NFL: Tampa Bay defense 'got what we deserved'

Brooks, last year's NFL Defensive Player of the Year and the leader of the defense from his outside linebacker position, had bloodshot eyes and a look of consternation as he stood by his locker.

For the third straight week and the fourth time this season, an opposing offense was able to drive down the field at will and score to win the game. This time it was a 98-yard drive on 17 plays, with the Packers running right at Tampa Bay all the way down the field.

Lynch, moments earlier, spoke softly and looked as if he had seen a ghost before he headed out of the locker room.

"I really thought after halftime we came out with some good energy and came out and had a couple of good stops, then we ran that offensive series where we got a bunch of penalties," Lynch said. "And we pin them down and we have to be able to keep them down there and give the offense another chance, and we didn't."

"We got what we deserved," said Brooks, who vowed to come back next week against the New York Giants and fight harder, but who also didn't have an answer for the poor play. "We're in this position and we've got to come out of it."

Before the season, coming off a Super Bowl victory and a No. 1 ranking overall, the players were talking about wanting to be considered among the best defenses of all time. Their calling card was their ability to tackle better than anybody else, race to the ball faster than anybody else and close out opponents when they needed to score late.

Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin looked just as shocked as Lynch and Brooks and tried to emphasize the positives, like how well the Bucs played against the pass. But he couldn't ignore the problems that again were exposed -- specifically the tackling -- in a game that saw Green Bay put up 190 yards on the ground.

"We didn't tackle well," Kiffin admitted. "I thought early we tackled pretty good but then late we didn't. On that drive there were times their guys were falling forward. They got too many yards after contact and we've got to tackle better than that."

Kiffin couldn't come up with an answer for why the team didn't tackle well, but pointed out how many times they were not able to come up with stops on third down. He said the Bucs gave the Packers too many snaps and they have to get better at that.

Of course, the problem seemed to be corrected last season before bad things happened the way they did Sunday.