Packers at Buccaneers: Three Reasons to Worry

The Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will slug it out in a heavyweight Week 3 showdown. Led by Tom Brady, the 2-0 Bucs present a lot of challenges.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have a golden opportunity to make a big move in the NFC playoff race when they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

The Buccaneers are 2-0 but their offense will be at far less than full strength. They might be without their pair of 1,000-yard receivers. Mike Evans, the only receiver in NFL history with eight consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, will be out due to a suspension. Chris Godwin, who topped 1,000 yards two of the past three seasons, is out with a hamstring injury. Julio Jones, who leads all active receivers in yardage, will be a game-time decision with a knee injury.

The Buccaneers’ defense, on the other hand, will be at close to full strength. The power of that unit shows up in this week’s Three Reasons to Worry.

1. Tom Brady

The Tom Brady-led Buccaneers offense will face a huge challenge. They’ll be without their two marquee receivers, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, and could be without veteran Julio Jones, too. Starting left tackle Donovan Smith is questionable and his backup, Josh Wells, is on injured reserve.

Always looking for a challenge, Brady probably believes he’s got the Packers right where he wants them.

“We’ve seen him win Super Bowls with receivers who are not in the top 10, top 20. He can do it with anybody,” cornerback Rasul Douglas said.

When push came to shove during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game at New Orleans, Brady delivered a nine-play, 80-yard drive that he punctuated with a 28-yard touchdown to Breshad Perriman for what wound up being the winning points. So what if he’s got an injury-plagued supporting cast? So what if he ranks 24th or worse in completion percentage and yards per attempt? So what if he’s only 8-of-23 on passes thrown 10-plus yards downfield? It’s Tom Brady. And in a close game – which it might be considering the power of both defenses – only a fool would bet against him.

“I think part of the job is to deal with different people being in,” he told reporters this week. “It’s part of the demolition derby of the game that we play. Guys are in and out and you’ve just got to adjust within the game in certain weeks. You start a certain way and it doesn’t end the way it started. Guys get injured.

“Look at the Dallas game – Mike went out, Chris went out, Julio went out, ‘Donny’ (Donovan Smith) went out. You’re ending the game in a totally different place than you would’ve started. You put together the game plan thinking all those guys are in there and you play to their strengths, but you have to adjust throughout the games. You’ve just got to try to win the game however you can win it. Fortunately, our defense is playing great football and we’ll do the best we can do on offense.”

2. History Against Aaron Jones

Aaron Jones carried the Packers to victory over the Bears on Sunday. In perhaps his finest day as a pro, Jones had 170 total yards and two total touchdowns. By our count, he forced 12 broken tackles. Pro Football Focus credited him with 14. He was fast, powerful and slippery.

With Sammy Watkins (hamstring) out and Allen Lazard dealing with an ankle injury, Jones is by far Green Bay’s most explosive playmaker. Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles is no dummy. Bowles has eliminated Jones from the equation in the past and no doubt will focus on No. 33 this week.

Then-Buccaneers safety Jordan Whitehead forced a fumble by Packers running back Aaron Jones to start the second half of the 2020 NFC Championship Game. (Photo by Benny Sieu/USA Today Sports)

In Week 5 of the 2020 season, a 38-10 Buccaneers romp, Jones carried 10 times for 15 yards (1.5 average) and caught 3-of-5 passes for 26 yards (8.7 average). A few months later, in the NFC Championship Game that the Buccaneers won 31-26, Jones carried six times for 27 yards (4.5 average), caught 4-of-6 passes for 7 yards, fumbled twice and exited with broken ribs.

Tampa Bay’s defense is allowing just 6.5 points per game. While defensive tackle Akiem Hicks will be missed, mammoth Vita Vea still controls the line of scrimmage and Lavonte David and Devin White form an elite tandem of linebackers.

“I think those two guys are as good as it gets,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of David and White. “They’re both very physical, they’re both very fast. They’re really instinctive. Certainly, Lavonte David’s been playing for a really long time. Devin White, Pro Bowler, got to be around him after the season and he’s definitely an alpha. So, you’ve got two alphas right there, and collectively those two guys are probably as good as it gets in this league.”

The Packers created all sorts of room for Jones vs. the Bears. Can they do it again?

3. Turnovers

The Packers have been unusually sloppy with the ball with three giveaways. Only seven teams have more fumbles (four).

The Buccaneers, meanwhile, have forced an NFL-high six turnovers, including three interceptions and two fumbles vs. the Saints. Talk about dominance: Tampa Bay forced four consecutive turnovers to open the second half vs. the Saints. Including a pick-six by underrated safety Mike Edwards, it turned those into 17 points.

“They have a lot of guys who are very talented, but they also swarm the ball and have that attacking mindset about getting the ball out, getting turnovers,” running back AJ Dillon said. “They do a really good job of that, so ball security is definitely something that we’re kind of focusing on and honing in on.”

No quarterback in NFL history has been as good at making big plays while avoiding big blunders as quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Of his four games with three interceptions, two came at Tampa Bay. In terms of passer rating, three of his worst six games have come in Tampa Bay. It’s been a house of horrors for some bizarro reason.

“Every coach is always going to talk about the turnover ratio and that being an important part of winning football games, so it’s always talked about,” Rodgers said. “This team as well as anybody does the ‘Peanut Punch’ really well and they’re swarming around the football and they fly around sideline to sideline and they’ve had six takeaways in two games. It’s going to be important. The last couple games we played down there, we turned over the ball a bunch and they haven’t and that’s why they won.”

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