs and in the red zone.
• Aaron Rodgers entered this game with no interceptions this season and not even one turnover worthy throw, according to Pro Football Focus. However, we saw the unthinkable as he threw just his third career pick-six and two interceptions.
• Between the interceptions and the pressure from the Bucs’ defense, Rodgers looked rattled for much of the game.
• On the television broadcast, we can’t see what’s happening downfield, but Rodgers certainly held the ball much longer than what he has all season.
• As good as the Green Bay Packers’ OL has been all year, they really struggled today.
• We were all excited to see Equanimeous St. Brown back in action, however, it was an anticlimactic performance. He and Rodgers weren’t on the same page on his first target and he dropped the second.
• On a positive note, the work Jamaal Williams put in this offseason is paying off. His burst with the ball in his hands is VERY real.
• The Green Bay Packers haven’t lost much on Matt LaFleur, just five times to be exact, but when they do lose, it is ugly.
• With Kevin King held out, Josh Jackson got the start in his place and he made several nice tackles, both at the line of scrimmage and in space. But he still had issues in coverage.
• Goodness, Tampa Bay’s linebacker duo of Devin White, and Lavonte David were a problem.
• It looks like the Green Bay Packers have found their ILB1 of the future and it is in UDFA Krys Barnes.
• We hadn’t seen a whole lot of J.K. Scott this season, but we saw too much of him in Tampa Bay.
• I know it was garbage time, but more A.J. Dillon, please.
• This Packer defense turned back the clock, but not in a good way, as it looked like they were up against prime Rob Gronkowski today.
• Green Bay’s defense has taken their lumps this season and against Tampa Bay, they gave up over five yards per play. Something has to change moving forward.
• Games are won and lost in the trenches, and the Packers were dominated there on both sides of the ball.
• Today’s game was already rough enough, let’s hope David Bakhtiari is alright. He left in the third quarter with a chest injury.
• Tampa came into this game as the most penalized team in the league, yet they played a clean game and it was Green Bay who got in their own way.
• Yes, this was a brutal loss, but it shouldn’t change your opinion of this team. They are still a Super Bowl contender.