“It starts with the guys up front,” said Mayfield. “I thought they protected extremely well, and then obviously our pass schemes, we had some guys running pretty open. It comes down to the [coaching] staff and guys making plays. Everybody was detailed. Obviously, we’d like to have a few more touchdowns in the first half and not settle for field goals, but guys were on point.”
Tampa Bay played complementary football, particularly in the second half. While a couple of coverage busts allowed quarterback Bryce Young to throw a pair of touchdown passes to Adam Thielen, Young was also sacked five times and Carolina did not score in the second half. The Bucs’ five sacks came from five different players: Yaya Diaby, Logan Hall, Anthony Nelson, Calijah Kancey and yet another productive rookie, Chris Braswell. Carolina was held to 204 total yards of offense, 13 first downs and two third-down conversions in nine attempts. After placing breakout RB Chuba Hubbard on injured reserve on Saturday, the Panthers mustered just 39 yards on 13 carries, marking the third straight team Tampa Bay’s defense has held below 40 rushing yards.
While neither team committed a turnover in the game, the Buccaneers’ special teams did come up with a big play. The Bucs surpassed 40 points for the third time this season late in the third quarter when OLB Joe Tryon-Shoyinka blocked a Johnny Hekker punt and LB J.J. Russell scooped it up and dashed to the end zone for his first career touchdown. It was the first blocked punt by Tampa Bay since Patrick O’Connor got one at Denver on September 27, 2020, and it was the team’s first touchdown off a punt since Adam Hayward took one back 29 yards against San Diego on Nov. 12, 2012.
Tampa Bay’s offense was nearly unstoppable in the first half, scoring on each of its first five drives and rolling up 337 yards and 20 first downs. It was the most first-half yards for the team since a 410-yard outburst in a 47-7 win at Detroit on December 26, 2020. Mayfield completed 16 of his 20 passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns and Irving had 137 yards from scrimmage before the intermission. Despite that, the Buccaneers didn’t quite pull away from the visitors, as Young threw a pair of touchdown passes to Thielen, the second one on a 21-second drive in the final 1:11 of the half.
The Buccaneers can now settle in and watch the Sunday night game in Washington if they so choose, but they will soon turn their attention to their final regular season opponent, the Saints. For his part, Irving said he didn’t plan to watch how the Falcons’ fortunes unfold in the evening.
“I’m not going to watch it,” said Irving. “I’ll wake up and see what happens in the morning.”
The Bucs got the ball to open the game at their own 30 after an opening touchback, started with two backs in the backfield and handed off to Irving on a veer left for six yards. Irving got 10 more up the gut on second down for the game’s initial first down. Mayfield’s first was out to Evans on the right sideline, good for nine yards to move the ball into Panthers territory. Irving hesitated for a moment on his next carry, then cut to the outside and got around the edge for 12 more to the Carolina 33. Baker then enjoyed a solid pocket on his next dropback, giving him time to find Durham down the middle for a pickup of 31 to the two-yard line. On first-and-goal, Evans started towards the sideline then cut back towards the middle to get wide open for Mayfield’s two-yard touchdown pass.
Carolina got off to a good start, as well, with Raheem Blackshear’s five-yard run followed by a deep ball down the left sideline to Thielen, who made a one-armed catch to get 31 to the Bucs’ 34. Two plays later, the Bucs brought a delayed blitz but Young still got the pass off to WR Jalen Coker for a gain of 15. Two snaps later, Young found Thielen in a hole in the zone for a 17-yard touchdown.
Panthers kicker executed the best type of kickoff under the new rules, as it hit the ground in the landing zone and then bounced over Rakim Jarrett’s head and out of the end zone for a touchback at the 20. Mayfield gave the Bucs some breathing room right away by hitting Evans down the right numbers for a pickup of 20. A screen to Irving worked well on the next play (technically ruled a run due to a backward pass) but it left the Bucs inches shy of the first down line. Irving powered over left guard for enough to move the sticks, and Culp then hauled in his first career reception for 26. Tampa Bay’s first unsuccessful offensive play was a four-yard loss by Irving when he was met head-one by CB Mike Jackson just as he got the ball. Two plays later, Mayfield moved the chains again with a 17-yard strike to Culp down the middle, once again putting the ball at the two. Irving’s first and second-down runs didn’t work, losing a total of one yard, and Baker was sacked at the five-yard line on third down after not finding anyone open and trying to scramble. K Chase McLaughlin came on to hit a 24-yard field goal.
After a touchback, Young took off running on first down but was tripped up from behind by OLB Yaya Diaby after gaining just one yard. After CB Jamel Dean broke up a pass to WR Xavier Legette on the left sideline, Kancey ended the drive and the first quarter with a 10-yard sack. After the switching of sides, Johnny Hekker punted the ball down to the Bucs’ 39.
Evans spun away from a defender for a gain of six on the second play of the ensuing drive, and Irving converted on third-and-two with a run around right end. Mayfield faked a handoff on the next play and rolled right before hitting WR Rakim Jarrett for another first down at the Carolina 39, and a pass over the middle to RB Sean Tucker got five. Rookie WR Kameron Johnson, just back from a long stint on IR, took an end-around pitch to the left and darted upfield for 11 more, with a five-yard penalty tacked on the end to put it at the 18. Mayfield’s first incompletion of the game was an overthrow meant for Ryan Miller. Two plays later, on third-and-eight, Baker moved around to buy time but couldn’t fit the ball in to Culp near the goal line, leading to another McLaughlin field goal try. He hit this one, too, from 34 yards to increase the Bucs’ lead to 13-7.
After another touchback, Young scrambled right and eventually threw very deep to Legette but the ball was just out of reach. He was hurried in a throw into the dirt on second down, and a sideline pass to RB Mike Boone went through his hands on third-and-10, leading to a 51-yard punt that went out of bounds at the Bucs’ 19.
Tucker started the drive with a four-yard rumble up the middle, then Irving took over. After finding a lane on a sweep right to dash for 34 yards, he took a screen pass left and zipped through the Carolina defense into the open field. Irving dived at the pylon but was ruled down at the one so Mayfield simply threw it to Evans in the end zone again, and this time it was one of his patented fade routes. The extra point gave the Bucs a 20-7 lead with eight minutes left in the first half.
McLaughlin’s next kickoff was returned but Velus Jones was dropped at the 25 by LB Deion Jones. DL Logan Hall bottled Blackshear up after a gain of just three, and the Bucs completely stonewalled an attempted end-around by Jones for no gain. On third-and-seven, Young tried another improvised deep ball to Legette but this one was broken up by CB Zyon McCollum. Hekker’s next punt was downed at the Bucs’ 36.