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Game Recap
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a rough outing against the New Orleans Saints last week, but a little bit of home cooking seems to have fixed things right up. Tampa Bay came out on top against the Carolina Panthers by a score of 31-17 Sunday. For the Buccaneers, this is just revenge for the 37-26 defeat they suffered against Carolina the last time they faced one another on Oct. 13 of last year.
RB Leonard Fournette hadn't helped Tampa Bay's cause all that much against New Orleans last week, but the same can't be said for this game. Tampa Bay Fournette looked sharp as he rushed for two TDs and 103 yards on 12 carries. On the other hand, one thorn in Tampa Bay's side was the less-than-spectacular play of QB Tom Brady, who threw one interception and fumbled the ball once.
Tampa Bay's defense was a presence, as it got past the Panthers' offensive line to sack QB Teddy Bridgewater five times for a loss of 27 yards. Leading the way was NT Ndamukong Suh and his two sacks. Those were the first sacks for Suh through Week 2.
The losing side was boosted by RB Christian McCaffrey, who punched in two rushing touchdowns.
The win got the Buccaneers back to even at 1-1. This is the second loss in a row for the Panthers and nudges their record down to 0-2.
Tampa Bay will take on the Denver Broncos at 4:25 p.m. ET next week at Empower Field at Mile High. Tampa Bay is the slight favorite, but fans of both teams should be in for an exciting contest likely to go down to the wire. Carolina is on the road again next week and plays against the Los Angeles Chargers at 4:05 p.m. ET Sept. 27 at SoFi Stadium. The defensive coordinators will surely put in extra hours ahead of this matchup since these teams' offenses combined for 830 yards this week.
