The "ugly win" is an age-old NFL adage, and the Green Bay Packers showed exactly what that looked like Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In their 17-14 win, the Packers looked anything but good most of the time. If the team wasn't playing a rookie quarterback in his first NFL start, you could even argue they didn't deserve to win. As we all know, though, deserve has nothing to do with it. Despite the sloppy play, the Packers won and moved to 2-2 in what is a season-salvaging win for now.
As the Packers celebrate their win and look ahead to a game against the division rival Chicago Bears, we'll take a look at some of the biggest reasons for the victory.
Five reasons for Packers' ugly win over Bucs in Week 4
1. Packers' offensive line
Typically found under reasons why the team has lost these last few weeks, the Packers' new-look offensive line was actually stellar.
Running out a starting lineup of Jordan Morgan, Laken Tomlinson, Sean Rhyan, Travis Glover, and Anthony Belton, the offensive line finally looked like a competent group and did its job.
The Packers allowed just two hits on Jordan Love, a huge improvement over the last few weeks. The Bucs did help a bit. According to ESPN Analytics and Next Gen Stats (via Rob Demovsky), they blitzed only 17 percent of the time (despite coming in with one of the league's highest blitz rates), but Green Bay will take the wins where they come.
The Packers had a 53 percent pass-block win rate, according to ESPN's stats, a new high for the group. With Kevin Zeitler likely ready to play next week, the arrow is seemingly pointing upward.
2. Fourth-down success
The Packers ended the game a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth-down tries, all coming on a single drive. During Green Bay's second possession, it converted on three separate fourth-down attempts, including one that saw them go back to the Tucker Kraft variant of a QB sneak that was so successful before his injury.
The last fourth-down try was a big one from the goal line that ended in a touchdown to wide receiver Matthew Golden.
While Green Bay was an ugly 2-of-10 on third-down tries, converting on fourth down was huge in the context of the game. It shows what can happen when they're more aggressive.
3. Evan Williams
Evan Williams was an absolute menace and made his presence felt on the field. The safety has played like an All-Pro throughout the first four games of the season. Early in the game, Williams picked off rookie Jalon Daniels on a beautiful, shin-sliding interception that led to the Packers' first touchdown drive.
After helping the Packers score their first points of the game, Williams helped the team to seal a win.
Late in the game, after the Buccaneers picked off Jordan Love and drove up the field, Williams made a series of big plays. On a 2nd-and-10 with just under two minutes left, Williams earned his first-ever NFL sack to push the Bucs even further back. He'd continue the pressure on the next two plays and help Green Bay clinch a win.
For a team that will now be without a huge presence on the defense in Edgerrin Cooper, Williams will need to continue stepping up to help the Packers defense.
4. Tucker Kraft
Tucker Kraft's lack of usage in Green Bay's offense has been something of note over the first three weeks. That changed on Sunday. Kraft had six receptions for just 42 yards, but scored one of the team's two touchdowns and once again displayed his ability to gain yards after the catch on a few key plays.
Although much of the Packers' offense was quiet on Sunday, Kraft's inclusion back into the majority of plans was a welcome sight. He tied the team lead in targets and appears to be on the right track.
5. Jordan Love
Although Love had one interception late in the game (which could also be blamed on poor play design), he played a rather great game on Sunday. Love finished with 22 completions on 30 passing attempts, 197 passing yards, and two touchdowns, with a 98.9 passer rating.
Like the past few weeks, the Packers' quarterback could've had a much bigger game if it were not for some big drops by players. Matthew Golden and Bo Melton specifically had some drops on what would've been massive gains, but despite the mishaps, Love still managed to have a solid day and led the team on enough scoring drives to win.
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