TAMPA - Leading by 11 points early in the fourth quarter on Sunday, the Green Bay Packers certainly were in position to keep the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winless in 2009.
But a litany of mistakes in all three phases of the game damaged the Packers down the stretch, and that pile of miscues cost them what should have been their fifth win of the season in a 38-28 defeat.
"It shows if you don't play well in any phase of the game," cornerback Tramon Williams said, "you're going to get beat by whoever it is."
The phase that broke down first in the latter stages was special teams. Right after quarterback Aaron Rodgers scrambled for a 12-yard touchdown to put the Packers ahead 28-17 with just under 13 minutes left, the kickoff coverage unit allowed Tampa Bay's Clifton Smith to return the ensuing kickoff 83 yards to the Green Bay 17-yard line.
After Smith broke through the initial wave of pursuit, it appeared linebacker Desmond Bishop and Williams both had a chance to tackle him at around the Green Bay 35. But he stayed on his feet beyond that and got the ball into the red zone, setting up an easy three-play touchdown drive that got the Buccaneers back within one score.
After the Packers punted from midfield, it was the defense's turn to struggle. Having only allowed one long drive of consequence on the day - for a field goal at the end of the first half - the defense fell apart at the worst possible time.
It started with what could have been the game-saving play, as A.J. Hawk intercepted rookie quarterback Josh Freeman's pass over the middle. But Hawk was called for illegal contact on the play, negating the turnover.
It was a tough break, because replays showed Hawk's contact with the Tampa Bay receiver was right around the legal 5-yard bump zone, but the back judge way down the field fired his flag.
"I don't know, it's almost like a court case where you can't really say anything," said Hawk, careful not to make any controversial comments. "He called it so obviously he saw something there, the ref did. That's up to him. I would have liked to have it, but we need to move on. We needed to get a big stop after that and we didn't, so give them some credit."
Eventually Freeman converted a third-and-7, one of only three third downs Tampa Bay converted in the game, with a 29-yard pass to Michael Clayton on an underthrown ball that cornerback Al Harris didn't react to. And then receiver Sammie Stroughter beat reserve cornerback Jarrett Bush on a fade pattern to the corner of the end zone on fourth-and-4 from the 7-yard line, giving Tampa Bay the lead in the game for the first time.
"If you give a team that hasn't won a game confidence in the fourth quarter, they'll make some plays to beat you," nose tackle Ryan Pickett said. "They'll get the momentum and beat you. We had opportunities to put this team away early, and later, and we never did. And we paid for it."
Finally it was the offense that crumbled at crunch time. Getting two possessions in the final four minutes down by just three points, the Packers gave up three of their six sacks in the game and guard Daryn Colledge was called for a costly offensive holding penalty that wiped out an 8-yard Rodgers scramble on third down that would have moved the chains.
"We shot ourselves in the foot far too many times," Colledge said. "It's the same story. It's too many penalties, too many mistakes, too many sacks."
{sportsad300}Ultimately the final blunder came when Rodgers was intercepted for the third time in the game, trying to make a play on fourth down, and Tanard Jackson returned the pick 35 yards for the game-clinching score.
Even more frustrating, the late-game mistakes were far from the only ones for the Packers. The special teams had a punt blocked that was returned for a touchdown, and fumbled a kickoff that forced the offense to start on its own 4-yard line.
The defense let the Buccaneers come out from their own 6-yard line at the end of the first half and drive 74 yards for a field goal.
And the offense twice had possessions in the second quarter start in Tampa Bay territory, only to go three-and-out and get no points. Two earlier interceptions, one leading to an easy Buccaneers touchdown, also proved costly.
"We've got to be better all around - offense, defense, special teams," linebacker Nick Barnett said. "We're repeating some mistakes, and that just has to do with each player. We have to be responsible and make sure we don't do that type of stuff. It's definitely disappointing and frustrating, knowing we could have won this game. It was that close, and we let it slip through our fingers."
