The Tampa Bay Buccaneers now stand at 7-8 after a 23-20 loss vs. the Panthers, a matchup that was crucially important to the Buccaneers’ playoff hopes and the NFC Standings. The loss drops the Buccaneers to No.
2 in the NFC South and will further shrink Tampa Bay’s postseason chances.
First quarter:
Tampa Bay won the toss and deferred, and they were able to hold the Panthers to a field on the first drive of the game. The Bucs answered by chipping away at yards and eating clock on a 10-play, 6:39 drive and ended with a 1-yard touchdown from Baker Mayfield to Mike Evans.
The Panthers’ next possession barely went anywhere. After converting one first down thanks to a Chuba Hubbard 10-yard run, Carolina’s next three downs ended in a SirVocea Dennis sack of Bryce Young for a loss of 8 yards, an incomplete pass to Rico Dowdle on second and 18, and a 3-yard pass to Ja’Tavion Sanders obviously did not get the job done on third and 18. After a false start by Carolina backing them up 5 yards, they pinned the Bucs at Tampa Bay’s own 10-yard line.
Second quarter:
The next Bucs possession looked like it was going to culminate in a field goal on fourth and 4 on the Panthers’ 30 with 12:30 left to play in the half. The attempt was good, but a penalty on the Panthers gave Tampa Bay a fresh set of downs. Unfortunately, the Bucs couldn’t capitalize with a touchdown, but did extend their lead to 10-3 with 8:09 left in the second quarter.
The Panthers and Bucs traded three-and-outs, and after a series resulting in a loss of 12 yards, Trevor Etienne returned Riley Dixon’s punt to the Bucs’ 39-yard line. A Tetairoa McMillan 17-yard catch was the only positive yardage the Panthers needed on that possession to get into position to add another 3 to the board with a 41-yard field goal from Ryan Fitzgerald. The Bucs still led, 10-6.
The Buccaneers went three-and-out again, losing 2 yards in the process, and a 45-yard Dixon punt and Trevor Etienne 13-yard return gave the ball back to Carolina on their own 37-yard line with just over a minute left to play. Carolina moved the ball pretty efficiently, using all three of their timeouts en route to an 8-play, 59-second drive capped off by a 22-yard touchdown pass to McMillan, giving the Panthers a 13-10 lead.
Baker Mayfield took a knee on the final play of the half, sending the Bucs into the locker room trailing the Panthers by 3.
Third quarter:
The Bucs received the ball to start to half. Facing third and 7 on the Bucs’ 37-yard line, Baker Mayfield scrambled for 23 yards to extend the drive. In the red zone, on first down from the Panthers’ 1, the Bucs ran the same play Mike Evans scored on in the first half, but it was incomplete. Evans was targeted again on second and 1, short left, but a DPI penalty on Jaycee Horn gave the Bucs an automatic first down. Sean Tucker casually strolled into the end zone, giving the Bucs a 17-13 lead with 6:41 left to play in the third quarter.
The Panthers answered with an 11-play, 65-yard touchdown drive culminating in a scrambling touchdown pass from Young to Ja’Tavion Sanders, giving the Panthers a 20-17 lead with seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Fourth quarter
Baker Mayfield and company took over at the Carolina 43-yard line after an outstanding return from Kameron Johnson. On third and 4 on the Carolina 23-yard line, the Panthers sent a weakside blitz and gave Mayfield almost zero time to offload the ball. Jaycee Horn took him down, and the Bucs tied it up 20-20 with a field goal with 11:24 left to play.
The Panthers answered with a six-play, 9-yard drive that chewed up about three and a half minutes of clock and got Carolina absolutely nowhere, so they punted it back to the Bucs, who took over at their own 13-yard line. Baker Mayfield launched a BEAUTIFUL bomb to Emeka Egbuka, advancing the offense to a first and 10 from the Panthers’ 49-yard line. Unfortunately, the drive fizzled after that. Bucky Irving lost two yards on first down, Mayfield’s second-down pass to Evans went incomplete, Tampa Bay was hit with a delay-of-game penalty on third down, and Mayfield’s third and 18 target to Chris Godwin went incomplete. The Bucs punted it back to the Panthers with 4:46 remaining.
A seven-play drive including a 34-yard Young pass to Jalen Coker had the Panthers facing a first and 10 from the Buccaneers’ 33-yard line. The Bucs took their first timeout after the Panthers gained zero yards on first down and 3 yards on second down with 2:28 to play. Pressure from the Bucs on third and 7 forced an incomplete pass from Young intended for Sanders, and the Panthers snuck back into a 23-20 lead on a 48-yard field goal from Fitzgerald. The Bucs offense would get the ball back with 2:20 left to play, plus the 2-minute warning.
The Bucs would start from their own 10-yard line thanks to an unnecessary roughness penalty on rookie linebacker John Bullock on the return. Mayfield hit Evans on a 6-yard throw on first down, taking us to the 2-minute warning. Mayfield wasn’t messing around on the next play, breaking loose and scrambling for the first down plus 22 more yards. A pass bounced right off Jalen McMillan’s hands and could easily have been picked, but thankfully dropped incomplete. On third and 4 with 1:21 remaining, Mayfield converted the first down with a 9-yard pass to tight end Cade Otton. A 6-yard completion to Mike Evans took the clock down to :49 seconds remaining, and the Bucs took their second time out.
And then disaster struck, starting with a false start by Emeka Egbuka, pushing the Buccaneers back to a second and 9 from the Panthers’ 42. And on the next play, Baker Mayfield snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, throwing a game-sealing interception to rookie Lathan Ransom with 42 seconds left to play.
It’s a devastating blow to the Buccaneers and their postseason hopes. The Bucs will face the Panthers again in Week 18.
