Packers’ winners and losers from Week 3 victory over Buccaneers

The Green Bay Packers left Tampa Bay with a narrow victory over the Buccaneers, holding on for a 14-12 win.

It was a complete team effort with all three phases doing their part to help the team win. That’s not a statement that could be made in the past, but it’s something that will need to come to fruition more often if the Packers want to continue winning.

With the offense less dynamic than in the past, the defense and special teams must continue to step up. Positive signs point toward that continuing and even improving as the season wears on. Let’s now check out some winners and losers from the Packers’ perspective.

Here are the winners and losers from the Green Bay Packers’ narrow Week 3 road victory over the vaunted Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Winner: Romeo Doubs

With Sammy Watkins and Christian Watson sidelined with injuries, Doubs knew he’d have to step up. And that’s precisely what he did. He showed off great wiggle with the ball in his hands and was able to make just enough happen against an aggressive and stout Buccaneers’ defense. He finished the day with eight receptions for 73 yards and one touchdown, leading the team in all categories.

Loser: Situational football

Green Bay started the game hot on third downs and converted their first five attempts. Unfortunately, they went ice cold after that and only converted one of their final 10. They also coughed up the rock at the one-yard-line and took away a scoring opportunity from themself.

Winner: Keisean Nixon and Rudy Ford

We saw plenty of punter Pat O’Donnell which meant plenty of opportunities for the punt team to make a mistake. Fortunately, the trio of O’Donnell punting and Nixon and Ford playing the gunner positions on the outside is a great combination. Each player made fantastic plays in the punt game and appear to be a legit duo.

Winner: Special teams

Speaking of special teams, the Packers’ third unit actually played very well against Tampa Bay. Their punt coverage unit was active and prevented the Bucs from getting any huge returns, even shutting them down completely several times. There was a major miscue where the refs called the Packers for running into the punter, removing a huge return from Amari Rodgers. Green Bay was then called for a block in the back on the re-do, ultimately, costing them about 40 yards of field position. However, the running into the punter call was incorrect as a Packers player was blocked and thrown into the punter, and the block in the back was iffy.

Loser: Ball security

The Packers pride themselves on their ability to protect the rock. Aaron Rodgers is a historically great quarterback in this department and the rest of the team follows suit. However, they’ve had at least one turnover in every game this season, including two more on Sunday. An Aaron Jones’ fumble at the goalline took away their last good scoring opportunity and removed points from the board. Rodgers also threw another interception.

Winner: David Bakhtiari

After an agonizing rehab process that has taken way longer than Bakhtiari ever hoped, he returned to the field on Sunday. He alternated series with Yosh Nijman as a way for the Packers to slowly reinsert him back into the lineup and it didn’t appear he had any setbacks (he played into the fourth quarter). We’ll see how he responds this week, but it was nice to have him back out there.

Winner: Kenny Clark

Clark has taken his game to the next level. He’s off to a fantastic start this season and is dominating the running and passing games. Clark single-handily destroyed several Bucs’ plays by generating immediate penetration up the middle. He finished the game with two tackles for loss and two sacks.