An Ugly Showing: 3 Takeaways From Packers' Low-Scoring Victory Over Buccaneers

Raymond James Stadium (Tampa Bay) — In a game that both teams needed to have, the Green Bay Packers were able to squeak out a road victory over the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, but it wasn't pretty at all.

Jordan Love and the Packers only put up 283 yards and 17 points in a 17-14 victory over the Buccaneers, improving to 2-2 on the season. As for the Buccaneers, they remain winless as questions remain about head coach Todd Bowles' future. 

Here are my takeaways from Sunday's game. 

It’s not that the Buccaneers have been blown out in any of their games. Sunday was another game where they were close enough to having some semblance of hope — with the ball down three in the fourth quarter — but just as consistently unable to actually pull out a victory.

When the Buccaneers lost to the Vikings last week, Todd Bowles said the "funny thing" was that even though Tampa Bay was 0-3, they were only one game back of first place in the woeful NFC South. He was right, although most Bucs fans will say there is nothing funny about an 0-3 start.

But this week’s loss to the Packers comes in a week when the Falcons play at the Saints on Monday night, which is to say that, barring a tie, an NFC South team will win this week, which means the Buccaneers will be two games out of first.

That’s nothing insurmountable with 13 games left to play and all their divisional matchups, but each loss validates that the Buccaneers are still the team that lost seven of their last nine games to finish last season. Their defense hasn’t been bad, but their offense has not been good at any point in these first four games under new coordinator Zac Robinson.

Can they somehow outscore the Cowboys on Thursday in Dallas? Can they find a way to beat a 2-2 Steelers team at home in Week 6? At that point, it’s possible Baker Mayfield could be back from his thumb injury, but that doesn’t mean the offense is playing winning football. If they’re only two back when they have their first division game at Carolina in Week 7, they’re fortunate.

Only one team in NFL history has made the playoffs after an 0-4 start — the 1992 Chargers — but if any division were to make such a turnaround possible, it’s this year’s NFC South.

After the disaster that last week’s throttling against the Falcons was, any win is a good thing for the Packers, but there wasn’t a lot to like about how Green Bay pulled out a road win at Tampa.

With a chance to put the game away, they had two turnovers deep in Buccaneers territory in the fourth quarter — Kaleb Johnson fumbled inside the 5, and Jordan Love threw a pick inside the 20. Each time, that gave a struggling Bucs offense hope and a chance to tie the game late.

That won’t be enough next week at home against the Bears, and they’ll need to score more points to beat the Cowboys at home a week later. They’re in last place in their division, but they’ll need better play on both sides of the ball to expect to stay close to the rest of the pack.

The Bears are looking better with two different backup quarterbacks than the Packers have with Love, and the Vikings have won with two different quarterbacks already as well. 

Green Bay still hasn’t gotten Micah Parsons on the field yet this season, and while that might not be far off, the Packers are taking on more significant injuries before they ever have a chance to play at full strength.

The big loss Sunday was linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, who went down with an Achilles injury and is feared lost for the season. Cooper was second on the team in tackles and had two sacks entering Sunday’s game, adding a sack and an interception against the Buccaneers before his injury.

That came after defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, another key starter, left the game with an ankle injury. The first half of this season, at least, is like the end of last season, when fans are left to wonder how good Green Bay’s defense could be if they could just all be healthy at the same time.