Tampa Bay finally makes Carolina Panthers defense break

It bent and it bent and then, with time winding down Monday night, the Carolina Panthers defense finally broke.

It wasn’t so much that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers turned into an offensive juggernaut in the game’s final minutes. Rather the opposite. It was decimation by a million small plays, or more like 11 of them. Six yards running here, 8yards passing there – the Buccaneers slowly marched all the way down the field.

They ate up yards and grass and time all at once, stopping only with three seconds left and a chance to win. Then Roberto Aguayo did as he had twice failed to do earlier: He kicked home the 38-yard winning field goal, and in the process, claimed a 17-14 win for the Buccaneers.

“We’ve gotta finish,” Kawann Short said. “That’s the big thing.”

On Monday, the Panthers didn’t. The cracks in the defense, the literal or metaphorical holes, weren’t consigned to any one level.

The defensive line, anchored by Short and Kony Ealy, only managed half a sack of Jameis Winston. He consistently eluded their clutches, wiggling out of tackles and scrambling for chunks of yardage at a time.

The one time the defensive line did force a fumble, when defensive end Mario Addison knocked the ball loose from Winston in the second quarter, Addison’s defensive teammates were unable to recover the fumble.

“To be real, when I hit him I didn’t even know he fumbled the ball,” Addison said. “If I would’ve knew he fumbled, then I would have reached for it.

“You’re working your ass off trying to make a big play and you make a big play and not even know you’ve made it? It’s frustrating.”

Tampa Bay’s drive continued after the fumble, eventually ending with the second of Aguayo’s three field goals to push the lead to 6-0.

The blame hardly falls on the defensive line alone. Tampa Bay running back Jacquizz Rodgers had more attempts Monday night (30) than the past two years combined (27) to the tune of 101 yards. Linebackers were simply unable to bring down the elusive 5-foot-6 runner.

Then there was the new-look secondary, which sported three new starters a week after Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones caught more than 300 yards worth of passes.

Those new starters – Daryl Worley, Robert McClain and Teddy Williams – were consistent at times, but they too made errors that cost the team.

Take Worley. Yes, he had five tackles, but he also bit hard on a Mike Evans double-move that left Evans wide open in the end zone.

“That’s just a play where I’ve got to get my eyes in the right spot,” Worley said.

There were positives, yes, especially after allowing 571 yards in last week’s loss to the Falcons. On multiple occasions the defense held Tampa Bay’s offense to field goals instead of conceding touchdowns. That was the bending, not the breaking.

Then, at the end of the game, the defense that has cracked and swayed for the first five games of the season, could no longer resist a breakdown. The Buccaneers paraded down the field, methodically and efficiently, exposing each level of the defense at a time.

The whole drive the defense bent, hanging onto the tie, and bent some more, hoping for overtime.

In the end, neither came to fruition. In the end, the defense broke.

This story was originally published October 11, 2016 at 1:06 AM with the headline "Tampa Bay finally makes Carolina Panthers defense break."