Packers defensive struggles continue as they lose comfortably to Buccaneers
The Green Bay Packers were a team to watch a matter of weeks ago, with consecutive wins over the LA Chargers, Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs seeing them leap into the Wildcard playoff spots. Back-to-back defeats to the New York Giants and now Tampa Bay Buccaneers have seen them fall into a cluster of teams chasing a postseason place.
Tampa Bay ran out comfortable 34-20 winners at Lambeau Field with the Packers defence struggling to stamp their authority on the game. Baker Mayfield finished the game completing 22 of his 28 passes for 381 yards and four touchdowns, giving him a perfect QBR.
All the questions this season have come around Jordan Love and leading the offense. It has turned out that the offense isn’t the problem and defensively the Packers are poor across the board.
These performances have led to defensive coordinator Joe Barry being under pressure from fans and Packers’ media. On the defensive side of the ball, Green Bay have plenty of first round picks, highly paid free agents and Pro Bowl or All-Pro talent. Barry has never had a statistically great career as a DC, with his best defence ranking 20th in the league in seven years in that role.
When looking at film, it is clear to see that the large amounts of zone coverage leave the Packers exposed and combine that with the players poor tackling it has been a recipe for disaster, leaving the offense in a hole. Tampa Bay finished with 452 total yards of offense, despite having the ball for just one less minute. Every time they took to the field they looked like scoring.
Love finished with 284 yards, two touchdowns and completed 29 of his 39 passing attempts. Dontayvion Wicks had a big 97-yard game, tight end Tucker Kraft caught one touchdown and went for 57 yards with Jayden Reed snagging the other, expertly making a catch in the corner of the endzone on his way to 57 receiving yards.
Kraft’s touchdown in the first quarter was a good start for the Packers looking to bounce back to winning ways. Once again, the defensive scheme was exploited early in the second quarter. Elite Mike Evans was left wide open as he strolled into the endzone for a reception and the Packers were down 13-10 at the half.
The third quarter started the same, with the Bucs extending their lead to 20-10 with Mayfield finding Rachaad White open for a 26-yard touchdown. Reed then clawed the Packers back in touching distance before Mayfield threw his third touchdown of the day with a two-yard pass to Ko Kieft.
This was too big a mountain to climb for the Packers with them only managing to add a field goal in the fourth. Mayfield then threw a 52-yard touchdown to David Moore, with him managing to evade at least three defenders somehow on his way to the endzone.
Even plays that didn’t result in scores had huge consequences for the Packers. The third down defence is not very good at all, with players seeming to play way off the line of scrimmage and allow receivers to stroll into a first down before a defender is in the vicinity.
The playcalling from Barry is poor but it is not just him on this. The players missing tackles and losing their 1-v-1 battles is also something that needs improving and hopefully, Jaire Alexander can return soon to aid the secondary having missed the previous six games. The pass rush on the other hand actually played quite well, combining for five sacks and a fumble recovery.
Green Bay head to Carolina to face the Panthers next week and off the back of their second win of the season and Packers defensive struggles, they will fancy their chances. The season rounds off with two NFC North matchups against the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears.
Now at 6-8, they are only one game out of the Wildcard spots in the NFC, but the defence must improve if they want to be competing in the postseason. There are four teams in the NFC with a 7-7 record, three with six wins and now a couple teams on five wins.
Heading into the final three weeks of the season there is still so much to play for across the NFL. Stay tuned for more analysis as the regular season winds down.
