Three Overreactions From Packers’ Win Over Buccaneers Include Pain, Slop

Here are our three big takeaways following the Green Bay Packers’ hold-on-for-dear-life victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur walks onto the field before the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

GREEN BAY, Wis. – A win is a win. The Green Bay Packers took care of business, beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17-14 on Sunday.

It was a huge win, let’s make that clear. The distance between 2-2 and 1-3 is one game in the standings but miles apart in reality. However, speaking of reality, a reality check is coming.

The Packers’ two wins have come against teams with one win. Their four games have come against teams with six wins. The FCS portion of the schedule is over. The big boys are coming.

Can the Packers compete?

Let’s dive in with this week’s Overreactions.

1. Maybe They Are Cursed

Leave it to center Sean Rhyan to provide the real talk.

Asked about Edgerrin Cooper’s Achilles injury, Rhyan said: “We’ve been kind of hit with some type of curse, it seems like.”

There’s no such thing as curses. Right? Well, here’s the season-ending carnage from the last 11 months.

From 2025: Tight end Tucker Kraft’s torn ACL, center Elgton Jenkins’ broken leg with ligament damage, defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt’s broken leg with ligament damage, right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele’s partially torn patellar tendon, edge rusher Micah Parsons’ torn ACL.

From 2026: Receiver Jayden Reed’s neck injury, Bako-Bewele’s complete tear of the same patellar tendon and, now linebacker Edgerrin Cooper’s torn Achilles.

Those are just the big-name players. It seems like every injury is a major injury, whether it’s Warren Brinson slipping on the practice field or Cooper looking to see who tripped him following a noncontact injury on Sunday.

Statistically, the Packers weren’t especially injured last season. It’s just that they suffered some season-ending injuries to big-time players at about the worst possible time. This year, according to Rotowire’s weighted severity score, the Packers entered Week 4 ranked 10th in injuries.

Some injuries are easy to explain. Last year, Rhyan’s foot hit Kraft’s knee against Carolina. Brinson fell on Wyatt at Detroit. Other injuries are harder to explain because of their noncontact nature. Why did Parsons’ knee give out on him at Denver? Why did Cooper’s Achilles tear at Tampa Bay? Should Bako-Bewele have had a more extensive surgery last season in hopes of preventing this year’s injury? Who knows – that decision was made by the team and Bako-Bewele’s team using the best information available.

Everyone wants to know who to blame, and the answer is I don’t know. It would be impossible to figure out how much the Packers spend on their strength and conditioning program, let alone get those numbers from the other 31 teams to add some context. Money wouldn’t be the only measuring stick, anyway.

The Packers hired a new strength and conditioning staff in 2024, led by Aaron Hill, and he implemented some obvious changes in creating a more extensive and dynamic warm-up routine. The reality, though, is if there was one tried-and-true way for players to stay healthy, every team would be doing it. In last year’s NFLPA report card, the training room and staff got a C (the training room has since been updated, to Parsons’ approval) and the strength coaches got a B.

Coach Matt LaFleur played his starters in the preseason based on a study that found that players who play in the preseason tend to be healthier in the regular season. Well, so much for that.

It would be easy to chalk it up to bad luck. Or a curse. Maybe the Packers really have just been unlucky and the Injury Gods will grace them for the rest of the decade.

What’s undeniable is injuries ruined last season – they were 9-3-1 entering the Denver game in which Parsons and Bako-Bewele went down – and probably have ruined this season, too. In our preseason roster rankings, which are based on skill and salary (rather than just skill), Parsons was second, Bako-Bewele was eighth, Cooper was 11th and Reed was 16th. They are critical players, and they’re all out for the season.

How does a team that had a limited margin for error, anyway, overcome the losses of some of their best players? That seems impossible, especially with how the healthy players have performed.

2. UNDISCIPLINED (All-Caps Required)

The Packers really should have blown out the Buccaneers. Jordan Love vs. an undrafted rookie at quarterback? Especially Love with time in the pocket against a rookie quarterback? That’s an all-time mismatch.

