Bakh on Track: Green Bay Survives a Close One in Tampa

September 26, 2022

This could be the last matchup we'll ever see between Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. While the previous two games between the future Hall of Fame QBs have been decided in Brady's favor, it was Rodgers who walked off the field with a victorious smirk as the Green Bay Packers pulled off a tough 14-12 road win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It may not have been the most epic battle, but both teams pulled their weight due in part to several inactive players for each side. The Buccaneers were without their top 3 receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Julio Jones- with Evans serving a one-game suspension from a fight with Saints CB Marshon Lattimore the previous week. For Green Bay, rookie Christian Watson did not suit up due to a hamstring injury that forced him to sit out of practice on Friday.

Though both offenses appeared to be limited in personnel, the Packers had a huge card dealt in their favor. David Bakhtiari, who tore his ACL in practice back in December 2020 and had only made one start since his injury, was in the starting lineup at LT. Head coach Matt LaFleur announced that Bakhtiari would split reps each series with Yosh Nijman to get him back up to speed at his own pace.

It was a very hot day in Tampa, with the heat index almost reaching triple digits, and the Packers were burning the top ranked Tampa defense on their first two offensive series. In the first half, Rodgers was nearly perfect through the air, completing 15 of 18 passes for 171 for 2 touchdowns and a 143.3 passer rating. The first of those two scores would be the first career TD for the rookie wideout Romeo Doubs, and it showed how effective that connection between the rookie and the 18-year veteran can be in the red zone.

The hot start would be good for almost the entire first half, until things changed late in the 2nd quarter. With less than 3 minutes remaining, and the Packers up 14-3 in great position for another score, Aaron Jones caught a quick slant pass on the TB 5 yard line and ran for the end zone before he was knocked in the back by DL Vita Vea. The ball popped out of Jones's hands and went into the end zone, where S Logan Ryan recovered it for a touchback.

The turnover killed the momentum that Green Bay had on their first two drives, where they took a combined 12 minutes off the clock with 146 yards of offense and a pair of touchdowns. The defense would avenge the offense with a forced fumble of their own. Under a minute left in the first half, rookie LB Quay Walker jarred the ball loose from Breshad Perriman and Darnell Savage recovered it to keep it a two-score lead for Green Bay at the break.

The second half was a very different ballgame, with both defenses limiting any serious offensive drives. The Packers forced another turnover on the Buccaneers' first drive, with Keisean Nixon knocking the ball out of Russell Gage's hands. However, Tampa Bay would get one back, as Rodgers was picked off by Logan Ryan at midfield and the Bucs capitalized from it with a field goal to make the score 14-6 in the 3rd quarter.

Most of the 4th quarter was an offensive stalemate until the Buccaneers received the ball on their own 11 with three minutes left. In typical Brady fashion, the 45-year old quarterback orchestrated a drive 89 yards on 13 plays- capped off with a one yard TD pass to Russell Gage with 14 seconds left. TV replays showed that the play clock was at 0 right when the ball was snapped, but the whistle was never blown and the score took place. All that was left was for Tampa to complete a two-point conversion to potentially send the game to overtime.

But while a delay of game was not called on the scoring play, the Buccaneers would be penalized for not getting the snap off before the conversion attempt. It was a similar situation to what the Arizona Cardinals did against the Las Vegas Raiders the week prior, but they did not have Rodgers looking up at the jumbotron and pointing out something to the officials that they might not have seen at first.

With the ball at the 7-yard line instead, Brady lofted up the football to the corner of the end zone, but the 6'3" LB De'Vondre Campbell used his 34 inch vertical and knocked the ball down, saving the day and perhaps the course of the season.

Defense and special teams were the top contributors to the Packers' overall performance. The tipped 2-point conversion by Campbell was the cherry on top of his performance, as he had 14 total tackles, 8 of them solo. Kenny Clark and Rashan Gary combined for 3 sacks on Brady, while Walker and Nixon both forced fumbles on key drives. The biggest negative against the defense was losing Jaire Alexander in the first half to a groin injury, but nickel CB Rasul Douglas stepped up in the void with 8 tackles and 2 pass deflections.

In total, the Packers punted the ball six times in the 2nd half, but Pat O'Donnell had a day on special teams as he booted seven punts for 339 yards and had five of them land inside the 20. Specialists Dallin Leavitt, Rudy Ford, and Nixon all limited the Bucs' return game, with two of those players already fitting the mold of Rich Bisaccia's "We-fense" approach on special teams.

As for the offense, they were ripe in the first half with 214 yards, and then stale in the second half with only 81. The ground game didn't have the same kind of impact it had against the Bears the week prior, as both Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon were limited to under 40 yards. Doubs led all receivers with 8 catches for 73 yards and his first career TD, but no wideout has achieved an 100+ yard receiving game yet through the first 3 weeks of the season.

Despite the lack of output, having both Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins back on the field at the early stage of the season is a huge boost to the offensive line, as they limited a strong Tampa defensive front to only one sack the whole game. A few months ago, it was unclear when those two linemen would even suit up for a game this season, but now with each player having played their first game back in 2022 there's a little more confidence in their output.