Packers lose rematch with Bucs in nearly identical ways as first meeting
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers proved Sunday in the NFC Championship Game that their Week 6 meeting with the Green Bay Packers wasn’t necessarily an anomaly.
Matt LaFleur’s team lost in nearly identical ways as the first meeting.
Pressure. Third down. Turnovers.
The same key ingredients in the October blowout recipe were present again Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Once again, the Bucs won the pressure battle decisively. According to Pro Football Focus, Aaron Rodgers was under pressure on 16 of his 53 dropbacks, creating a pressure percentage of 30.2. Tom Brady was under pressure on just five of his 37 dropbacks, good for a pressure percentage of 13.5.
Both quarterbacks struggled under pressure. Brady, who was 0-for-4 with an interception under pressure, was much worse. But the Packers just didn’t pressure him enough overall.
In the first meeting, Brady was under pressure on just five dropbacks. Rodgers had pressure on a season-high 18 dropbacks. Brady wasn’t sacked, but Rodgers took four sacks. This time around, Brady took one sack in the first quarter while Rodgers was sacked five times.
Third down was another problem area for the Packers.
In the first meeting, Brady threw a pair of touchdown passes on third down during the second quarter to ignite the blowout. On Sunday, Brady opened the game with a touchdown pass to Mike Evans on third down, and he helped the Bucs convert seven of their first eight third downs.
Overall, in the two meetings, Brady converted 11 times on third down with completions and threw three touchdown passes. His 12 completions gained 194 yards. On Sunday, he hit seven completions of at least 14 yards.
Turnovers played a big role once again, but in a slightly different way this time around.
Back in October, the Bucs won the turnover battle 2-0. On Sunday, the Packers got three interceptions of Brady and won the turnover battle overall, 3-2, but while Green Bay scored just seven points off turnovers, Tampa Bay scored a touchdown after each takeaway. In the first meeting, the Bucs also scored 14 points off of turnovers.
An interception by Aaron Rodgers and a fumble by Aaron Jones helped the Bucs score two critical touchdowns before and after the half. In October, two Rodgers interceptions all but handed the Bucs 14 points – one on a pick-six, and another returned inside the 5-yard line.
Credit the Buccaneers for helping create mistakes and forcing the Packers out of the way they usually play. They were able to pull off the feat in both meetings. So good protecting the quarterback, winning situationally and avoiding turnovers all year, the Packers failed in all three areas in October and again on Sunday in the rematch.
It’s hard to win when you lose at the line of scrimmage, lose on third down and lose in points off takeaways. The evidence can be found in both of the Packers’ losses to the Buccaneers during the 2020 season.
