David Moore got his first NFL touchdown on Dec. 17, 2023 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Credit: Photo via Buccaneers

Baker Mayfield has faced a lot of justified criticism about his ability to push the ball down the field and make the Buccaneers a better team. He hasn’t been bad enough to lose games for the Bucs, but certainly hasn’t been good enough to produce the dynamic plays the great quarterbacks of the game make on a weekly basis.

But you know what? On the not-quite-frozen-but-still-cold tundra of Lambeau Field Sunday afternoon, he looked like one of those elite guys who can put a team on his back and win you a game.

Baker wasn’t just taking care of the ball and making the clean safe throws every time (although he certainly did so when necessary), he was also making things happen and completing some really tight throws that added up to a perfect passer rating game along with 381 yards passing and four touchdowns.

That’s undoubtedly his best game as a Buc, and was the biggest reason Tampa Bay was able to get its record back to .500 in a 34-20 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

The Baker man incorporated his very talked-about wide receiver Chris Godwin heavily throughout the day, as the Penn State man and husband of active Instagramer Mariah DelPercio racked up a whopping 155 yards receiving on 10 catches.

A couple guys even got their first touchdowns as Bucs, with receiver and recent practice squad addition David Moore making things a bit more dramatic than necessary on his way to a 52-yard catch-and-run TD where he almost had the ball stripped away from him right before he crossed the goal line due to a preemptive celebration.

Tight end and blocking specialist Ko Kieft got his first NFL tuddy with a two-yard catch in the third quarter, with Mike Evans and Rachaad White hauling in the rest of Mayfield’s quartet of touchdowns.

The defense was fine, with the big story on that side of the ball being linebacker Devin White being marked as healthy inactive, as the Bucs decided to go with third-year man KJ Britt, who had himself an impressive day with a tackle for loss amongst his six total tackles for the day.

White told coaches he “couldn’t go” after being told he wasn’t starting, and has reportedly had an attitude that has “not sat well with some teammates and coaches” according to a report by Rick Stroud. Now there are questions about whether or not we’ve seen the last of the former Pro Bowler in a Bucs uniform.

As the Bucs look to the future with their roster and likely have to replace both of their current starting linebackers, Britt’s emergence as a contributor could ease a bit of that burden.

Packers QB Jordan Love still did his thing, throwing for 284 yards and a pair of touchdowns to no interceptions, and the Bucs couldn’t force any turnovers for the day, but they at least didn’t completely blow up at any point in the game, coming through with a huge goal line stand in the first quarter and forcing the Packers to settle for a couple field goals in the red zone.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles even got uncharacteristically aggressive late in the game, going for it on fourth-and-two from the Green Bay 41 in the fourth quarter; the run by Rachaad White (no, it wasn’t a toss play this time) picked up a first down to seal the game.

Around the division, there was a huge upset with the Carolina Panthers nailing a last second, game winning field goal in their oh-so-exciting 9-7 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, who fell to 6-8 and third place in the NFC South behind the still-first-place Bucs and the suddenly-second-place Saints.

The significance of this victory over the Packers really can’t be overstated; now the Bucs can play incredibly loose at home against the on-paper far superior Jacksonville Jaguars (who’ll be at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Christmas Eve for a 4:05 p.m. kickoff) while perhaps looking ahead to their two key divisional matchups to close out the season against those Saints and the now 2-12 Panthers to end the year.

I’m not sold that the Bucs can pull off the upset next Sunday at home (we’ll get to that in another article), but even if not, Sunday’s win makes it almost meaningless. If they win the following two games against their divisional foes, the Falcons’ loss to the Panthers ensures the division crown stays in Tampa for a third consecutive year, something that’s never happened in franchise history.

So fire those damn cannons, it’s a great week to be a Bucs fan.
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