The Green Bay Packers did not play a clean game of football, but they did enough to beat the still winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4 by the tune of 17 to 14. Undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels got real personal with Packers safety Evan Williams on the final drive of the game, as Williams was able to wrap Daniels for a sack and also ended the game with a play where Daniels had to throw a bad ball on fourth down with Williams clamped to his legs. Green Bay had struggled bringing down the mobile
quarterback, besides Williams, as Daniels ran for 55 yards against the Packers.
Green Bay came into this week ranked as the number one team in the NFL (in a bad way) in terms of penalties called and penalty yardage. This crew of officials called things pretty soft — which cut both ways in this game — but the fact that the Packers racked up another 10 penalties in this game will probably mean that they’ll go into Week 5 as the most-penalized team in the league, too. The penalties that really hurt Green Bay were the drive-starters, forcing the Packers’ offense to try to dig their way out of a 1st and 20 hole as soon as they got on the field.
There’s no way around it. This is a sloppy team right now. They need to clean it up. It’s not the only area of the game where they look sloppy, either, as they fumbled the ball at the one-yard line and threw an interception inside the 10-yard line on Sunday.
The bright side is that Green Bay didn’t completely abandon the run game this week, as they were able to run the ball 25 times for 86 yards — their best rushing effort this season.
On the injury front, there was some bad news. Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper has an Achilles injury, while rookie second-round pick cornerback Brandon Cisse left action with a neck injury and a concussion. Cooper had been starting at Will linebacker, where he’ll be replaced by Isaiah McDuffie, and Cisse had been starting at right cornerback, where the next man up is Carrington Valentine.
Running back Chris Brooks, who actually made the start this week, and defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt were both given in-game statuses, too, but Wyatt actually returned to the field.
Next week’s game will be between the Packers and the Chicago Bears, a matchup that both fanbases (and probably staffs) have had circled since the schedule dropped. I don’t think a three-point win over a UDFA rookie quarterback is going to calm down anyone who had doubts about this team regressing. Week 5’s game at Lambeau Field should be a pressure cooker. Let’s see how the team responds.
