The optimist in me had hoped for a miraculous upset by the lowly Bucs over the undefeated, defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, but the realist in me expected another blowout at the hands of all-pro QB Aaron Rodgers and his repertoire of offensive weapons. The result of the match-up turned out to be somewhere in the middle - David came close to slaying Goliath, but the Bucs were once again done in by the same mistakes that haunt them week in and week out.
The Bucs were once again in an early hole, trailing 14-0 a few minutes into the second quarter, partially due to an unlucky break where the Green Bay punter, deep in his own territory, botched the snap and yet somehow was able to bumble and stumble the ball past the first down marker. But the Bucs seemed to get energized by an amazing play by Legarrette Blount, who broke at least five or six tackles during a 54-yard TD run. Isn't it incredible what happens when Greg Olsen actually gives the ball to probably the Bucs' greatest playmaker?
The rest of the way, the Bucs gave a tremendous effort. For most of the game, the defense was playing a bend-but-don't-break-except-for-Quincy-Black-and-EJ-Biggers-and-Myron-Lewis type of game, which except last part was all this team could have asked for against the potent Packers. Unfortunately, blown assignments and just poor play by the aformentioned trio would ultimately give the Packers too much breathing room. On offense, Blount (18 CAR, 107 YDS, 1 TD) played well, and Mike Williams (7 REC, 83 YDS, 1 TD), Rejus Benn (5 REC, 75 YDS), and Kellen Winslow (9 REC, 132 YDS) played probably their best games of the year. But again, unfortunately, an offensive pass interference on Winslow negated a touchdown, and later Winslow just flat-out dropped the potential game-tying two-point conversion. Josh Freeman actually had one of his better games this year as well, completing 28 of 38 passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns , but he still had several instances of overthrowing or underthrowing open receivers and throwing two more key interceptions.
I want to make two main points about this game. The first is that the penalties absolutely NEED to stop. Big gains on offense are negated by a holding call or an offensive PI, or whatever other stupid thing Kellen Winslow does to earn a flag, and stops on defense are negated by a defensive PI or an offsides (which is one of the most boneheaded mistakes a player can make in my opinion - defensive linemen are essentially lined up staring at the ball; if it doesn't move than they shouldn't either). Tampa Bay had 9 penalties for 55 yards, and that doesn't incorporate the number of missed chances caused by the penalties (like Winslow's TD or a Corey Lynch interception that was wiped out by an offsides). You CANNOT shoot yourself in the foot like that and hope to beat the best team in the NFL.
Second, I'd make a claim that at this point in the year, Josh Freeman has some of the worst time management in football, second only to Les Miles. With just over a minute left and time running, down by two scores, and with no timeouts, Freeman held on to the ball and took a sack when he clearly had an opportunity to scramble or throw the ball away. You CANNOT afford a sack in that situation. And even after that, I see Freeman slowly walking around before the snap, taking his sweet time pointing out defensive alignments and calling out plays. At that point in the game, you need to forget about specific blocking assignments and just take the ball and throw it - and please, throw it towards the end zone, or at least the first down marker. Generally, throwing to a guy a foot past the line of scrimmage on 4th an 15 is not a very good idea.
Many will blame Raheem Morris' decision to attempt an onside kick with about 5 minutes left down by one score as a reason for the loss. I honestly did not have a problem with it. With as good as the Pack's offense has been, there's a chance you could never get the ball back. That said, I think the method of the kick was poor; you had already attempted that earlier in the game, and Green Bay was expecting it. In my opinion, seeing how many Packers were lined up near the front line, I would have tried to squip kick it a few yards past them and see if my team can beat the surprised Packers in a foot race to the ball, much like Baylor recovered a squip kick Saturday night against Oklahoma.
Overall, though, fans finally got to see parts of the exciting young football team we saw last year. Great runs, some great receptions, and - gasp - some decent tackling. The loss stings a bit, but hopefully the good effort creates some positive momentum for the rest of the year.
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