The Green Bay Packers got their second victory of the season, beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17-14 in what many would call an ugly win. While it is still a good sign that things are heading in the right direction, the game still showed growing pains. The Buccaneers went into the game with undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels, who certainly looked like a rookie, throwing two picks with a 65 passer rating. Despite the poor game by the rookie, he did what he needed to do to keep it close, completing 70 percent of his passes.
This was a meeting between two teams that are in a similar situation; neither team has gotten off to a great start, and both have fan bases that are growing tired of the people in charge. Both teams’ head coaches might be getting close to the end of their rope, and for Bucs head coach Todd Bowles, the seat has never been hotter. For Green Bay, this was a huge win to get back to a .500 win percentage ahead of next week’s showdown with a first-place Bears team.
The offensive line for this Green Bay Packers team has been a massive issue all season. Whether it be penalties or failing to protect in the passing and running game, the offensive line has been the Achilles’ heel of this team in 2026. Against Tampa Bay, however, the unit actually looked competent enough to be in the “winners” column for the first time all season.
It’s fair to say that the line was winners before the game was even played because after an abysmal performance last week, the team added three new players to the line. Three veterans with real experience in this league, Laken Tomlinson, Mekhi Becton, and Kevin Zeitler, were all added. Only Tomlinson was activated and actually started the game at guard before leaving with an injury. Adding some stability to this unit will help immensely, and it already showed in Week Four with zero sacks allowed and only two QB hits per ESPN, by far the best performance of the year so far.
It may seem unfair to call Edgerrin Cooper a “loser” when he had some truly outstanding play on Sunday, but losing him for the year to an Achilles injury is a massive hill to climb. Cooper has been on the rise since entering the league in 2024 and was off to a great start this year. Before the injury happened, Cooper may have been having his best game of the season. He got nine tackles, one sack, and got an interception right before the half, which stopped a Tampa Bay score heading into the break.
Cooper joins a laundry list of Packers starters who are now injured or, in the case of Josh Jacobs, unavailable for use. Micah Parsons, Jayden Reed, Aaron Banks, and Zach Bako-Bewele are just some of the key names who have dealt with injury. Adding Cooper to that will just make things more difficult for Green Bay.
Another player from that 2024 draft class who has been rising is safety Evan Williams. Williams has had a great start to his 2026 campaign, and Sunday’s game may have just been his best of the season so far. He was making plays all over the field and in different ways. He had seven tackles, one interception, two pass breakups, and a huge fourth-quarter sack where he came completely unblocked to bring down the quarterback.
Williams has been an unsung hero in Green Bay for a while now, but his level of play this year is starting to put him on the map with fans and media alike. The former fourth-round pick is cementing himself as one of the more reliable safeties in the league and is already a top player on this defense.
To be completely honest, the Green Bay Packers’ running attack as a whole has been extremely mediocre, but Kaleb Johnson has been a disappointment thus far. To his credit, in Sunday’s game he did average over five yards per carry thanks to a 31-yard run where he was caught from behind.
Despite the big run, Johnson finished with just 42 yards, which means his seven other carries resulted in just 11 total yards, which isn’t going to cut it. On top of that, Johnson had a huge fumble inside the five-yardline late in the fourth quarter. That fumble was referenced by Matt LaFluer in a post-game interview, where he mentioned that players will be benched if those mistakes continue.
Jordan Love played himself a pretty clean game on Sunday. He was very efficient, going 22/30 for 197 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged over six yards per throw and finished with a 98.9 passer rating. He did throw one interception late in the game, which was easily his worst throw of the afternoon, and that needs to be cleaned up.
With Love actually being able to work from a clean pocket, he was able to take his time and go through his progressions. It can’t be overstated just how bad the line had been this season before Sunday’s game. Though Love has had some ups and downs, this week was a nice step in the right direction. He has shown time and time again that he can make an impact with the right talent around him.
This was no doubt a sloppy game for the Packers, but it was still a much-needed win against a winless Buccaneers team. The defense played very well, while the offense was mostly okay but still could be better. This running game is begging for a shot in the arm to get going. With the first-place Chicago Bears coming to town next week, Green Bay will need to shut down what is possibly the best offense in the entire NFL.
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