How did the Packers fare against the Buccaneers and Saints in 2020?
There will be a rematch in the NFC Championship. We don’t know who the Green Bay Packers will face on Jan. 24. However, they played both the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the regular season.
The results were split.
The Packers, who defeated the Los Angeles Rams Saturday in a Divisional round game 32-18, opened the regular season with four consecutive victories.
The third in that stretch came against the Saints.
Aaron Rodgers passed for 283 yards and three touchdowns, and the Packers scored 10 points in the final nine minutes to pull out a 37-30 victory on Sept. 27 in New Orleans.
The decisive drive got going when Rodgers tight end Jace Sternberger for a 23-yard gain and later drew a pass interference call in the end zone on a third-down play, which set up the Robert Tonyan TD with two minutes left.
Davante Adams did not play due to a hamstring injury and Rodgers still had a field day.
Two weeks later, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dealt the Packers their first loss of the season … in emphatic fashion.
Rodgers had one of the worst games of his career in the 38-10 drubbing on Oct. 18. Green Bay actually led 10-0 before allowing 38 straight points.
Rodgers completed 16-of-35 passes for 160 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions — one was returned for a pick-6 touchdown by Jamel Dean for the Bucs’ first points — to finish with a 35.4 passer rating.
“You don’t ever want to lose like this,” Rodgers said after the loss. “I felt like we needed a little bit of a wakeup call at some point this season because things have been so good and there’s been so much talk — maybe (more so) outside the building — about the ease with which we’re moving the ball on offense and scoring.”
Rodgers had been sacked three times in the first four games. The Bucs got him four times.
Tom Brady was 17-of-27 for 166 yards and two TDs without an interception. Rob Gronkowski led the Bucs with five receptions for 78 yards.
