The roller coaster that is the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season was back up on Sunday.

After reaching arguably its lowest point of the season following an ugly Thursday night loss to the Bears, the Bucs continued their up-and-down year with an impressive 38-10 win over the previously unbeaten Packers.

This one was more about the Tampa defense forcing Green Bay to flat out quit more than anything Brady or the offense did, but, it’s all about progress for Tampa Bay at this point and they showed quite a bit of it while moving to 4-2 on the year.

“”We just took control of the game,” said Bucs coach Bruce Arians. “The main thing was that we were giving up little stuff here and there with [Aaron Rodgers] buying extra time. When we got that settled on the sideline, we were able to lock in, get to play our defense the way we want to and being able to go out there, wreak havoc and have fun.”

Green Bay actually led 10-0 in this one, but, a pick-six from Jamel Dean early in the second quarter completely changed the game, cutting it to 10-7 and sparking a 28-point quarter for Tampa Bay.

After Ronald Jones (113 yards on 23 carries) punched in a short touchdown, Brady found Tyler Johnson for a 7-yard TD and then old buddy Gronk on a beautifully thrown 12-yard TD to the back left corner of the end zone to make it 28-10 heading into halftime. Gronk finally got to spike the ball in his home end zone this season, but it was a bit different.

“”That was my first left-handed spike in my career. It was kind of weak, from the ratings I’ve been getting. They don’t understand – I thought it was a 10 out of 10 for my left hand,” Gronkowski said. “It felt good to get back in the end zone. It’s been quite some time and it just feels real good to get my first with the Buccaneers.

Gronk has obviously been quiet this year, but, the big tight end hauled in 5 catches for 78 yards and the connection looked just like the one New England fans were used to for a long time.

“Really, it’s the coverage,” said Arians of Brady finally connecting with Gronk consistently. “The coverage dictates and Tom [Brady] made some great throws on crossing routes. The one was right in front of me and it’s just a matter of spreading the ball around to who’s open. That’s a big target in the middle of the field. For him to continue to play like that will be huge for us.”

“He played great today,” Brady said of Gronk. “I want to try and keep getting him and (Cam) Brate the ball, the tight ends can really help us out. It takes pressure off the receivers, we’ve just got to keep building and growing.”

As for the pick-six that sparked the rest of the day for the Bucs, Brady acknowledged he’d seen it from this defense a few times before.

“Jamel made a hell of a play, he did that to us a few times in training camp and that really sparked us today,” Brady said of the pick-six. “Not turning the ball over helped a lot. Not being behind in down and distance helped a lot.”

With Aaron Rodgers and the Packers basically quitting in the second half, Brady and the offense got a 50-yard field goal from Ryan Succop and another short TD run from Jones to cap the scoring for the day.

Zero turnovers was a big step in the right direction, but, it was the zero penalties that were somewhat stunning given how undisciplined the Bucs have been so far this season.

“There’s no doubt – that is the standard. Knock on wood [we] stay healthy, and keep preparing on the practice field,” Arians said. “I could’ve told you last Thursday we were going to play [well]. We had Thursday and Friday practices that we’ve never had before. We’ve had great practices, but there was something special in the air on Thursday and Friday’s practices.”

Arians has never softened up his criticism or complements when talking about players, which is something we all thought may blow up in his face after bashing Brady following Week 1. Now, it seems as if the two are truly starting to gel (until the next ugly loss), and Arians had some high praise for TB12’s recent performance.

“”He’s been playing great football,” Arians added. “It’s a totally different type of game every single week. Sometimes you can win with the run game. Sometimes you can win with the pass game. He’s just doing a great job adjusting on the fly to whatever it is.”