The Carolina Panthers ended their season on a down note, dropping their seventh game in a row Sunday to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 41-17.
Quarterback Tom Brady surpassed 5,000 yards passing for the second time in his historic career. The Buccaneers set a franchise record for wins with 13. Brady completed 29 of 37 passes for 326 yards through the air and three touchdowns before being subbed-out with just over seven minutes remaining in the fourth. He finished with a career-best 5,316 yards and a Buccaneer single-season record 43 touchdown passes for the defending Super Bowl champions.
Wide receiver Mike Evans snagged two of Brady’s touchdown passes, giving him a club-record 14 touchdowns receptions this season. Evans also became the first player in NFL history to begin a career with eight consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 yards receiving.
Tampa Bay earned the No. 2 seed in the NFC with the Los Angeles Rams losing to the San Francisco 49ers in overtime. The Bucs will host the Philadelphia Eagles next week on Wild Card weekend. The date and time are still to be determined.
The Panthers, (5-12), who ended their season on a seven game losing streak, leaves coach Matt Rhule’s future in serious doubt. The Panthers are 10-23 in two seasons under the Rhule regime. Rhule was a successful college coach at Temple and Baylor respectively, before making the jump to the NFL in 2020, signing a seven year deal with the Panthers.
The victory capped a challenging week for the Bucs, who terminated receiver Antonio Brown. Brown left the game last Sunday against the New York Jets in the third quarter. He took off his jersey, shoulder pads and undershirt before doing jumping jacks as he went to the locker room. There were many different layers to the story.
Carolina drove methodically down the field for 75 yards on the opening kickoff to take an early 7-0 lead on signal caller Sam Darnold’s two-yard pass midway through the first quarter. The Panthers left points on the field, turning the ball over on downs at the Tampa Bay one yard line, before Brady turned the game on its head with an eight-play, 92-yard touchdown drive in the closing moments of the first half.
Completion of 37 yards to Evans, 19 yards to Rob Gronkowski and 24 yards to Breshad Perriman helped Brady move his team into position with a one-yard touchdown pass to Le’Veon Bell, making the score 10-7 at halftime.
Gronk got things started off with a bang by hauling in back-to-back 42- and 19-yards to set the offense up with a 1st and 10 at the Carolina 15. A six-yard Ke’Shawn Vaughn run and an eight-yard Johnson reception set up a 1st and goal at the Carolina 2. Vaughn’s two-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter extended the Bucs lead 17-7.
The Panthers started their following drive at their own 31. Moore immediately moved the ball closer to the end zone with a 17-yard reception, but Antoine Winfield Jr. sacked Darnold. Darnold tried to scramble for the first down, but could only gain five yards. Matt Rhule decided to kick the field goal and Lirim Hajrullahu’s 35-yard field goal was good. The quarter ended with the Buccaneers leading 17-10.
Brady connected with Evans for a touchdown pass and made it a 24-10 game with 14:56 remaining. Darnold connected with Robby Anderson for an impressive 19-yard touchdown pass making it a 24-17 game with 10:34 left in the fourth. Brady was able to connect with Evans again with a 20-yard reception for a touchdown increasing the Bucs lead to 31-17, with 7:34 left in the game.
On the Panthers next possession, Darnold was stripped of the ball and it was recovered by the Buccaneers. They had to settle for a field goal, making the score 34-17. Seldom used receiver Scotty Miller scored on a 33-yard scamper and put the Bucs up 41-17. The Panthers could not get anything else going and the Bucs went on to win.
Injuries: Panthers’ CB Rashaun Melvin left with a head injury in the first half and did not return. Buccaneers WR Cyril Grayson (hamstring) left in the first half and did not return.
