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About the Author: Scott Reynolds

Avatar Of Scott Reynolds
Scott Reynolds is in his 28th year of covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the vice president, publisher and senior Bucs beat writer for PewterReport.com. Author of the popular SR's Fab 5 column on Fridays, Reynolds oversees web development and forges marketing partnerships for PewterReport.com in addition to his editorial duties. A graduate of Kansas State University in 1995, Reynolds spent six years giving back to the community as the defensive coordinator/defensive line coach for his sons' Pop Warner team, the South Pasco Predators. Reynolds can be reached at: [email protected]

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The PewterReport.com Roundtable features the opinions of the PR staff as it tackles a topic each week that involves the Bucs.

Topic: How Can The Bucs Beat The Packers?

Scott Reynolds: Stop The Packers’ Ground Game

Everyone is going to be focused on how the Bucs’ secondary will be able to stop Packers future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers this week – except defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and I. Why? While Green Bay’s offense leads the league with 38 points per game, is second with 445.5 yards per game and ranks third with 294.8 yards per game through the air thanks to Rodgers’ brilliance, what makes Matt LeFleur’s offense go is its balance. The Packers rank fifth in the league with 150.8 rushing yards per game, led by Aaron Jones, who has 374 yards and four touchdowns this season, while averaging a whopping 5.8 yards per carry.

Packers Rb Aaron Jones

Packers RB Aaron Jones – Photo by: Getty Images

The good news for the Bucs is that they rank first in the NFL in run defense this season, allowing an average of 58.4 yards per game on the ground. The bad news for Tampa Bay is that the team lost nose tackle Vita Vea for the year due to a broken ankle in Thursday night’s 20-19 loss at Chicago. Vea was an immovable force up front and a major reason why the Bucs are so tough to run against. Rakeem Nunez-Roches has some big shoes to fill as he now becomes the team’s starting nose tackle, but the entire Bucs’ front seven – and the play of the cornerbacks near the line of the scrimmage – are the reason why Tampa Bay can really shut down the run. It’s not just Vea.

Stopping or slowing down Jones, Jamaal Williams and A.J. Dillon will force the Packers to be one dimensional and easier to beat – even with Rodgers slinging the ball. He’s thrown for 13 touchdowns and no interceptions, while completing 70.5 percent of his passes. Rodgers has only been sacked three times because the Packers are rarely in predictable passing situations, and that’s why Rodgers has only been sacked three times this year. By effectively stopping the run, the Bucs defense should be better able to rush the passer and get to Rodgers with either sacks or enough pressure to force him into an interception or two.

Mark Cook: Figure Out An Identity – And Stick To It

Growing up and following this Buccaneers team in the 1970s and early 1980s, when you went to the old Tampa Stadium you knew exactly what you were going to get – a tough, hard-nosed defense, and a conservative offense that was a running team first that took occasional deep shots. Those were just the facts, and it was basically the same thing when Tony Dungy got here in 1996 and built his team around the cornerstones of linebackers Hardy Nickerson and Derrick Brooks and defensive tackle Warren Sapp on defense.

Former Bucs Lbs Hardy Nickerson And Derrick Brooks - Photo By: Cliff Welch/Pr

Former Bucs LBs Hardy Nickerson and Derrick Brooks – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

This 2020 football team is still trying to figure out who it is. In a perfect world you would love both sides of the ball to be an equal threat. A high-powered, score-from-anywhere-on-the-field machine, and a punishing defense that you can almost bet the farm will close out a game when up by a touchdown and more. This Tampa Bay team has the potential to that well-balanced, dominant team on offense and defense, if they coaches make up their mind and stick to it. Last week we saw the offense go for a fourth-and-1, deep in their own territory in the first half, then late in the game, decide to kick a field goal that only gave them a two-point lead. Where is the no risk-it, no-biscuit-it mentality and philosophy there? And defensively the Bucs were all over the place. Are the Bucs an aggressive, blitz you from every angle on the field unit, or a passive, slow the game up, keep everything in front of them style of defense?

