Green Bay Packers: 8 Quick Observations from Brutal Loss

After an ugly loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, here are eight quick observations from the Green Bay Packers’ performance.

After cruising through the first four games of the season relatively easily, the Green Bay Packers hit a wall in Tampa Bay as they were blown out 38-10. After the Packers jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead, an Aaron Rodgers’ pick-six turned the tide of the game, and the Bucs would go on to score 38 unanswered points.

After a loss like this, all Green Bay can do is try to learn from it, burn the tape, and move on to Houston. But before they do, I have eight quick observations from this ugly performance.

Green Bay Packers OL

The Green Bay Packers’ offensive line entered Sunday’s playing as one of the league’s best. In fact, according to Pro Football Focus, prior to their game against Tampa Bay, they had allowed the fewest pressures in the NFL with just 18. However, despite their recent success, the Bucs’ defensive front dominated this matchup.

Aaron Rodgers was under constant pressure, and when it was all said and done, Tampa Bay had recorded five sacks and an incredible 13 quarterback hits. Although a lot went wrong for this Green Bay Packers’ offense, it all started with the offensive line play.

Aaron Rodgers, whoa

After being in the MVP conversation for the first month of the season, Rodgers took a monstrous step back on Sunday. Yes, he threw a pick-six, but at some point, that’s just going to happen. And even the second interception was the combination of a good defensive play and a lucky bounce. Neither is worth nitpicking, but Rodgers’ play after that deteriorated quickly.

The following possession, Rodgers would miss a wide open, and I do mean a wide open Marcedes Lewis down the middle of the field. You could tell he was uncomfortable from the pressure, and while perhaps his receives weren’t getting open very easily, we saw Rodgers revert back to holding the ball instead of getting it out on time as he had done over the first four games.

Rodgers finished Sunday’s game, completing 16 of 35 passes for 160 yards and a quarterback rating of 35.4.

Green Bay Packers pass rush

A major key for this Green Bay Packers defense was putting pressure on Tom Brady. When Brady has a clean pocket this year, his passer rating is 109.8; however, when under duress, it drops to just 47.7. Last year, the Packers were one of the best in the NFL at getting after the quarterback, but this year not so much, and that was on full display on Sunday.

For most of the game, Brady had all the time in the world as Green Bay was unable to record a sack, and they only hit Brady four times. While, yes, we can critique Mike Pettine’s defensive philosophy and his willingness to send 3-man rushes, but also, at some point, your players have to win their one-on-one matchups, and that isn’t happening.

Penalties, Penalties, Penalties

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered Week 6 as the most penalized team in the NFL, and they had the second most penalty yards in the NFL as well. However, it was the Green Bay Packers who were the sloppy, self-destructing team on Sunday. The Bucs weren’t called for a single penalty while the Packers were called for six that totaled 76 yards.

When the Packers lose under Matt LaFleur

Matt LaFleur is off to a red-hot start as Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers. They, of course, went 13-3 in 2019, made it to the NFC Championship Game, and they were undefeated coming into Sunday’s game with Tampa. Even this loss marks just the fifth career loss for LaFleur. But goodness, when the Packers lose under LaFleur, they get blown out.

The only loss Green Bay has by less than 10 points was to Philadelphia last year, but the other four losses range anywhere from 15 to 29 points, and truthfully, they never felt that close. Why this happens, I do not know, but it’s becoming a trend.

Krys Barnes

On a positive note, which was hard to find, it looks like the Green Bay Packers have their linebacker of the future in Krys Barnes. He recorded 10 tackles on Sunday, but the way he flies around the field is very refreshing. Not to mention that he’s a reliable tackler, aggressive against the run, and solid in coverage. As an undrafted rookie, the Green Bay Packers found another diamond in the rough this offseason.

Mike Pettine

Under Mike Pettine, the Green Bay Packers ranked 29th in defense by DVOA – which takes into account the opponent that they’re up against – they ranked 15th in 2019, and they currently rank 30th. Now, for this team to be a Super Bowl contender, do they need the defense to be a top-5 unit? Not at all, but they have to be better than this.

This is a very talented side of the ball led by The Smiths, Kenny Clark, Jaire Alexander, Darnell Savage, Adrian Amos, and others, yet they are really struggling this season. Opposing teams are taking advantage of Pettine’s soft zone philosophy, and unlike last year, the Packers aren’t getting after the quarterback, they aren’t forcing turnovers, and they haven’t been getting stops in the red zone.

At this point, something has to change, Pettine can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Green Bay Packers missed Tyler Ervin

A big key to Green Bay’s success on offense this season has been the pre-snap motion that they use, which makes it more difficult for defenses to diagnose what’s going on, but also the fact that they’ll give the ball to the man in motion. Yet on Sunday, without Tyler Ervin, while we did continue to see LaFleur use motion, the Packers never gave it to the motion man.

This would have been an ideal role for Aaron Jones or even Marquez Valdes-Scantling on occasion with his speed, but instead, the Packers basically abandoned that aspect of their offense. With there being a threat of the man in motion getting the ball, it keeps defenses honest and forces them to cover horizontally; this in turn, also helps the run game between the tackles. In fact, Jamaal Wiliams’ big run in the first half is a perfect example of this:

Ervin has been a very nice addition to this offense, but in no way should his absence affect the running game this much. Now, having said all of that, we have to tip our hats to this Bucs’ defense, but the Packers didn’t do themselves any favors either.