The Panthers entered Sunday’s game against the rival Buccaneers as near two-touchdown underdogs, and for good reason. Not only had they failed to beat Tampa Bay in three years, but they entered Week 7 as one of the NFL’s most obvious rebuilds. In the past two weeks alone, they’ve fired coach Matt Rhule, ejected and then traded disgruntled wide receiver Robbie Anderson and sent franchise favorite Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers. Regardless: Sunday’s NFC South showdown was all Carolina, with the Panthers’ new look troubling Tom Brady en route to a surprisingly easy 21-3 upset.
The Panthers’ big win, interim coach Steve Wilks’ first since taking over, certainly raises a lot of questions. Carolina’s offense, for example, suddenly looked competent in its first game after McCaffrey, with Chuba Hubbard and D’Onta Foreman combining for over 180 yards on the ground. Their shared dominance perhaps reaffirms just how replaceable top running backs are. But what about PJ Walker, the third starting QB in place of injured Baker Mayfield? Unlike previous outings, he controlled the ball while connecting with prime target DJ Moore, potentially earning future starts in place of Mayfield and Sam Darnold.
However, Sunday’s surprise Panthers rout probably says more about the Buccaneers than the team that beat them. Carolina deserves props for running amid such a turnover, but it should have been a good place for Tampa Bay. Instead, it was another wake-up call, not for the Bucs but for everyone who patiently waited for them to emerge from a slumber of 2022. A week after falling to the downtrodden Steelers, who have even rotated quarters during the game, Todd Bowles’ team fell short of expectations in virtually every category: energy, effort, execution.
As is always the case in these kinds of beatings, there was no singular problem for the Bucs against the Panthers: Mike Evans dropped a wide-open touchdown, offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich again failed to raise a unit in free fall. creatively, Bowles’ vaunted “D” became a sieve up front, and Brady – the ageless figurehead whose poise tends to at least keep these things close – could do little but shrug his shoulders in a strange mixture of apathy and frustration.
As long as Brady stays under center, history tells us it would be foolish to completely count out the Bucs. But almost halfway through the 2022 season, this team is 3-4 after allowing the Panthers to draw a game at the top of the division lead (!), And its star QB seems increasingly more affected by the sloppy cast and support staff around him. Injuries have taken their toll, yes, but all teams endure them. There’s a bigger conversation to be had about leadership in town, where Bowles and Leftwich drew very little skepticism as successors to Bruce Arians in the offseason but have now overseen a decline so uninspiring it threatens to draw on the investment of veterans in this locker room.
Until then, it’s time for the Panthers to celebrate.
