The Buccaneers needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive and boy did they get one.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers absolutely bludgeoned the Carolina Panthers in all three phases of the game en route to a 48-14 win.
First Quarter
The Buccaneers got the ball first and went down the field with the amount of ease you’d expect from a walkthrough or something. Every play picked up significant yardage as the Bucs tried to get Bucky Irving and Mike Evans going early. They drove down to the doorstep of the endzone, where Evans cooked Caleb Farley off the line and secured an easy touchdown.
The Panthers responded with their own explosive drive. There were a few ineffective runs by Raheem Blackshear, but whenever the Panthers went to the air, Bryce Young delivered. He found Adam Thielen down the sideline with the same ball that Thielen dropped last week. He hit Coker over the middle a couple plays later, then found Thielen behind the defense to tie the game at seven.
The Bucs went down the field with the same ease as their first drive, this time featuring a couple of deep passes to rookie tight end Devin Culp. This time, the defense bowed up inside the ten yard line. They stuffed two Irving runs then manufactured a sack of Baker Mayfield on third down. They forced a field goal.
The first quarter ended after a Panthers three and out ending with a sack from a stunt that the offensive line couldn’t pick up.
Second quarter
The opening possession of the second quarter mirrored the previous Bucs possession. They moved the ball with relative ease but got stuck inside the red zone.
Young barely missed Xavier Legette on a deep ball in a scramble drill to start the next Panthers offensive possession. The Panthers couldn’t do anything with their next two plays and punted the ball right back to the Bucs.
Bucky Irving gashed the Panthers defense with a run up the right sideline then a screen pass up the left. The two plays picked up a total of 76 yards and took the Bucs down to the one yard line. Mayfield hit Evans with a little basketball post up play for the easy touchdown on the next play.
The Panthers went three and out for the third straight possession after short gains on first and second down and a badly underthrown ball on third down.
It looked like the defense was finally going to get a stop when A’Shawn Robinson sacked Mayfield on second down, but he did so around Mayfield’s ankles, which drew a flag for a personal foul. Jedeveon Clowney got a sack that counted a few plays later to set up a 2nd and 27, but the Panthers ceded a 23 yard pass to Ryan Miller to set up 3rd and short. Mayfield hit Mike Evans to pick up the first down on the next play. A few slippery runs by Bucky Irving set the Bucs up around the ten yard line. From there Mayfield found Jalen McMillan wide open in the back of the end zone as a number of Panthers defenders covered nobody.
It looked like the Panthers were heading for another three and out, but Young found Legette for a third down conversion while getting hit in the head by Vita Vea. On the next play, Young slid away from pressure and dropped a dime that traveled about 50 yards in the air and fell right into the lap of Adam Thielen for the duo’s second touchdown of the day.
The only problem with the score was that it still left 50 seconds for the Bucs to manufacture a response. Fortunately they committed a false start then dropped a first down pass. The Panthers got stops on second and third down, calling a timeout after each, to get the ball back for the offense with 20 seconds left. Young found David Moore for a good pickup on first down then found Thielen on a crosser to get into field goal range as the receiver ran out of bounds. It set up a 53 yard field goal for Eddy Pineiro who pulled it to the left as time expired.
Third Quarter
Young found Jalen Coker for a nice gain to start the second half, but he was sacked on the next two plays to back the Panthers up to 3rd and 24. They settled for a punt after a third down run. The punt downed the Bucs inside their own 10 yard line, but this defense isn’t good enough to take advantage of anything like that. The Bucs picked up a first down with a couple plays to Jalen McMillan, then Mayfield found Evans deep down the middle of the field to move into Panthers territory. They drove inside the 10, where Demani Richardson made back to back touchdown saving tackles in the open field. On third down, the Panthers had what was probably their 25th coverage breakdown of the game and let Payne Durham waltz uncovered into the back of the endzone for a wide open touchdown catch.
A very scattered looking Young threw three straight incompletions on the next possession. The Panthers went to punt, but there was a duck on the field. While the broadcast cameras were focused on that, the Bucs blocked the punt and ran it back for a touchdown. That made the score 41-14.
The sky’s opened up as the Panthers worked on another ineffective drop. The Panthers had a chance for some decent yardage on a third down screen, but Mike Boone never turned around to look for the pass. This time Johnny Hekker safely got his punt away, but that only served to delay the inevitable Bucs score. The quarter ended after a series of decent gains put the Bucs in scoring range once again.
Fourth Quarter
On third down, the Panthers left Jalen McMillan so wide open that you could see the surprise in his body language when he turned and saw no defender near him. He trotted into the endzone untouched to put the Bucs up 48-14.
The Panthers drove into Bucs territory with a series of short completions, but the drive was cut short with back to back sacks on third and fourth down. The Bucs put in reserves to close the game out, but the Panthers still couldn’t stop them. Rachaad White and Sean Tucker gashed the Panthers on the ground and picked up enough first downs to allow the clock to run out.
Overview
That was rough. I don’t really know what to say. The Panthers are so thin, especially defensively, that what’s happening right now is pretty much irrelevant. So many of the players getting snaps aren’t going to be on the roster when next season starts. The offense doesn’t get as much benefit of the doubt. They clearly need more playmakers to help support Young without Chuba Hubbard.
The season comes to close as the Panthers travel to Atlanta to try and spoil the Falcons postseason hopes.