The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have made a big upset and defeated the Carolina Panthers on the road, 20-14. This is the first win for the Bucs, after 12 consecutive defeats outside Florida.
And Burce Arians’ boys deserved it without any question. They managed to stop the Panthers two yards away from the goal line with 1:42 until the end. It was a fourth-down for the home team, who was inches away from having another four snaps, and very close end zone. But Vernon Hargreaves, the Bucs cornerback managed to stop Christian McCaffrey’s rush towards the endzone, and bring a huge surprise to his team.
“You watch any football, and you’ve seen it a few times,” Hargreaves said of the play. “Once I saw Cam walk up to the line of scrimmage and act like he was talking to me, I had a pretty good idea what was going on.”
In general, the Bucs played very well and were clinical in the decisive moments on both sides of the field. Todd Bowles defense was looking excellent, and two main threats which could endanger his teams Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey were pretty much neutralized.
Newton had collected 333 yards but completed just 25 of 51 throw attempts. He didn’t have a single TD pass and fumbled the ball once. Also, one of the best QBs in the league, who is known for his running game, had zero rushing yards tonight.
The former MVP was sacked three times, by the same player, Shaquil Barret, and wasn’t looking good at all. The rumors about his issues with injuries are constantly filling up the headlines, and they seem to be correct.
Meanwhile, Tampa held McCaffrey to 37 rushing yards on 16 carries, which is far too low for this guy.
Among the Bucs, Jameis Winston and Peyton Barber led the offense. The former No.1 pick had thrown 208 yards and one TD when he connected fantastic Chris Goodwin, who ended the night with 121 yards caught. He was also thrilled with his defense, saying that they were the reason for the triumph.
“Our defense played a great job all night, so we just had to protect the football, and we got a good win,” Winston said.
This is his first win as a starting quarterback since Week 13 2016.
Barber did one hell of a job in this match. He had 23 carries for 82 yards, scored a touchdown which brought back the lead on the Buccaneers’ side and did a lot of damage to the Panthers’ defense.
As for the Panthers, they have started this season pretty bad. The loss in this contest wasn’t planned under no circumstances. Against the Rams, Carolina showed very good performance, and they competed well against one of the top Super Bowl contenders. Now they have two road games, one against the Arizona Cardinals next week, and after that versus the Houston Texans. The Buccaneers face the New York Giants at home and then play against the Rams in Los Angeles. They have a nice opportunity to beat the Giants and to post two wins in a row.
