The Good, Bad and Ugly From Buccaneers' 17-14 Loss to the Packers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-4 after a dreadful start to the season. Head coach Todd Bowles is on the hot seat, and that seat is growing hotter after the Bucs lost 17-14 to the Green Bay Packers at home.

It was quarterback Jalon Daniels' debut for the team, but the offense wasn't able to get much going all day. Although there was one bright spot, most of Tampa Bay's performance was lackluster, and it ended with yet another loss.

Here's the good, bad and ugly from the Bucs latest home loss:

Good

Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Jacob Parrish (25) celebrates after he intercepts a pass by the Green Bay Packers | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Bucs Secondary

The Bucs' secondary played well on Sunday.

They had an interception on Jordan Love when Jacob Parrish made an excellent play on the ball to stop a red zone scoring attempt. Before that, the Bucs secondary comboed for another red zone turnover — safety Tykee Smith knocked the ball out of Packers running back Kaleb Johnson's hands and defensive back Zyon McCollum jumped on top of it.

Those two game-changing plays were huge for Tampa Bay's defense.

Bad

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving (7) carries the ball against the Minnesota Vikings during the second quarter at Raymond James Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Jalon Daniels

Given that Daniels was a UDFA rookie in his first start, he didn't play nearly as bad as he could have — he made plays with his legs and had a touchdown pass to his name.

That being said, he did throw two interceptions, and he also self-admittedly missed a protection call on 4th & 11 that allowed a free blitzer. With 148 yards through the air, it wasn't a great performance, but that was to be expected from the rookie and there's still a lot of good to take away from the experience.

The Run Game

The Bucs were hoping to rely on the run game to help Daniels in his first start, and that didn't quite happen. Outside of Daniels' 55 yards on the ground, the running backs were lackluster.

Running back Bucky Irving averaged just 3.8 yards per attempt, Sean Tucker just 3.3 yards per attempt (more on that later) and Kenny Gainwell a dreadful 1.7 yards per attempt. Tampa Bay wasn't able to get much going on the ground consistently, and if it can't run the ball and has trouble passing it, then what does it have as an identity?

Ugly

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles looks on during the game against the Green Bay Packers | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Pass Rush

Prior to this game, Packers quarterback Jordan Love had been hit in the pocket 31 times — eight more than the next most-hit quarterback. On Sunday? He was hit just twice.

The pass rush has been a problem for the Bowles and the Bucs for almost his entire tenure as head coach, and even with a few new additions, it remains a problem. Bowles told reporters Sunday that Love was getting the ball out fast, but other teams have seemed to get to him where the Bucs could not.

What's the way forward for Tampa Bay's pass rush? It's hard to say. But something has to change.

Personnel Usage

Tampa Bay's personnel usage remains interesting at this stage of the year.

Tucker may have averaged just 3.3 yards per carry, but that's because he had only three carries. One saw him get stuffed, but another saw him get eight yards on fourth-and-one and another saw him find the end zone for a touchdown — he wasn't used after that.

Outside linebacker David Walker got the most snaps he's ever gotten in a game on Sunday, but he should be getting more. He moved Jordan Love off his spot on a one pressure to force an incompletion and remains Tampa Bay's best pass rusher via pressure rate (26.1%, via SumerSports). Walker simply must get on the field more, but instead, he was the fourth-most played edge rusher against the Packers on Sunday.

Offensive Playcalling

Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson's playcalling remains interesting.

The Buccaneers ran 11 personnel on 55 of their 61 offensive snaps in Week 4, despite having four tight ends on the roster and using 12 and 13 personnel quite a bit in Week 3. What's even more baffling is that tight end Cade Otton, who is the one tight end in most of these plays, was the second-most targeted player on the team with 6 targets.

On top of that, screen passes are very common and plays behind the line of scrimmage continue to be a notable problem. The Bucs had eight passes behind the line of scrimmage on Sunday, which accounted for almost 30% of Daniels' attempts over the course of the game. That included a screen pass on 3rd & 16 with the game on the line, which doesn't do much for the offense.

This offense is currently too timid to push the ball down the field and can't find a way to get the ball to its wide receivers. That's a bad place to be.

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