Green Bay with a stunning defensive breakdown leads to a huge Bucs play before halftime

The NFC Championship game heads to the halftime break with the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers holding a 21-10 lead over Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. A critical factor in that lead was a stunning defensive breakdown from the Packers defense, leading to a deep shot touchdown right before the half from Brady to Scotty Miller.

Given the situation, the ability of Miller to get outside and behind cornerback Kevin King is bewildering.

Here is a look at the play in question:

There are a couple of things to consider with this play. First off, the situation. The Buccaneers are without a timeout and with eight seconds left in the half, any throw between the numbers is going to likely end the first half as Tampa Bay cannot stop the clock. As such, you want to defend the boundaries and force every throw to the middle of the field.

The Buccaneers use a condensed bunch formation to the left, which makes that easier for the Packers. But King lets Miller get to the outside, which is the first mistake.

The second mistake is perhaps playing the coverage the Packers do on this play. Look at this play from the end zone angle:

Green Bay has a single safety deep, playing what looks to be Cover-3 on the play. That leaves King without help deep. So you would think that he would work doubly hard to prevent anyone getting over the top of him. Instead, Miller basically runs right past him and towards the outside, giving Brady a chance to connect on this shot play before the half and give them a huge lead at the break.

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Tony Dungy, who knows a thing or two about defense, had some thoughts:

Should the Packers go on to lose this game, many will point to this moment. With good reason.

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