Instead, the Packers held on for dear life because of their own inability to do elementary-level things.

The Packers were guilty of 10 penalties for 66 yards. The Buccaneers were guilty of only four penalties for 17 yards. This wasn’t one-sided refereeing, as you might argue was the case at Minnesota in Week 1. This was a one-sided lack of discipline.

“We’ve got to clean up the penalties,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “We’re stagnant right now, we’re moving backwards a lot of the time and not having positive plays and it’s putting us in some tough third-down situations.”

Green Bay Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd (32) leaps over Buccaneers cornerback Zyon McCollum. He fumbled at the end of the play. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

If you think that was a postgame comment, no, it wasn’t. That’s what Love said on Wednesday.

Good thing everyone was listening to the captain’s message.

The Packers have been guilty of 48 total penalties and 42 accepted penalties. Only the Browns with 51 and 43, respectively, have been guilty of more. By penalty yards, the Packers are first (or worst) with 344. There have been 17 pre-snap penalties and 10 holding penalties.

The NFL records for most penalties and yards in a season belong to the 2011 Raiders, who were guilty of 163 accepted infractions for 1,358 yards. This year’s Packers are on pace for 179 penalties for 1,462 yards. The franchise records are 135 penalties for 1,103 yards.

Plus, there were two red-zone fumbles – MarShawn Lloyd foolishly trying to run over Antoine Winfield and Kaleb Johnson at the goal line.

On offense, the Packers lead the NFL in fumbles and drops. On defense, they are second in first downs allowed by penalties.

“We also have to clean up a lot of stuff,” LaFleur said, rightly agitated after the game. “Like, too many penalties, turnovers. Ball-carriers have got to hold onto the ball. We put the ball on the ground way too much. And this stuff’s got to get fixed and it’s got to get fixed now.”

That sounds good, but will it actually happen? The reality is the Packers are an undisciplined team with no signs of progress. Penalties and fumbles are part of the game, but LaFleur’s team has an ongoing problem. At this point, the only Super Bowl that the Packers will be competing for is the Super Bowl of Slop.

3. How Will Packers Compete?

The Packers are 2-2, which is probably what most of us were thinking at the start of the season by projecting a loss to the Vikings, a win at the Jets, a win over the Falcons and a loss to the Buccaneers. The path to 2-2 veered a bit, but they are .500.

That’s a win.

But now what? The Bears are coming to town on Sunday; they are 3-1 and just won back-to-back games with backup quarterbacks. After that, they will host the Cowboys, who are 2-2 with a walk-off loss to the powerhouse Ravens. Then, it’s off to Detroit, which is 2-2 with a superb top of the roster. Then, it’s a short-week home game against the Panthers, who looked phenomenal on offense in beating the Lions to improve to 2-2.

It doesn’t get easier after that with a game at the Patriots (2-2 but reigning AFC champs), a home game against the undefeated Vikings (4-0), road games at the Rams (2-2 and Super Bowl favorites) and Saints (1-2; host Atlanta on Monday), and home against Buffalo (3-1).

The Packers went 2-1 against the Jets, Falcons and Buccaneers, who have a combined record of 2-9. Those eight teams coming up have a combined record of 21-14.

The Packers had to hang on for dear life against the winless Bucs. An offense led by Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur ranks 27th with 18.3 points per game.

On the bright side, the offensive line was solid against the Bucs and should get better once Kevin Zeitler enters at right guard and the new front builds chemistry week after week. With time, Love can carve up defenses. If Love has time, Christian Watson, Matthew Golden and Tucker Kraft can make things happen.

Losing Edgerrin Cooper was a devastating blow. If the defense can hang in there until the All-Pro version of Micah Parsons returns, the Packers will have a chance to make a run at the playoffs.

However, until they stop shooting themselves in the foot, these Packers won’t be running anywhere but off a cliff and into a pile of slop of their own reaction.

Professor @JacobWestendorf has the grades from the Packers’ win over the Buccaneers. ⬇️https://t.co/P95BgSiQNH

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 5, 2026

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