The 4-0 Green Bay Packers travel to Florida in arguably the game of the week as they face the 3-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Last time out the Packers defeated Tampa Bay’s divisional rival, the Atlanta Falcons 30-16, before taking their bye week last week.
The Packers have got off to a fantastic start, winning all four games so far and scoring 30+ points in each of them, while committing zero giveaways so far. They lead the NFC North but have the Chicago Bears on their tails after their 20-19 win over the Buccaneers on October 8.
The Bucs are in a three-way tie with the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers at the top of the NFC South. They lost in quarterback Tom Brady’s debut against the Saints but bounced back winning three in a row before losing against the Bears.
A new threat emerges
Quarterback, Aaron Rodgers threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns, missing on only six of his throws in their win over the Falcons. Three of these touchdowns were caught by breakout tight-end Robert Tonyan, who totalled 98 yards for the day from six catches. With five receiving touchdowns already this season only today's opponent, Mike Evans (six) and Adam Thielen (six) of the Minnesota Vikings have scored more.
With both Davante Adams and Allen Lazard missing the last game due to injury, Tonyan along with Jamaal Williams catching balls from the backfield were trusted with the bulk of the work, and they did not disappoint. Williams caught eight passes for 95 yards and neither player dropped a pass thrown their way.
Aaron Jones, again, had a good game at running back rushing for 71 yards from 15 carries (4.7 ypg).
With the departure of Jimmy Graham to the Bears, Tonyan has emerged as a real threat at tight end, something the Packers have lacked since the days of Jermichael Finley.
The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time with the Packers suffering from various injuries at key positions, however, they will be glad to welcome back their top wide receiver, Adams for today’s game, adding to their list of weapons on offense. On the other side of the ball defensive tackle, Kenny Clark also returns, giving the Packers a timely boost ahead of facing one of the best QB’s the game has ever seen.
However, listed as questionable for the Packers are Za’Darius Smith who had three sacks against the Falcons, as well as cornerback, Kevin King and linebacker, Rashan Gary.
Bucs beaten in close game last time out
The Bucs could consider themselves unfortunate to lose in their last game against the Bears after holding a 13-0 lead in the second quarter. Two quick touchdowns by Chicago in the last two minutes of the first half after a Ke’Shawn Vaughn fumble in-between put Chicago in the lead at half-time.
In a no touchdown second half the lead was exchanged multiple times with Tampa Bay taking the lead twice before Cairo Santos’ 38-yard field goal sealed the victory for the Bears.
With Tom Brady on offense with 1:13 left in the game there was a bizarre moment when after throwing incomplete on fourth down he held his fingers up signifying that he thought it was fourth down to come. Both Brady and head coach, Bruce Arians played the matter down post-game.
In this day and age this, of course, produced a meme and caused people to poke fun at Brady’s age and again ignited the debate of whether Brady still has “it”.
While 43-year-old Brady is still getting used to a brand-new team some of his numbers are still impressive. He is still top 10 in passing yards with 1375. He is in the top five QB’s with 12 passing touchdowns, he has thrown only four interceptions. Brady is 11th in the NFL in passes over 20 yards with 18, and better still, seventh in the NFL with four passes over 40 yards.
Brady’s Bucs depleted?
Arians told the media on Friday, “It’s a long, long list” of game-time decisions. This list includes their top three wide receivers, Mike Evans (ankle), Chris Godwin (hamstring) and Scotty Miller (hip, groin).
Evans has played through the injury and is expected to do so again. Despite not being among the leaders in receiving yards with just 271 yards from 22 catches so far, he does still lead the touchdown chart and is not to be taken lightly.
In addition to the wide receiver trio, also listed as questionable are CB, Carlton Davis, DT Khalil Davis and RB, Leonard Fournette.
The Bucs will be hoping that at least the two Davis’ are back to try to nullify a free-scoring Packers offense which could become even more potent with the return of Adams.
Prediction
This will be a closely contested game but with Adams set to return for this one alongside the emerging threat of Tonyan, and the playmaking ability in the backfield of both Jones and Williams, Rodgers will simply have more weapons at his disposal than Brady.
Final Score: Packers 31 – 24 Buccaneers