Tom Brady, Mike Evans Torch Carolina's Secondary En Route to NFC South Title

The Panthers fall to 6-10 on the season.

TAMPA, FL - Carolina's hopes of making the playoffs came crashing down in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game as Tom Brady carved up the Panthers' shorthanded defense for 432 yards and three scores en route to winning the NFC South title.

Carolina wasted no time in grabbing the first points of the game, scoring after just six plays and a little over three minutes into the game. Surprisingly, offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo let Sam Darnold throw it around a little bit instead of the ground-and-pound approach he had a week ago. Darnold went 4/4 on the opening drive with a nice corner ball to tight end Tommy Tremble for a 17-yard touchdown.

Tampa Bay appeared to be on the cusp of answering right back with a big 26-yard completion to Chris Godwin inside the Carolina 35, but Sam Franklin Jr. punched the ball out at the end of the play and was recovered by fellow safety Xavier Woods. Carolina went three and out on the ensuing possession, but the fumble kept the Bucs off the board for the time being. 

After a long 14-play drive early in the second quarter, Tampa Bay came up empty-handed once again as Ryan Succop's 53-yard field goal attempt missed short and to the right. Carolina went right back to the air, quickly getting into plus territory. On 4th & 3 at the Tampa 36, Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks trusted in his quarterback to make a play and he did, hitting DJ Moore on an out route to keep the drive alive. A few moments later, the Darnold/Moore connection came through big once again on third down, this time for a 24-yard touchdown to grab a 14-0 lead.

Carolina's momentum came to a screeching halt in the final two-plus minutes of the half. Mike Evans blew right by Keith Taylor Jr. and reeled in a 63-yard touchdown for Tampa's first points of the day. On the second play of Carolina's next series, Darnold wasn't ready for the snap from Bozeman and Devin White hopped on the loose ball, setting the Bucs up shop. After working it down to the four-yard line, Todd Bowles made the surprising decision to opt for a chip shot field rather than trust arguably the best QB sneaker in the history of the game. Succop's kick was good, bringing us to a halftime score of 14-10, in favor of Carolina.

Darnold threw his first interception of the year on the Panthers' first drive of the second half on a deep post to Stephen Sullivan, pulled down by Sean Murphy-Bunting at the two-yard line. Tampa Bay pieced together a long, methodical drive going 90 yards on 15 plays but failed to come away with any points as Yetur Gross-Matos blocked Ryan Succop's 26-yard field goal, the second kick is blocked on the year.

Sam Darnold didn't wait long to take another shot downfield - this time to his go-to guy, DJ Moore. A slightly underthrown deep shot went for 47 yards, moving the ball to the Tampa 31. Darnold capped the drive off with his third touchdown pass of the day on a strike to a wide-open Shi Smith in the end zone.

That two-score lead lasted all of one full minute of game time thanks to another Brady to Evans deep ball. Following the 57-yard touchdown, Tampa went for two to make it a three-point game but failed to convert. Brady and Evans connected for a third score on the very next drive, beating C.J. Henderson on a 30-yard go ball to give the Buccaneers their first lead of the day. Brady completed the two-point conversion to Chris Godwin to make it a 24-21 game.

Carolina forced a Tampa Bay punt with a little over two minutes to go in the game, giving Sam Darnold a chance to lead the Panthers to a comeback victory. Unfortunately, Darnold didn't have much of a chance as Anthony Nelson ran right around rookie left tackle Ikem Ekwonu on the first play from scrimmage and forced a fumble. Leonard Fournette bullied his way through the teeth of the defense for five yards, setting up a Tom Brady sneak for a touchdown to push the game to 30-21.

Carolina quickly worked their way down the field with Darnold doing a great job of avoiding a sack and flipping one over to Chuba Hubbard for a 19-yard gain. An 11-yard scramble by Darnold and then a 10-yard pass to Tremble moved it down inside the Tampa 35. Needing two scores, Wilks elected to kick the 49-yard field goal with a minute left. The onside kick was recovered by Cade Otton but Carolina had all three of its timeouts in its back pocket and was able to get three straight stops to get the ball back.

Bucs punter Jake Camarda received a low snap and avoided disaster by picking it up, running toward the sideline, and booting it downfield but were forced to punt it again due to an illegal man downfield. Carolina's last crack at it began at their own 10-yard line with no timeout and 26 seconds left. Darnold hit Shi Smith for a 38-yard gain to give them one last heave to the end zone. A false start by Brady Christensen forced Carolina to play the pitch around game on the final play and made it downfield a good ways before Tampa recovered a bad pitch to end the game.

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