That, my friends, is how you play defense. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers thoroughly destroyed the Green Bay Packers on Sunday and they did it with defense. Just like the Packers’ two losses to San Francisco last year, the Packers’ offense was a complete no show when the game was being decided. Against a good defense the Packers are not very good.
When you see what the Bears did to Tom Brady last week and what the Bucs did to Aaron Rodgers yesterday, it is painfully clear that the Packers do not have a defense in the same stratosphere as those two teams. And without such a defense the Packers have very little chance of advancing to the Super Bowl this year.
The Packers have now been blown out of the stadium in four out of the five losses in Matt LaFleur’s young coaching career. Yes, he has only lost five games but, boy, four of them were dozies. That has to be somewhat concerning.
The Bucs completely shut down the Packers rushing game and dared Rodgers to beat them. Not only did Rodgers not beat them, he handed them the game on a silver platter. Rodgers two interceptions in three pass attempts were both horrible decisions by trying to force the ball to Davante Adams. It handed the Bucs 14 points and the rout was on.
All the while the Packers were giving Brady a nice warm pocket to pick the Packers apart and rekindle his relationship with Rob Gronkowski. While he only threw for 166 yards, his control of the game was another clinic for the six time Super Bowl champion. He methodically attacked the Packers’ weak spots and took full advantage of the lack of pass rush and the loss of cornerback Kevin King.
Unless there is some miraculous change of fortune over the next 11 weeks this is more than likely the last we’ll see of Mike Pettine as a defensive coordinator. Granted, there isn’t much real talent on the Packers’ defense after Jaire Alexander and Kenny Clark, but one would think there is enough to at least be respectable.
The Packers now travel to Houston to face red hot DeShaun Watson, who has thrown for 694 yards and seven TDs the last two weeks. Houston has been a different team since firing Bill O’Brien as head coach. Fortunately the Texans’ defense is ranked 28th so the Packers should be able to stay in this shootout until the end. This is a must win game now for the Packers. They need to get their shit together or this thing could spiral out of control real fast.