The Panthers have spent the last two weeks holding the ball for long drives early in games that ultimately end in disappointment. During their Thursday night loss to Philadelphia, the team’s second drive went 54 yards and ultimately ended in three points; last week in Chicago they went 50 yards in nine plays before a fumbled pitch was returned 75 yards for a touchdown. This week in Tampa, head coach Ron Rivera went to a little-used source to perhaps spark the offense, handing the ball to running back Cameron Artis-Payne three times in the red zone; Artis-Payne’s first three touches of the season went for 14 yards down to the one-yard line, where the last carry came from a more likely source as Jonathan Stewart soared over the middle to put the Panthers up 7-0 to grab a lead they would never relinquish in a 17-3 win.
The second drive was a harbinger of things to come, as the team would convert 5-of-5 third downs, one of which was the Stewart touchdown, and eat up over eight minutes of clock as the Panthers offense would win the time-of-possession battle, they’ve dominated in that category over the past two weeks, averaging over 35 minutes the past two weeks. Artis-Payne, who would actually lose yardage on his only other carry of the game, would share rushing duties with Jonathan Stewart pacing the team with thirty yards on ten carries. Rookie Christian McCaffrey would struggle again to gain any traction on the ground with only three yards rushing, but would continue to make an impact in the receiving game with five catches for 49 yards, including three for 35 yards on a two-minute drill at the end of the half that would end in a 28-yard Graham Gano field goal to send the Panthers to halftime up 10-0.
The defense was able to force only their third turnover of the year in the second quarter when Julius Peppers strip-sacked Jameis Winston and the bouncing ball was recovered by returning safety Kurt Coleman; Peppers moved into fourth all-time with 151 sacks as he leads the Panthers with 7.5 on the season. The defense continued it’s dominating two-week stretch after only allowing 153 net yards in Chicago, the unit would limit high-powered Jameis Winston and a Buccaneers option that came into the game averaging just under 400 yards per game to 279 yards, only 108 in the first half and many of them coming with the game out of hand.
With the Panthers needing to win the turnover battle, the first drive of the second half started poorly for the Panthers after a nice return from Russell Shepard set up the Panthers with good field position near midfield as Cam Newton would throw an underthrown pass to Ed Dickson that was picked off by Chris Conte for Newton’s 11th interception at the halfway point of the season. Newton had 14 in 14 games in 2016, but a well-timed sack from defensive tackle Kyle Love would stymie the Buccaneers’ best drive of the game to that point. Martin would finish with 71 yards on 18 carries.
While Cam Newton has improved his completion percentage this season, he was unable to continue that trend on a blustery day in Tampa Bay, finishing 18-for-32 and 154 yards and adding 46 yards rushing, but making some questionable decisions on deep throws to Devin Funchess when it appeared that there were open receivers, notably Christian McCaffrey, on shorter routes for apparent first downs. A missed deep shot to Funchess on third down deep in Panthers territory resulted in good field position for the Bucs, who converted 29 yards on three rushes by Doug Martin into a Patrick Murray field goal to make it 10-3 with under five minutes to go in the third quarter.
A defensive struggle headed to the fourth quarter as a one-score game when the Panthers would turn the Buccaneers over twice in the fourth quarter with the first coming when a blitzing cornerback Captain Munnerlyn got his hands on the ball as Winston released it, forcing a fluttering pass that was intercepted by a diving Mike Adams for only the second interception of the season for what has been a dominant defensive unit in 2017. The Panthers would take advantage as Newton would follow a 20 yard scamper off a read-option with a beautiful 25-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin on third down as Benjamin took advantage of a five-inch height advantage over safety Justin Evans to put the Panthers up 17-3.
The second would come when Winston made the classic quarterback mistake of throwing into Luke Kuechly’s area, as the all-world linebacker secured his second interception of the season in his return from the concussion which had sidelined him last week in Chicago. The three turnovers forced in Tampa Bay increased their season total to five on the season.
Additional Notes:
- The Buccaneers were without nickel cornerback Robert McClain; the Panthers were missing center Ryan Kalil for the sixth game this season as well as fullback Alex Armah, who is battling a hamstring injury. Greg Olsen, who broke his foot in Week 2, will be available to return to practice on Wednesday and can be activated as soon as November 26 in New York.
- Defensive captains Luke Kuechly and Kurt Coleman returned, Kuechly from a concussion suffered in the Thursday Night loss to Philadelphia and Coleman from an MCL sprain in New England; defensive end Julius Peppers was a captain as well.
- The first-quarter touchdown from Jonathan Stewart was the first touchdown by a Panthers running back of the season and the first that quarterback Cam Newton was not involved in of the 2017 season.
- Trai Turner, who tweaked his knee last week in Chicago, seemed to reaggravate that injury on the final play of the third quarter and was replaced by Amini Silatolu.
