Carolina was also down to its third quarterback, with both Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield dealing with ankle sprains. Third-year QB P.J. Walker, making his fourth career start, completing 16 of 22 passes for 177 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. The Panthers’ passing attack depended largely on screens and underneath passes but Walker hit WR D.J. Moore on a 20-yard touchdown pass for the game’s first score in the second quarter and played largely mistake-free. Walker then essentially put the game out of reach with a pretty 29-yard touchdown pass to TE Tommy Tremble in the fourth quarter.
In fact, for the third game in a row, the Buccaneers and their opponents combined to commit zero turnovers. That’s the first time that has happened in franchise history. Tampa Bay’s last takeaway was a Sean Murphy-Bunting interception in the fourth quarter of a Week Four loss to Kansas City.
“It’s been three weeks,” said Bowles. “We pride ourselves off turnovers; we have not gotten one in three weeks. We haven’t punched the ball out. We haven’t gotten an interception. That’s part of winning football as well.”
Tampa Bay’s defense was playing with a depleted secondary that lost two more players along the way. With Murphy-Bunting, cornerback Carlton Davis and safety Logan Ryan all out with injuries, the Bucs saw safety Antoine Winfield Jr. leave the game to be evaluated for a concussion in the third quarter. He did not return. Cornerback Anthony Chesley, elevated from the practice squad for the game, was also knocked out by a hamstring injury.
The Bucs were out-rushed on the day, 173-46. Tampa Bay’s rushing total was influenced by the scoreboard in the second half, as the team was chasing a deficit and running out of time, but the Buccaneers came into the game with the league’s 32nd-ranked rushing attack. That left Brady to throw 49 passes, which resulted in 290 yards and, of course, no touchdowns. In addition to Evans’ big day, Brady found rookie TE Cade Otton four times for 64 yards and WR Chris Godwin seven times for 43 yards.
“We had two busts,” said Bowles of the Bucs’ run defense. “We had a bust on that 60-yard one and we had a bust on another run. The defense cannot play well and then have two busted coverages that you put in from Day One and two busted running plays and expect to win the ballgame. It’s not a three-and-a-half quarter ballgame.”
Neither offense could sustain a drive for long for most of the first half. The first seven possessions in the game…
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