The Packers escaped Tampa Bay with a win over the Buccaneers on Sunday. They might have the Raymond James Stadium video board to thank for it. Tom Brady pulled the Bucs within two on a touchdown pass to Russell Gage with just 14 seconds left, but a delay-of-game penalty on the ensuing — and failed — two-point try set them back five yards. Aaron Rodgers hinted after the game that if it weren’t for him, Tampa Bay might not have been penalized at all.
“Well they showed it on the previous play, too,” Rodgers said on the Fox broadcast. “It was a delay on both plays. Sometimes you see things in the game. Sometimes the Jumbotron shows things they probably shouldn’t show, even at home. I saw something, (and) I just passed on the information.”
For what it’s worth, the Bucs were not penalized for delay of game on their touchdown, a one-yard strike from Brady to Gage that cut the Packers’ lead from 14-6. Rodgers apparently noticed the uncalled infraction, however, and presumably alerted another team official, or spoke directly with the officiating crew. The delay of game on the two-point try was evident from the TV broadcast, though, so it’s unclear whether Rodgers actually had any influence on the call.
In any event, Brady could not connect with Gage again on Tampa Bay’s final offensive play, this time from the 7-yard line instead of the 2-yard line because of the penalty, and the Packers walked away with the victory.
Asked afterward about what went wrong, Brady simply chalked the Bucs’ finish up to “bad execution.” He also noted that his team has yet to hit a real offensive groove this season, which has made late-game drives more important than they need to be.
