It’s tough to win an NFL game by only scoring 20 points, and it’s even tougher when you allow a perfect passer rating and four touchdowns to your opposing quarterback – and the Green Bay Packers found all of that out in their Week 15 loss.
Allowing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that has struggled offensively for a good part of the year, to score 34 points and rack up over 450 total yards of offense speaks to the complete inability of Joe Barry to efficiently coordinate this defense. While nothing new, it is just another reason why this Green Bay team continues to falter in winnable moments, stunting just how good this team could be.
Offense
It wasn’t necessarily a bad game for Jordan Love, as he threw for 284 yards and two TDs while losing a fumble. His decision making was par for what we have come to expect from him this season, and he only was sacked twice on Sunday.
Having connected with Jayden Reed (6/52/1) and Tucker Kraft (4/57/1) for scores, Love spread the ball around to eight different receivers, with six hauling in at least three passes. Dontayvion Wicks led Green Bay in with 97 receiving yards on six receptions, and he looks to have officially broken into a regular role in the passing game.
It was nice to see Aaron Jones back on the field for Green Bay, as he earned 17 touches in his return. With AJ Dillon out after breaking his finger, Jones was the lead guy in the backfield, averaging around four yards per touch.
The inability to efficiently run the ball and make use of winning the time of possession buried the offense, but so did a failed fourth down conversion from the TB 4.
Defense
Joe Barry likely will not be fired, mostly due to Matt LaFleur not showing a desire to move on from his maligned defensive coordinator, but Sunday was another reason why they should.
Giving up a perfect passer rating to Baker Mayfield, which continues a trend of mediocre QBs looking sharp against the Packers, is incredibly inexcusable. Mayfield was only forced into six incompletions and a fumble, so the turnover-inducing plays remain non-existent.
Chris Godwin went for 155 yards on 10 receptions (12 targets), Mike Evans hauled in a score but was held to only 57 yards, and a terrible job of tackling in the second half led to David Moore ripping off a 52-yard score to help put the game away.
It was an overall gross performance from the defense, and Barry’s play calling is 100 percent the reason that Green Bay lost yet another winnable contest.
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Mike Johrendt has been an avid fan of the Packers ever since he can remember. He is now a writer at PackersTalk and you can follow him on Twitter at @MJohrendt23
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