Bucs rally to defeat Panthers, crush Carolina’s playoff aspirations
The Carolina Panthers entered Week 17 with everything on the line.
With a victory, interim head coach Steve Wilks and the Panthers would have moved into first place in the NFC South and could have won the division next week by beating New Orleans. A loss would mean Tampa Bay captured its second consecutive division title while eliminating Carolina from playoff contention.
Thanks to a season-high 207 receiving yards by Mike Evans and a 432-yard, turn-back-the-clock performance by Tom Brady, the Buccaneers secured the latter, beating Carolina 30-24 Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.
“It was a roller coaster of a game. There was plenty of ups and downs,” Panthers captain Brian Burns said. “We didn’t get what we wanted, and what I think we were capable of. It was right there in front of us. Very, very, very realistic. ... But they made more plays than we did.”
Carolina held an 11-point lead after the first play of the fourth quarter. But to win in Tampa, Carolina needed its stars to play big and a few role players to step up. Instead, the Panthers could not overcome playing without standout cornerback Jaycee Horn, who broke his hand against Detroit last week. Evans burned Keith Taylor, Horn’s replacement, for a 63-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Then, he beat starter C.J. Henderson on a 57-yard go-route in the fourth quarter. Evans again bested Henderson to score the go-ahead touchdown from 30 yards out with 6:53 to play.
Trailing by three, Carolina had a chance to reach field-goal range and push the game to overtime before the two-minute warning. But quarterback Sam Darnold was sacked on the drive’s first play and fumbled. The Buccaneers recovered and scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown on a Brady sneak. Tampa Bay scored 20 unanswered fourth-quarter points to come back and win, while Carolina gained just 16 yards on the three drives before Brady’s nail-in-the-coffin score.
Despite two turnovers, Darnold played his best game of the season. His two first-half touchdowns put the Panthers up early. Then his pocket presence and downfield accuracy nearly pushed Carolina to victory. He threw for a career-high 341 yards and three touchdowns but also had three turnovers.
“We got to do a much better job protecting the football,” Wilks said. “We can’t give up explosive plays as we did. Turning the ball over led to 10 points. You can’t win against a quarterback like that and turn the ball over.”
Receiver DJ Moore led the team with six grabs for 117 yards and a score. He had multiple catches over 20 yards, including a 47-yard reception late in the third quarter. Moore’s sixth catch led to Darnold’s third touchdown pass four plays later. Shi Smith found a backside opening against the Buccaneers’ zone coverage and caught a 19-yard scoring strike from Darnold.
The score put Carolina up 11 points with 14:50 to play. The defense sparked the Panthers’ first second-half points by blocking a 26-yard Buccaneers field-goal try on the previous drive. Yetur Gross-Matos blocked the field goal and was one of the Panthers’ role players who stepped up. He also had one sack and three tackles.
But the Panthers secondary struggled without Horn. Carolina relied on Taylor to challenge Evans and Chris Godwin. The team also signed 35-year-old Josh Norman this week to offset losing Horn. But Norman did not play until the second quarter and was only on the field for a few second-half snaps.
“We talked about it as a staff and defensively we felt like we went didn’t want to put him in a strained situation like that,” Wilks said. “So we talked about it but decided to stay with the guys that we had.”
Not playing Norman more forced Taylor and Henderson to handle outside coverage responsibilities. Evans cooked them both for 55-plus yard touchdowns. The second score — a 57-yard catch — pulled Tampa Bay back within five points. According to Next Gen Stats, Henderson allowed nine receptions on 11 targets for 142 yards and two scores.
After the game, Henderson declined to talk to the media.
The Panthers nearly went up two scores early in the third quarter. After Tampa Bay took five plays to punt on its first possession of the second quarter, Darnold pushed Carolina into Buccaneers territory via a 32-yard seam route to tight end Giovanni Ricci. The throw represented the confidence Darnold had been playing with all afternoon. But Darnold threw his first interception of the season on the next play by underthrowing tight end Stephen Sullivan at the goal line.
Before the turnover, Darnold had already thrown two touchdowns and was completing 65% percent of his throws. His arm forged a four-point halftime lead as the team only had 21 first-half rushing yards.
Carolina converted a critical fourth-and-3 with nine minutes to play in the second quarter. Darnold connected with Moore for 7 yards via a quick speed out from the slot. The gutsy conversion extended the Panthers’ fourth series. Three plays later, Moore caught a 24-yard touchdown from Darnold at the front corner of the end zone. On the play, the Buccaneers played tight man coverage against Carolina’s receivers with one deep safety behind them.
Panthers offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo called a slot fade for Moore, who exchanged zones with receiver Terrace Marshall, which created a natural rub or pick. The scheme helped Moore get a step on Buccaneers defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. Darnold dropped a dime on Moore for his second passing touchdown of the half.
But whatever Darnold did Brady did better.
The Bucs quarterback targeted Taylor early and often. He held his own until Evans beat him down the right sideline for a 67-yard touchdown late with 2:18 left in the second quarter. The Buccaneers’ first score snowballed into 10 unanswered points. Darnold fumbled a shotgun snap on the next series. Tampa Bay recovered on the Panthers’ 13-yard line. But the Panthers’ defense held Brady and the offense to just a field goal.
The Panthers entered Sunday hopeful of implementing a similar game plan from their 21-3 Week 7 victory against the Buccaneers. That meant first stopping the run. Like 10 weeks ago, Carolina again stuffed Tampa Bay’s running game and forced Brady to throw 45 times for 432 yards and three touchdowns.
Carolina started the game fast. Darnold hit Moore on a deep play-action curl route on the first play from scrimmage. The reception gained 26 yards and established an earlier attacking mentality for the Panthers.
Darnold completed all four of his passing attempts on the opening drive, which tight end Tommy Tremble capped with a 17-yard touchdown catch in the back corner of the end zone. Carolina kept the Buccaneers off-balance by mixing inside runs, outside wide receiver screens and intermediate play-action passes.
After the Panthers’ quick score, the teams exchanged punts throughout the first quarter. Tampa Bay didn’t score its first points until Evans beat Taylor deep. But Evans finished strong. He became the first receiver in NFL history to start his career with nine consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
With the loss, Carolina (6-10) is playing for pride next week in New Orleans.
“Credit to the guys in that locker room. They’ve been battling through adversity all year,” Darnold said. “You name it, we’ve dealt with it this year. We did a really good job battling through that stuff, not only off the field but on the field. We showed it in the last few games.”
This story was originally published January 1, 2023 at 4:50 PM.
