Sportsnaut
The Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers took the field on Saturday with everything at stake. In a win-and-in scenario, both NFC South franchises had an opportunity to either come out victorious and host a playoff game or see their season officially come to an end.
As if the stakes weren’t enough for the Panthers vs Buccaneers matchup on ESPN, Mother Nature had an impact. It was a first half of non-stop rain and the soaked field still had an impact on the action in the second half. Now let’s dive into our winners and losers from today’s game.
Would we classify this as an impressive win by the Buccaneers? No. However, Todd Bowles provided ownership with a rationale they can use publicly for why he should remain the head coach next season. Tampa Bay still isn’t locked into the playoffs, as the Panthers would clinch the NFC South via a three-way tiebreaker if the Atlanta Falcons beat the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, but the team did what it needed to do on Saturday. We don’t even agree that Bowles should stay, and his decision to blitz on a 4th-and-8 that Bryce Young beat for a 40-yard strike is just more evidence as to why. Yet, Tampa Bay won, and that will likely be good enough for ownership to let Bowles rest easy.
On an afternoon where the Panthers offense had struggled to move the football, Bryce Young and Co. found themselves with a 1st-and-10 at the Buccaneers’ 34-yard line early in the second quarter. A backward pass from Young went through Rico Dowdle’s hands and hit the ground, and he immediately scooped it up. However, the field judge ruled it incomplete and then, seconds later, ruled it a backward pass that went out of bounds. Except, Dowdle was nowhere close to stepping out of bounds when he recovered it, and he had space in front of him to run had the play not been incorrectly blown dead. As the rules analyst told the broadcast, the erroneous whistle should have meant Carolina got to replay the down. Instead, they were stuck with a 2nd-and-17 and missed a 54-yard field goal attempt two plays later. This isn’t even mentioning the…questionable non-calls minutes later on Carolina’s next possession.
The rain made it so both offenses struggled, so the little plays mattered. Cade Otton came up huge on the game-opening drive, pulling down a short reception and taking it 10 yards to set Tampa Bay up in the red zone. On the very next play, Otton found space in the end zone for an 18-yard score to take the early lead. On the Buccaneers’ first two scoring drives, he had three receptions for 32 yards and a touchdown. Later in the game, he added a 22-yard reception and then drew a defensive pass interference penalty late in the...
