Panthers report card: How Carolina ran over the Bucs with a McCaffrey-less RB rotation
The Carolina Panthers had just lost a challenge. Instead of returning to the field against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defense with a first down off an explosive play, the Panthers’ offense was faced with a second-and-10 situation at its own 23-yard line with 3:55 remaining in the third quarter.
Quarterback PJ Walker took a snap from under center, put the ball in D’Onta Foreman’s belly and then watched as the bruising backup running back barreled through defenders on his way to a 60-yard gain. The Sunday afternoon highlight was a true turn-of-the-page moment for the Panthers, interim head coach Steve Wilks and the fans in attendance for the team’s 21-3 win against the Buccaneers.
Just three days after trading former All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers for four draft picks, the Carolina backfield duo of Foreman and Chuba Hubbard carried the Panthers past the Buccaneers on a pair of explosive runs.
Following Foreman’s Derrick Henry-like tussle run for a huge gain, Hubbard added his own highlight for good measure, carrying the ball 17 yards to the end zone. That sequence, along with a successful extra-point attempt by kicker Eddy Pineiro, put the Panthers up 14-0 against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers heading into the fourth quarter.
From there, the Panthers’ defense, which played exceptionally well all afternoon, continued to shut down Brady, wideout Mike Evans and the rest of the Tampa Bay offense throughout the fourth quarter.
Carolina produced its second win of the season — also, its second against a division opponent — and secured the team’s first victory since former coach Matt Rhule was fired in Week 6.
Rushing offense
A+. In the Panthers’ first game without McCaffrey this season, Carolina used a rotation in the backfield. Hubbard received the start, but veteran Foreman was regularly involved in the offense. Rookie Raheem Blackshear was also given some snaps.
The Panthers were dedicated to the run and rotated Foreman and Hubbard on drives. Foreman and Hubbard combined for 37 yards on nine carries in the first half. While the pair wasn’t able to pick up huge chunks of yardage, the duo did pace the offense as it tried to slow down the game. Essentially, the Panthers used the running game as a “keep it away from Brady” plot device within the script of the first half.
In the second half, Foreman and Hubbard gave Panthers fans something to cheer about. Toward the middle of the third quarter, Foreman was given a second-down handoff and broke several tackles on his way to a 60-yard gain. The fans at Bank of America Stadium erupted during the huge gain, which had eluded the running back group in the past month. Hubbard then followed up that play with an explosive run of his own, as he gained 17 yards and hit pay dirt to put the Panthers up by two scores.
Foreman finished with 15 carries for 118 rushing yards. Hubbard paced the duo with 63 rushing yards and a touchdown on nine carries.
Passing offense
B. After throwing for a pitiful 60 yards last week against the Los Angeles Rams, Walker was given the ability to throw down the field against Buccaneers. While the Panthers’ first three drives were uneventful, Walker showed off his arm and accuracy on the final drive of the first half. Walker made a pair of difficult throws to wideout DJ Moore, who produced explosive plays off the targets during the series, including a 20-yard touchdown to cap the drive.
Offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo did a nice job of seemingly rotating Walker’s first read. He asked Walker to complete some simple throws to his backs, and on some of those plays, the small tosses became notable gains. Walker completed 11-of-12 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown in the first half.
The Panthers leaned on their running game in the second half with a strong lead. That was a reasonable strategy given Walker’s limitations in the pocket.
However, Walker was able to pull off a second impressive touchdown throw to tight end Tommy Tremble for a score in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Walker finished with 177 passing yards and two touchdowns, while completing 72.7% of his passes. Walker had a 126.5 passer rating in his second start of the season.
Rushing defense
A+. The Panthers came into the game knowing that they needed to stop the run to have any chance at a win.
In the early going, the Panthers controlled the line of scrimmage against the Buccaneers’ rushing attack. The Panthers held the Buccaneers to 27 yards on nine carries in the first half, and starting running back Leonard Fournette averaged 2.8 yards per carry during the first two quarters.
The Panthers continued to crush the Buccaneers’ rushing attack in the third quarter, making back-to-back short-yardage stops to force Tampa Bay off the field in the red zone. First, linebacker Shaq Thompson stonewalled Fournette on a third-and-1 run.
Then, cornerback C.J. Henderson and linebacker Cory Littleton teamed to stop Fournette ahead of the line-to-gain on fourth-and-1 to force a turnover on downs. Those two plays were exactly what the Panthers needed with their backs against their own end zone.
Fournette finished with eight carries for just 19 yards. The entire Buccaneers rushing attack picked up just 46 yards on 16 total carries.
Passing defense
B. While the numbers are prettier than they should be, the Panthers’ defense did a solid job against Brady and his plethora of weapons in the passing game.
Brady could have had a walk-in 64-yard touchdown connection with Evans, but the receiver played “hot potato” with himself and the ball fell incomplete, even after Evans burned cornerback Donte Jackson on a deep route. Brady finished the first half without a scoring drive, as he completed 14-of-21 passes for 113 yards.
Defensive end Brian Burns, who has been the subject of trade rumors since the departure of Rhule, produced an impressive sack on Brady in the second quarter for a loss of 14 yards. Littleton nearly picked off a poor throw by Brady in the second quarter.
The Panthers’ defense finished with a sack, three QB hits and two pass breakups on the day against Brady. Evans and fellow wideout Chris Godwin combined for 16 catches for 139 yards on Sunday. Tight end Cade Otton caught four balls for 64 yards.
While the Panthers did give up some big gains in the passing game during the second half, the group as a whole didn’t really allow Brady to gain momentum.
The Panthers had a defensive sequence in the third quarter where they broke up a screen pass, forced a poor throw to the flat and then made a third-down stop on a short pass over the middle to Fournette. The Panthers had the defensive momentum all game.
Brady completed 32-of-49 passes for 290 yards and led just one scoring drive on Sunday.
Special teams
B+. The Panthers chose not to go for a 54-yard field-goal attempt with Pineiro in the second quarter. After stalling at the Buccaneers’ 36-yard line, the Panthers deliberately took a “delay-of-game” penalty, moved back 5 yards and punted. Punter Johnny Hekker’s punt landed in the end zone for a touchback, which completed a bizarre sequence for Carolina.
Still, Hekker averaged 51.4 yards per punt, continuing his strong overall campaign. Pineiro was 3-of-3 on extra-point attempts.
This story was originally published October 23, 2022 at 4:10 PM.