Hemming and hawing against a team like the Green Bay Packers will get you beat. This coaching staff needs to be aggressive on both sides of the ball and throw caution to the wind. If the Bucs lose, they lose going down with a fight. But the coaches need to show this team that they trust them to pick up a yard on fourth down late in the game and trust them to play press-man and to get home to the quarterback with aggressive blitzing.

Jon Ledyard: Bucs Offense Has To Carry The Day

Through five weeks, the Packers might be the best team in the league this season. Their offensive scheme is excellent. They utilize route combinations to get players open. They hit tons of big plays down the field and lead the league with 38 points per game. Their offensive line might be the best in the NFL. Their QB, Aaron Rodgers, is the leading MVP candidate, and they’ve done most of it without top receiver Davante Adams at their disposal.

Packers Qb Aaron Rodgers

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers – Photo by: Getty Images

That will change Sunday afternoon however, as Adams returns to the lineup after a two-game absence. There is very little the Packers can’t do offensively, and, despite a stout Bucs defense, I wouldn’t expect that to change on Sunday. Green Bay is going to score 28 points or more, and Rodgers’ MVP-caliber play will continue.

So forget what Tampa Bay must do defensively, offense is what wins in today’s NFL, and the Bucs have plenty of that if they can just get out of their own way. The best method for beating the Green Bay Packers is simply to not make mistakes on offense. The Bucs and Tom Brady have all the firepower to match Green Bay’s offense step-for-step in this game, they just need to stop shooting themselves in the foot with penalties and drops, as the team leads the league in both catagories. If Tampa Bay can consistently execute on offense – like they did in the first half against Carolina and Denver and the second half against Los Angeles – for a full 60 minutes, then they’ll win this football game.

Matt Matera: Protect Tom Brady

The Bucs are a good enough team where they can hang with anyone in this league. The only way that they wouldn’t keep this close is by beating themselves. Other than cleaning up the penalties, it starts and ends with protecting Tom Brady. In the Bucs’ two losses this season, Brady has been sacked six times compared to just twice in Tampa Bay’s three wins.

Bucs Qb Tom Brady

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Getty Images

We’ve seen the good and the bad from the Bucs offensive line over the past two weeks. In a win over the Chargers, Brady was not sacked in the entire game, and the Bucs went on to score 38 points. Fast forward four days later and Brady was consistently getting pressured on the way to three sacks and eight quarterback hits. The constant pressure, especially in the second half, altered some of the Bucs’ red zone drives and turned potential touchdowns into field goals.

Through five games we’ve seen the good and the bad from left tackle Donovan Smith. And while Tristan Wirfs has had a solid start to his NFL career, he’s coming off his worst game as a professional after a tough match-up against All-Pro edge rusher Khalil Mack. Which type of performance will we get from the Bucs’ starting tackles? Green Bay has a threatening pass rusher in Za’Darius Smith, who has five sacks in four games, but also has an overall average defense that’s allowed 25.3 points per game. The Bucs can be effective on offense if they keep Brady upright.

Taylor Jenkins: Eliminate The Penalties

Entering their Week 6 match-up against the Bucs, the Packers find themselves ranked first the league with 38 points per game and second in the league with 445.5 points per game. The Bucs, on the other hand, find themselves among the league’s best in a different category, leading the league in penalties with 42 and ranking second in the league in yards surrendered via penalties with 410.

Penaltyflagbucsfalcons

The Bucs led the NFL in penalties last year – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

In short, we know the Bucs offense can put points on the board but they have to stay on schedule. They can’t give away free yards to Green Bay and they can’t kill their own offensive drives with penalties. As Greg Auman of The Athletic pointed out, the Bucs lead the league with 14 “stalled drives,” a stat kept to denote penalties significant enough to effectively kill a possession.

It will have to be a complete game from the Bucs if they want to escape their game on Sunday with a win. The offense will have to play mistake free and the defense will have to be more aggressive than they have been the last two weeks to stop Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Jones and the rest of the Packers’ high-powered offense, but all of these things will simply be too much to overcome if they also continue to beat themselves.

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