Tampa’s jumbotron tablet flash could have won the Packers the game on Sunday

Sep 26, 2022 - 9:37 PM

After the Green Bay Packers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14-12 in Week 3, quarterback Aaron Rodgers was interviewed on the field and made a claim on television that the Buccaneers’ own jumbotron helped the Packers out on the two-point play that kept the game from going into overtime.

Reporter: What was going through you during the two-point conversion, especially after you saw the fact that they took the five-yard penalty?

Rodgers: Well they should’ve on the previous play, too. 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.

This started the speculation on what could have been shown on the jumbotron, details that Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has refused to comment on. These were his comments on the subject in the post-game presser on Sunday night:

Reporter: Did Aaron Rodgers see something that he came to you with before the two-point play?

LaFleur, smiling: Uh, yeah. We were talking about a few things. I’m not gonna share that. No.

On Monday, he was again asked about the subject twice, to which he replied, “That’s a question for Aaron,” twice. Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles also had to field questions on the situation today and claimed that he’s going to meet with his operations team later on Monday to discuss the incident.

Reporter 1: Have you talked to your ops people maybe not putting a camera on the sideline? Have you made any decision like that?

Bowles: We’re meeting this afternoon.

Reporter 2: Is this something that could have played a strategic advantage, could have actually been a factor in being aware of what might be coming?

Bowles: I don’t know. I would have to see it and talk to the people first.

Reporter 3: Have you ever experienced anything like that on any of the other teams that you’ve been a part of?

Bowles: No.

Maybe we get some clarity on the situation on Tuesday, when Rodgers sits down to do his weekly The Pat McAfee Show appearance, as neither head coach seems to want to comment on Sunday’s jumbotron. Maybe no one will ever tell the story of what exactly happened to end the game in Week 3.

According to multiple posters on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ largest subreddit, /r/buccaneers, though, fans are apparently claiming that the jumbotron was showing a shot of Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady before their two-point conversion attempt while Brady was holding a sideline tablet of a play diagram. On that two-point conversion, inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell was in a position to take away a shallow route in front of him while also keeping a close enough distance to tip a pass that was intended to a target running a deeper route behind him along the backline of the end zone.

After the game, Campbell told the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s Ryan Wood, “I just went to my instincts...Two by two, every time they motion that receiver in, we know it’s a snag route. So I just went to my instincts and tried to make a play,” and “I knew what route they were running. So I just had to get in that window and just read the quarterback from there.”

Safety Darnell Savage, who covered the backline route, claimed he wasn’t supposed to cover that route based on the play call that came in, per Wood. According to the Packers players, they had previously practiced the play in the preparation for facing the Buccaneers.