greenbaypressgazette.com

Sponsored by:
Green Bay Press-Gazette

Sunday, September 28, 2008

FINAL: Buccaneers 30, Packers 21

SCORING PLAYS
PACKERS -- Charles Woodson, 62 yd interception return (Mason Crosby kick is good), 13:43.

BUCCANEERS -- Matt Bryant, 24 yd field goal, 2:28. Drive: 10 plays, 30 yards in 6:02.

BUCCANEERS -- Earnest Graham, 1 yd run (Matt Bryant kick is good), 1:56. Drive: 2 plays, 48 yards in 0:15.

INJURY UPDATE
* DT Cullen Jenkins suffered an apparent chest or shoulder injury. His shoulder pads are off on the sideline.

* QB Aaron Rodgers (shoulder) is not returning for now. Seventh-round draft pick Matt Flynn is on in his place. UPDATE: Rodgers is being held out as a coach's decision. He may return. Seems like a precarious place to make a coach's decision, but the Packers always are cautious with injuries under Mike McCarthy.UPDATE: Rodgers is back in with 2:26 to play.

* S Aaron Rouse was injured on a running play with 7:03 to go. Trainers appear to be working on his left knee. He'll be replaced by Charlie Peprah.

NOTES AND ANALYSIS
* Woodson has done it again. The Packers rushed four on the Bucs' third-and-3 play from the Packers 41. Bucs QB Brian Griese tried to hit Warrick Dunn on an outbreaking move from the backfield, but Woodson jumped it in match coverage and ran down the right sideline for the score -- much as he did on his return for a touchdown two weeks ago at Detroit. And just like that, Green Bay leads 21-20.

* Griese has been awful in the second half, throwing three interceptions in a little more than a quarter. For the day, he's 12-for-26, 115 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

* Desmond Bishop is playing some in place of WLB A.J. Hawk. That doesn't appear to be injury-related, though; the Packers are rotating linebackers heavily.

* Flynn's first snap yielded a false start on Allen Barbre, who was on as an extra blocker and promptly was pulled. His first series was as ugly as could be expected too -- two runs, two penalties and a woeful throw behind WR Greg Jennings on a slant that had a chance to be picked off. Combine that with a 38-yard punt by Derrick Frost and 19-yard return by Dexter Jackson, and it's on all on the defense once again. Those guys have to be dying; they've been on the field close to 60 percent of the time today.

* The Packers' depleted defense made another valiant stand on a short field, with Bishop getting a stop on third down to force a field-goal attempt. But that was enough to give Tampa a 23-21 lead.

* Rodgers took a beating all day, and what likely was his final play of the afternoon was no different. On second-and-10 from the Packers' 40, DE Greg White got a free shot on Rodgers from the blind side, and fellow DE Gaines Adams -- who had dropped in coverage -- got a cheap interception off the affected pass.

* The Packers' defense finally broke on the next play, as Earnest Graham ripped off a 47-yard run before finishing it off with a 1-yard TD plunge. Graham and Warrick Dunn have a combined 174 rushing yards on 36 carries. And this one's all but over.

* Rodgers' day indeed is over, leaving Flynn to run things the rest of the way. Which consisted of a four-and-out in which he didn't throw a ball more than 3 yards downfield.

So, the Packers fall to 2-2 and are awfully beat up. Bring your questions to the postgame chat by clicking here. I'll be back around 5 p.m. with answers.

-- Tom Pelissero, tpelisse@greenbaypressgazette.com

17 Comments:

Thank the lord. At least we can now say the crappy QB is a rookie and not a whiney, injury prone no talent.

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 2:44 PM  

Let Flynn throw the ball. Can't be worse then Aaron Rodgers. Oh wait, he can.

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 2:46 PM  

Packers management -
You are getting what you deserve! Fire Murphy and Thompson.

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 2:47 PM  

What? Rodgers is back in! Is there no humiliation to great for the Packers? Should have kept Flynn in. Rodgers looks more and more like a no talent ass!

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 3:01 PM  

McCarthy is going to get Rodgers killed.

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 3:06 PM  

McCarthy is a dumb a.. ! Third and one he runs sideways !! Stuffed!! Then third and one again and McCarthys going for it on fourth down if the pack dont make so lets pass it twice instead of running up the middle! How stupid are you McCarthy ? I also would like to say something to the idiot who said that TT and McCarthy are geniuses you are the biggest idiot on this paper you idiot!!!

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 3:15 PM  

AR as I said before is an injury prone QB ,the big wigs the made the decision to get rid of our QB Favre, should get on the train out of GB,we knew AR was a loser from the word go.LOSERS< LOSERS< LOSERS

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 3:18 PM  

Don't sign one of the better Defensive linemen from last year,
Get rid of a good putter,
I could script the plays prior to the snap,
And did anyone see Brett threw 5 TDs today.

I hope Rogers some day is a top notch starter, but not yet.

They say run sets up pass, I think last year pass set up run. We are in for an 8-8 season. TB is not a good team

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 3:26 PM  

Get a life you ignorant morons. TT didn't kick Favre out the door like you want to believe. They were going to let Favre play and he made the decision that he wanted to play elsewhere, it's Favre's own damn fault that he isn't in Green Bay anymore.

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 3:29 PM  

He wanted to play here just not as backup you dork!He knew AR wasn't ready to play starter.The team is going down hill from now on.LOSERS,LOSERS,LOSERS

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 3:37 PM  

To the stupid TT sycofant that said they wanted Brett and he decided to leave, just remember - drugs kill! Put yourself in rehab!

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 3:45 PM  

TT and MMc tried to play God and instead robbed the Packer Nation of chance to win another Super Bowl. GB offense is milk toast against any good defense....8 and 8 is my prediction. Good game Brett...6 TDs.

By Blogger AZ Packer Fan, At September 28, 2008 3:59 PM  

You people are ridiculous. Do you honestly think that Brett would have played well behind that offensive line? That's where I lay the majority of the blame for that loss, horrible Offensive line play. You blind haters can spew your vicious lunacy all you want, but your pining for any reason to spit venom at Aaron Rodgers and Ted Thompson is fooling nobody but your depraved selves.

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 4:12 PM  

LOSERS,LOSERS,LOSERS

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 4:26 PM  

Remember those days when we always knew our QB was going to be ou there fighting for us???

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 28, 2008 6:15 PM  

Brett Favre came back to Green Bay wanting to play. They wouldn't let him go to training camp and drove him out of Green Bay, splintering what was the most loyal fan base ever, dashing all Superbowl hopes and spitting in Favre's face. After 45 years of being a faithful fan, I am done with the Packers until the current management team is fired. They are arrogant jerks. Pure trash.Can't wait til they are driven out and they hire people who respect fans and faithful Green Bay Legends.Brett, we miss you!!!!!

By Anonymous Anonymous, At September 29, 2008 4:29 PM  

As far as I know, the O line is the same and one year more experienced than last year. Same starting running backs and receivers. This team took a huge running step backwards, because they let Brett go. He personally accounted for 5 wins last year. The 4 loses were all of MM change of game plan play calling. I recall MM stating in his Press conference after speaking with Brett, that he told Brett that "we are a better team with you as our QB" and that it was Bretts decision. Well they sure didn't try hard to convince him to stay.
40+ plus years as a fan, and I don't even care to watch them anymore, let alone hear MM make excuses.

By Anonymous Anonymous, At October 1, 2008 3:23 PM  

Post a Comment



<< Home