The Packers came into this game coming off of a 7 game win streak while the Bucs were coming off of a 6 game win streak. To win this game the Packers defense needed to make sure that Tom Brady didn’t have a big passing game. They also needed a good passing game out of Cal alumni Aaron Rodgers. For the Bucs to win this game they needed to have a good game out of Brady and keep the Packers from getting momentum. An epic battle of 2 legendary Northern California quarterbacks go at it should be fun. To the game!
The Packers won the coin toss and opted to kick. To start off the game Jaydon Mickens had a 29 yard kick return. At 13:04 Mike Evans got a 27 yard reception to put the Bucs at their own 33 yard line. At 10:59 Tom Brady threw a touchdown pass to Mike Evans giving the Bucs a 7-0 lead after making the extra point. The Packers got a touchback for their first offensive action of the game. At around the 10 minute mark Aaron Rodgers got a 14 yard completion to Marcedes Lewis for a first down. At 7:45 Aaron Rodgers got sacked leading to a Packers punt. On a 3rd and 13 Chris Godwin received a short pass and then ran and ended up with a 14 yard gain. After a Bucs punt the Packers ended up on their own 10 yard line. At the end of the first quarter the Bucs were leading 7-0. The Bucs had a good first drive to start off the game getting three 3rd down conversions. The Bucs also played great defense on Rodgers in the first quarter.
To start off the second quarter the Packers got a short run putting them at the 50 yard line. At 14:07 Marquez Valdes-Scantling caught a 50 yard touchdown pass. The Packers then made the extra point to make the score 7-7. At 13:20 Chris Godwin got a 52 yard reception putting the Bucs at the Packers 20 yard line. At 12:33 Leonard Fournette got a 20 yard run for a touchdown and an extra point giving the Bucs a 7 point lead. At around the 11 minute mark Jamaal Williams got a 12 yard run to put the Packers in Bucs territory. At 8:12 Aaron Jones fumbled the ball but luckily for the Packers, it was picked up by Packers tight end Robert Tonyan. At 5:02 Mason Crosby made a field goal after 3 failed touchdown attempts at the 6 yard line making the score 14-10. The kickoff ended up being a touchback to put the Bucs at the 25 yard line. A few plays later Tom Brady got a 19 yard completion putting them at the Packers 48 yard line. The Packers then received a punt and called a fair catch at the 10 yard line. At 1:14 Aaron Rodgers completed a 24 yard pass to Allen Lazard. With 34 seconds to go Aaron Rodgers threw an interception to Sean Murphy-Bunting. Tom Brady then completed a pass for a first down. To end the half Tom Brady completed a 39 yard touchdown pass to Scott Miller to make the score 21-10 after making the extra point. At halftime the Bucs had all the momentum in the world after an interception that led to a touchdown closed out the half. The Packers had many things that they could’ve done better in the first half. For example, they had 3 touchdown opportunities at the 6 yard line and ended up with a field goal. The Bucs did much better than the Packers on the passing side of things with 202 yards for the Bucs and 169 for the Packers. The rushing didn’t even it out with 42 for the Packers and 38 for the Bucs. This would’ve been an okay quarter for the Packers if they hadn’t given up that touchdown at the end there. To the third!
To start off the third quarter Jordan Whitehead forced a fumble which was recovered by the Bucs who ended up on the Packers 8 yard line. With 13:54 to go Tom Brady made a touchdown pass to Cameron Brate making the score 28-10 after the extra point. At around 11:46 Rodgers threw a 24 yard pass to Valdes-Scantling. At 9:33 Rodgers threw a touchdown pass to Tonyan making the score 28-17 after the extra point. At the 8 minute mark Tom Brady got intercepted by Adrian Amos putting the Packers on their own 32 yard line. With 5:32 to go Rodgers made a short pass to Lewis to put them at the Bucs 27 yard line. At 2:59 Aaron Rodgers made an 11 yard pass to Jamaal Williams putting the Packers in the red zone and on the Bucs 13 yard line. With 26 seconds to go in the quarter Aaron Rodgers threw a short pass to Davante Adams for a touchdown. The Packers then decided to go for a 2 point conversion. They ended up failing on the attempt after a dropped pass making the score 28-23. At the end of the third quarter the Packers had made a 6 point comeback and had played much better all around. This was a productive quarter for the Packers.
To start off the 4th quarter Tom Brady threw a 16 yard reception on 3rd down. At 12:34 Tom Brady threw an interception to Jaire Alexander who then ran the ball to the Packers 19 yard line. On a 3rd and 5 Aaron Rodgers got sacked which led to a punt being returned to the Bucs 38 yard line. At 9:22 Jaire Alexander intercepted another Tom Brady pass to Mike Evans leaving the Packers at their own 24 yard line. After a 3 and out the Packers punted and the Bucs received it and ran to the Bucs 28 yard line. With 4:43 left in the game Brian Succup made a 46 yard field goal to make the score 31-23. At 3:56 Aaron Rodgers threw a 29 yard pass to Valdes-Scantling to put them on the Bucs 28 yard line. Instead of opting to go for the touchdown and a 2 point conversion on 4th down to tie the game Matt LaFleur chose to attempt a field goal and hope to get the ball back and go for the win with a touchdown once getting the ball back. At 2:09 Mason Crosby made the field goal to make the score 31-26. The Packers weren’t able get the ball back after their field goal. The final score was 31-26.
Leo’s Extra Point: A 21-10 lead at halftime really propelled the Bucs to a huge win to send them to the Super Bowl and face the winner of the Chiefs versus Bills game. Matt LaFleur choosing to go for a field goal and hoping to get the ball back instead of attempting a touchdown and a 2 point conversion with 2:09 to go was a predictably bad move against a Brady led Bucs. Tom Brady had a good passing game with 280 passing yards, Rob Gronkowski had 1 reception for 29 yards. The only scratch on this game for Brady was the 3 interceptions that he threw in the game. The rushing yards for the Bucs was 76 yards. The Bucs defense had 5 sacks to help them make sure that the Packers couldn’t get any momentum. Aaron Rodgers on the other hand had 346 passing yards and the rest of the team had 67 rushing yards. Aaron Rodgers didn’t throw as many interceptions as Tom Brady but he did still throw 1. The Bucs defense didn’t play very well with only 1 sack. There weren’t a lot of penalties in this game with only a combined 6. The time of possession was a bit lopsided with 34:37 for the Packers and 25:23 for the Bucs. Fun fact: the Bucs will be the first team to play at home for the Super Bowl. Overall, this was a disappointing game for the Packers and an exiting game for the Bucs where they took an early lead and the Packers never caught up.
Out of LF 