Green Bay travels to Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a Week 4 matchup.
Packers offense vs. Buccaneers defense
Can someone, anyone, stand in the way of a defender who wants to hit Jordan Love? Green Bay’s offense has been downright putrid since their hot start in Minnesota, and their offensive line has been one of the biggest reasons why.
There is no white knight coming to save this group. On defense, the Packers have Micah Parsons on their way back, which should make them better. There are rarely, if ever, good offensive linemen available at this point in the season.
The Packers would settle for below average at this point. According to Next Gen Stats, the Packers allowed 15 quick pressures to the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 24. That’s the second most in a game this season. The most, was the 17 they allowed against Minnesota in Week 1.
Love is under siege to the point where it is affecting his play. He’s missing throws when he has time, because he is anticipating getting hit.
Green Bay’s run game is doing nothing to take pressure off of their passing game as well. The Packers have their least amount of rushing yards through three games since 1933. They have been historically awful without Josh Jacobs in the backfield. Marshawn Lloyd, Chris Brooks and Kaleb Johnson all have done nothing to assert themselves as a leading man in the backfield. Too many yards are left on the field even when a play is blocked up appropriately.
When they are actually able to get the ball in the air, Christian Watson and Matthew Golden are off to excellent starts this season. Both players scored in Green Bay’s 35-14 loss to Atlanta.
Golden was the entire offense for a good portion of the game. The offense does have reasons for hope, but it’s hard to envision anything good happening if Love is going to get hit 10 or more times in every game.
The Packers did grab some reinforcements on their offensive line. They signed veteran guard Laken Tomlinson off the Cowboys’ practice squad. Will he be ready to start on Sunday? That remains to be seen, but the Packers do not have a lot of answers up front right now, and signing a 34-year-old who struggled last season off a practice squad reeks appropriately of the desperate situation this team is in.
They’ll face defensive-minded head coach Todd Bowles and his group this week. Bowles has seen the film, and he’s a smart guy. Expect pressure early and often from his defense.
Vita Vea is the anchor in the middle of the defense, and he is adept as both a run stuffer and a pass rusher.
In what has been an odd start to the season for Tampa’s defense, they rank 11th in the NFL in yards allowed, but 24th in points allowed.
Calijah Kancey plays up front as a former first round pick, and pass rusher Rueben Bain has had some nice moments in his rookie season.
They have some youth in the secondary with Benjamin Morrison playing one of their cornerback spots.
Their star on the back end is safety Antoine Winfield Jr. He is a draft classmate of Love’s and a popular alternative pick that was bantered about while Love was sitting on the bench.
Packers defense vs. Buccaneers offense
Baker Mayfield got a contract extension before the season started, and he’s gotten off to a slow start. He threw for just 182 yards against the Cleveland Browns last week, in a game that went into overtime. He has one touchdown pass and one interception.
When he’s able to get the ball in the air, his best receiver is Emeka Egbuka, who was a candidate for rookie of the year last year but lost out to Carolina Panthers star Tet McMillan.
Mayfield’s last game against Green Bay was memorable as he set a record for the highest passer rating for a visiting quarterback in the history of Lambeau Field. If he gets hot, he can tear any defense apart.
Green Bay’s defense laid its first egg of the season against the Falcons, as Atlanta piled up more than 500 yards, with Bijan Robinson running around, over and through their hapless defense.
Edgerrin Cooper played his worst game of the season before leaving with a concussion.
The Packers defense gave up 27 unanswered points and was a big part of suffering what was the most lopsided loss at Lambeau Field in Matt LaFleur’s tenure as the head coach.
It was not just Robinson who put on a show. Michael Penix Jr. shook off some early rust and diced through Green Bay’s secondary on the back of Drake London. London had 194 yards receiving and made one big play after another when Atlanta put the ball in the air.
Brandon Cisse and Keisean Nixon will both need to be up to the task this week as Tampa Bay wants to get the ball in the hands of their star receiver.
Special teams
Green Bay’s special teams followed up their best game in what seemed like a decade with a bit of a dud against Atlanta. Their return game was shut down with Skyy Moore having little room to roam against Atlanta’s kick coverage.
Trey Smack made both of his PATs but had an egregious blocked field goal in the first half as the Packers were trying to climb their way back into the game. To add further to the insult of the blocked kick, the Falcons only had 10 men on the field on the play. Cam Achord was seen throwing his headset on the sideline after the play was over, and for good reason. Those are the type of mistakes that cannot happen, especially on point-scoring plays.
Tampa Bay kicker Chase McLaughlin is a perfect 6-for-6 this season on field goals and 4-for-4 on extra points.
Their primary returner is Kameron Johnson, who is averaging just a hair over 27 yards per return.
The Packers need to be better in the third phase of the game this week and get back on track.
Safety Xavier McKinney and the defense celebrate an interception that ended the Falcons’ first drive. (Greg Mellis | Green & Gold Express)
Celebrating the 1996 Super Bowl victory, MVP Desmond Howard and his teammates left the fans yearning for a return to the championship tradition. (Greg Mellis | Green & Gold Express)
