NFL: Tampa Bay's ship still sinking

And Brett Favre didn't even have to lead the charge Sunday, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers raised the white flag early in a 20-13 loss -- their third straight and their fourth in five home games at Raymond James Stadium.

Favre was able to rest his broken right thumb and simply hand the ball off to his running backs as the Packers shredded the once-vaunted Buccaneer defense for 190 yards on the ground.

In the process, Green Bay (5-5) basically shredded the playoff hopes of the defending Super Bowl champions, dropping Tampa Bay to 4-6. The Bucs host the New York Giants next Monday night.

An improbable 17-play, 98-yard drive that chewed up 9:42 in the third and fourth quarter was the death knell for Tampa Bay.

Ahman Green, Najeh Davenport and Tony Fisher rushed for 64 yards on the drive, with Green capping it off from a yard out for the winning score.

With Carolina eking out a win over Washington, the Panthers stretched their lead in the NFC South over the Bucs to four games, and Tampa Bay actually fell a game behind New Orleans, which beat Atlanta. Philadelphia's win over the Giants and wins by Seattle and St. Louis kept those teams firmly ahead in the race for the two wild card spots.

"I apologize to the Tampa Bay fans. That was not good enough," Bucs head coach Jon Gruden said to start his postgame press conference. He then went on to say that he has scheduled mandatory work for today and that he expects, "every man to finish this season with authority."

The fresh memory of watching his team again commit drive-killing penalties and allow the opponent to convert critical third downs left Gruden at a loss for words. Many of his players had the same problem.

Yet, there the Bucs were, tied at 13-13 early in the third quarter after Brad Johnson connected with Keenan McCardell on a 5-yard touchdown pass that was set up by Thomas Jones' 51-yard run. Jones also had a 61-yard run in the first half and finished with 134 yards on just nine carries.

A mistake by Favre that resulted in a Tavaris Robinson interception seemed to give Tampa Bay the momentum. Jones followed with a couple of nice runs, bringing the ball to the Packers 34 -- and then the roof completely caved in.

Cornell Green got caught holding, pushing the ball back 10 yards, and then Kenyatta Walker was flagged for grabbing the facemask, negating an 11-yard pass to Keyshawn Johnson and eventually forcing a punt.

"We're on the brink of cashing in and really turning the tide in this football game," Gruden said.

"Once again critical key penalties help us lose field position."

Tupa's 52-yard punt pinned the Packers deep in the shadow of their end zone -- which wound up playing right into their hands.

In the first half, Favre drove the Packers 52 yards on nine plays on their second possession, finishing it off with a 5-yard scoring pass to Fisher. He went 13-of-28 for 92 yards and an interception in a relatively quiet day for the future Hall of Famer.

A fumble by Brad Johnson at his own 22 led to a Ryan Longwell field goal from 31 yards, giving Green Bay a 10-0 lead. Johnson also threw two interceptions -- one on the last play of the game -- and had an uncharacteristically low quarterback rating of 57.0.

It was at that point Gruden said he sensed his team was in a funk.

"That first half was probably the most hideous I've ever been in of all the games," said Walker, who also claimed this was his best game at left tackle since moving over from the right three weeks ago.

Jones provided a spark with his 61-yard run on the first play following the kickoff, getting tripped up by Green Bay linebacker Hannibal Navies before he could get in for the score.

The Bucs settled for a 24-yard field goal by La Belle High graduate Martin Gramatica, who became the team's all-time leading scorer with the kick, passing Michael Husted.

Longwell and Gramatica traded field goals again, with Longwell hitting from 33 yards and Gramatica connecting from 47 as time expired in the first half, allowing the Packers to carry a 13-6 lead into the tunnel.

"The execution wasn't there and it's disappointing," said Bucs safety John Lynch, in his 11th year with the team. "You expect more out of yourself, you expect more of us as a team and we aren't getting it done. We'll continue to work to try to get it done. We'll stick together."

Similar things were said after last week's 27-24 loss at Carolina, and different motivational tactics were tried by Gruden during the week. But on this day, Green Bay sensed the urgency more and breathed life back into its playoff hopes -- while at the same time sucking the life out of Tampa Bay's.