The Carolina Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Charlotte with a final score of 42-28 to improve to an impressive 6-2 record at the halfway point of the season. Panthers fans were able to kick their feet up and enjoy an ice-cold root beer early in the game when Alex Armah, Christian McCaffrey, Greg Olsen, and Curtis Samuel helped them jump to a 35-7 lead before ending the half with the score being 35-14; still dominant if you ask me.
Tampa wouldn’t roll over after the first half when they scored 14 unanswered points to bring them within a score. Panthers fans everywhere started contacting the best cardiologists and therapists in town because the “Cardiac Cats” were looking to make their return. Fortunately, MVP candidate Cam Newton threw a touchdown strike to Samuel to put the game on ice. Panthers fans could breathe once again.
Carolina Panthers Move to 6-2 After Knocking Off Tampa Bay Buccaneers
CaMVP
If you can watch Panthers games and still say that Cam Newton is average, you may just be delusional or just a hater. He’s consistently countering everything that critics had to say about him this past off-season and he’s looking good doing it.
“His completion percentage is too low.”
Newton completed 76 percent of his passes against the Bucs and he’s currently sitting at a career-best, 67.3 percent completion rate.
“He turns the ball over too often.”
Cam has zero interceptions in his past three games and has only four on the year; with one being a drop and the other two being caused by rookie mistakes. Even with that in mind, he’s 29th in the league for INTs thrown. The only starting quarterbacks that have thrown fewer interceptions than him are Philip Rivers (3), Matt Ryan (3), Alex Smith (3), Carson Wentz (2) and Drew Brees (1).
“Cam can only run.”
Newton has a passer rating of 100.8, which is tied for 10th in the league with Deshaun Watson. This is also the highest rating he’s had for a season in his career.
Sure, you can make arguments for Patrick Mahomes and Todd Gurley winning the league MVP; but it wouldn’t be wise to sleep on Newton winning his second MVP award after this season.
Seatbelts
If I told you before the game that the duo of James Bradberry and Donte “Action” Jackson would neutralize the Bucs elite receiving corps, you would’ve called me crazy and told me to delete my Twitter account; but that’s just what happened. Bradberry limited Mike Evans to one catch for 16 yards on seven targets and Jackson limited Desean Jackson to two catches for 32 yards and a game-sealing interception on a 50-50 ball.
While fans are campaigning for Newton’s MVP award, they’re also campaigning for Jackson to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. He currently leads the league in interceptions (four) and he’s already tied the Panthers’ record for the most interceptions in a season set by Josh Norman… and there’s still eight games left!
The only problem with this secondary is that offenses are starting to expose the weakness in Carolina’s secondary in Captain Munnerlyn. Ron Rivera usually favors veterans when it comes to playing time, but it may be time to involve a younger, stronger and faster Corn Elder in the defensive scheme. I’m not implying that Munnerlyn gets benched for an entire game- that’s ludicrous- but the snaps should be split at least 60-40 between the two. Otherwise, defenses will continue to expose the chink in Carolina’s armor and cause a lot of damage on the scoreboard.
Aside from that, the secondary has been stellar, and they will have a huge test next week against arguably the best wide receiver in the league, Antonio Brown and his charismatic counterpart, JuJu Smith-Schuster. Vance McDonald may have a field day if the tight end coverage doesn’t improve; but Panthers fans have every reason to be confident heading into Pittsburgh.
Catch Us If You Can
One major point for the Panthers these past few seasons is to get faster on both sides of the football – and they didn’t disappoint. Samuel, McCaffrey and D.J. Moore have been amazing in Norv Turner’s systems and the best part is defenses just can’t do anything about it.
Moore broke off a 32-yard run early to set up a score, Samuel toyed with the defense on a double reverse for a 33-yard touchdown, McCaffrey slipped through defenders all game and even hurdled over one…oh and he scored two touchdowns. This offense is living proof that speed kills.
I wish Torrey Smith a speedy recovery, but it may be in the best interest of the team if he doesn’t get the amount of snaps he had prior to the injury when he returns to action. The chemistry between these guys is evident and we see that Cam believes in these guys to make plays and move the ball down the field effectively. The more they click, the more of a threat they are to other NFC powerhouses and if Damiere Byrd ever gets in the mix, it’s going to get ugly for defenses around the league.
Scoring Summary
First Quarter-
Alex Armah one-yard rushing touchdown (7-0 Carolina)
Christian McCaffrey three-yard rushing touchdown (14-0 Carolina)
Second Quarter-
Ryan Fitzpatrick touchdown pass to O.J. Howard (14-7 Carolina)
Curtis Samuel 33-yard rushing touchdown (21-7 Carolina)
Christian McCaffrey 1-yard rushing touchdown (28-7 Carolina)
Cam Newton 17-yard touchdown pass to Greg Olsen (35-7 Carolina)
Ryan Fitzpatrick 3-yard touchdown pass to O.J. Howard (35-14 Carolina)
Third Quarter-
Ryan Fitzpatrick 5-yard touchdown pass to Adam Humphries (35-21 Carolina)
Fourth Quarter-
Ryan Fitzpatrick 30-yard touchdown pass to Adam Humphries (35-28 Carolina)
Cam Newton 19-yard touchdown pass to Curtis Samuel (42-28 Carolina)
Quick Takeaways
– Poor coverage on TEs
– Captain Munnerlyn clearly the weak link on defense.
– Donte Jackson and James Bradberry are the real deal.
– Panthers play horribly with a lead, that won’t slide against better competition
– Offensive weapons are finally meshing together, and they can only get better from here.
– Carolina outrushed Tampa 179-82; McCaffrey accounted for 79 on 17 carries.
– Christian McCaffrey was also the leading receiver with five catches for 78 yards.
– Christian McCaffrey is really good at football.
– The Steelers are in trouble defensively.
