GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – On a gray but rather balmy 42 degree day for mid-December, visitors from Florida came to Lambeau Field and lit up the Green Bay Packers secondary like holiday decorations as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers routed the Pack 34-20 putting a near crippling dent in their playoff aspirations. Baker Mayfield played pitch and catch against a sieve-like zone defense to the tune of 381 yards and four touchdowns as Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry’s unit gave up points on 6 of 8 possessions until a merciful kneel down from running back Rachaad White who very easily could have scored one more touchdown in the final minute.
The Packers even had five sacks in the game, the first from Kenny Clark forced a field goal in the red zone. Kingsley Enegbare’s hat trick gave the offense a second chance to score from the four yard line. After Jordan Love badly missed Jayden Reed in the end zone on a 4th and 2 call from the four, Enegbare knocked the ball out of Mayfield’s hand and recovered two plays later. After losing a yard, Jordan Love dropped a short screen to tight end Tucker Kraft. Rasheed Walker got just enough of Devin White and Kraft hurdled defensive back Dee Delaney getting blocked by Aaron Jones at the goal line to give Green Bay it’s only lead of the day at 7-3. Jones, playing his first game in over a month, ripped off a 20 yard run on the ill-fated opening series and finished with 53 yards on 13 carries for the day as the offense played without A.J. Dillon, deactivated over his broken right thumb.
The lead was short lived as Mayfield connected with Mike Evans for 14 and Chris Godwin for 25 on the next series. Evans then got inside of Eric Stokes, playing corner for the first time in 13 months for a 19 yard touchdown with 12:21 left in the second quarter. Stokes was activated to the roster from injured reserve on Saturday and was pressed into the starting lineup as Jaire Alexander missed a sixth straight game with a shoulder injury, couple that with a bad back earlier in the year and Alexander has appeared in only five of the team’s 13 games.
Another big play from Kraft covering 36 yards up the sideline but the drive stalled and Anders Carlson hit from 36 yards out to tie the game at 10.
Clark got a piece of Mayfield’s arm on the next series which forced an incompletion and the only punt of the day for Tampa. The Packers gave it right back, punting from midfield and Tampa covered 61 yards in 9 plays running their two minute offense to tack on three more, a 46 yard Chase McLaughlin field goal with :10 left in the half. Lukas Van Ness sacked Mayfield back to the 42 and a holding penalty brought on a 2nd and 29 from the Tampa 48 but the quarterback found Godwin for 24 yards to get them in range.
To open the third quarter, the Packers went three and out while Tampa converted two third downs to set up White’s 26 yard catch and run touchdown. The running back found a hole over the middle in the zone coverage and after the catch, cut to his left past Jonathan Owens for the easy score and a 20-10 lead.
Two hard running grabs by Dontayvion Wicks netted 22 and 21 yards where on third and 14 from the Tampa 17, Love was flushed to his right but sailed a pass toward Jayden Reed in the end zone. He kept his body in front of Zyon McCollum, made the catch and tapped both feet in bounds for a pretty play pulling the Packers back within 20-17.
Time for a stop? Not on this day. Mayfield drove the Bucs 75 yards in 9 plays, hitting Godwin for 21, tight end Cade Otten for 22 before a little flip to the right flat to back up tight end Ko Kieft from the 2 yard line. Kieft beat Quay Walker to the pylon for the score that built the lead back to 10.
Two more grabs from Wicks, who finished the day with a career high 6 receptions for 97 yards got the Packers into the red zone early in the fourth quarter but the offense stalled again Carlson came on from 33 to make it a one score game.
Mayfield and David Moore made the backbreaking play. He caught the short pass, broke a tackle and accelerated through for a 52 yard touchdown with 6:30 left. Safety Rudy Ford hustled and knocked the ball out of Moore’s hands just as his foot hit the goal line. The play was reviewed and stood as called.
One last drive died when Love got sacked on 4th down, losing 19 yards and the ball. The Bucs were able to easily run out the final 4:18.
Matt LaFleur’s team was looking good at 6-6, coming off big wins against Detroit and Kansas City, having a solid hold on the final Wild Card position in the NFC. Two weeks later, they turned New York’s Tommy DeVito into a rock star and made Mayfield look like the next coming of Joe Montana and now they’ve plummeted to 11th in the playoff pecking order.
The Packer defense gave up 452 yards on the day. Tampa converted 7 of 11 third downs. Mayfield finished with a perfect passer rating of 158.3 going 22 for 28 for those 381 yards and four scores. He was sacked five times in all, the Packer pass rush probably needed 15.
The drum beat over Barry is getting unbearably loud. They’ve given up 200 plus yards rushing four times this year and now it was a complete break down at the back end. Deploying primarily zone coverages, possibly to protect his young corner Valentine on one side and a still very rusty Stokes on the other, communication breakdowns led to ever increasing gaps in coverage and Mayfield found them almost every time. A year ago when big plays were being surrendered, defensive players went to Barry and pleaded with him to allow for more aggressive man coverage schemes and it appeared to help down the stretch in 2022. But that was with Alexander and Rasul Douglas playing corner. Sunday’s combination simply got “shredded” by Mayfield according to LaFleur. So the question was posed directly, is it time to consider a change in defensive direction?
He’s not going to like what he sees on that video.
Because stops were near impossible to come by, the offense needed touchdowns to keep but they were just two for 5 in red zone opportunities, giving it up once on downs and settling for two field goals. Love finished 29 of 39 for 284 yards and two scores, getting sacked twice, good for a rating of 111.5
His top targets were the rookies. Reed finished with 6 catches for 52 yards and a score but he left with a toe injury, one catch shy of tying Sterling Sharpe’s rookie reception record of 55. Wicks showed some toughness but battling for yards after the catch for his best day. After opening with some solid runs using Jones, LaFleur all but gave up on the ground after intermission, calling rushes six times in the second half and just 17 (for 60 yards) on the day.
Tampa Bay leaves town with a third straight win, a 7-7 record and still the tiebreaking edge in the NFC South over the likewise 7-7 New Orleans Saints who moved into the number 7 slot previously held by the Packers.
At 6-8 with a Christmas Eve trip to 2-12 Carolina, a New Year’s Eve date at 7-7 Minnesota and a home finale against the 5-9 Chicago Bears, it’s still possible for the Packers to fight their way back into the mix.
Love said afterwards let’s play it out.
Opportunity has already been squandered twice. Unless the latest ghastly leak in the Packer defense gets plugged in a hurry, they’ll have exhausted the last hope for the post-season.
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