Buccaneers take care of Panthers: Final Score, Box Score, Analysis

Tampa Bay Buccaneers take care of Carolina Panthers for first win of the season

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took care of business Sunday afternoon in their home-opener against NFC South divisional rival Carolina Panthers, coming away with a 31-17 victory.

Ronald Jones II got the scoring started for the Buccaneers with a 7-yard run with 5:42 remaining in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead. After the defense forced its second turnover in as many possessions, Tom Brady found Mike Evans for a 23-yard touchdown reception.

Leonard Fournette powered his way into the end zone with 3:01 remaining in the first half to take a 21-0 lead.

That’s when things got a little more interesting than Buccaneers fans would’ve liked.

Christian McCaffrey ran in a 1-yard TD to take the lead down to two scores and then he’d go on to score again on a 7-yard run with 13:25 remaining in the game.

The two teams traded field goals- making it 24-17- and Carolina had a chance to tie the game up on a couple of possessions, but the Buccaneers defense held strong. That’s when Fournette put the exclamation mark on the game with a 46-yard scamper to give Tampa Bay its 31-17 lead with a little less than two minutes remaining.

Stats & Analysis from the Buccaneers’ victory over the Panthers

Passing: Tom Brady 23-of-35 for 217 yards and 1 TD, 1 INT.

Rushing: Leonard Fournette 12 carries for 103 yards (8.6 YPC) and 1 TD; Ronald Jones II 7 carries for 23 yards, 1 TD.

Receiving: Mike Evans 7 receptions for 104 yards, 1 TD; Justin Watson 2 receptions for 48 yards; LeSean McCoy 5 receptions for 26 yards.

Analysis:

This game, in many ways, is a tale of two halves.

The Buccaneers defense came out firing on all cylinders and forced a couple of turnovers. The offense looked fairly in sync early on and they did an excellent job moving the ball and balancing the run and the pass.

The second half was disappointing in some ways because Tampa let the Panthers back in the game and the offensive unit showed some of the same blunders that plagued its success against the Saints last week.

In the end, though, a win is a win.

It was nice getting to see the team make the plays needed at the end of the game to come away with the win. The defense bent but didn’t break and the offense- though it still has plenty of room to grow- showed improvements from last week.

The Buccaneers are back in action next week on the road against the Denver Broncos.