Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16 Carolina Panthers 48 Satuday 24 December 2011 at Bank of America Stadium

SCORING CAR 10:12-1Q Williams 8 run (Mare kick) CAR 8:27-1Q Mare FG21 TB 14:07-2Q Benn 4 pass from Freeman (Barth kick) CAR 13:06-2Q LaFell 91 pass from Newton (Mare kick) TB 5:33-2Q Barth FG42 CAR 0:25-2Q Mare FG19 CAR 11:55-3Q Williams 22 run (Mare kick) CAR 3:24-3Q Stewart 11 pass from Newton (Mare kick) CAR 0:24-3Q Newton 49 run (Mare kick) CAR 14:53-4Q Shockey 8 pass from Newton (Mare kick) TB 11:08-4Q Freeman 1 run (pass failed)

This was a game where it was clear the competitive spirit had gone from the Bucs. The defense was repeatedly embarrassed both through the air and on the ground and there were more turnovers as had become the norm in the past weeks. "I'm getting tired myself of using the excuse," Jeff Faine said, "but as much youth as we have on this team and the lack of leadership that we have at certain positions, it seems like things just continue to snowball at times.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Lumpkin 7-24, Madu 4-20, Blount 2-11, Freeman 6-4. PANTHERS: Stewart 7-88, Williams 7-66, Newton 6-55, Vaughan 7-24, Smith 1-23, Brockel 2-5, Anderson 1-(-1). PASSING BUCS: Freeman 38-28-274-1-1. PANTHERS: Newton 17-12-171-0-3. RECEIVING BUCS: Winslow 6-63, Stroughter 4-52, Madu 4-42, Williams 4-39, Lumpkin 4-38, Stocker 3-14, Parker 1-16, Briscoe 1-6, Benn 1-4. PANTHERS: LaFell 3-103, Williams 2-18, Shockey 2-14, Naanee 2- 12, Stewart 1-11, Smith 1-9, Brockel 1-4. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. PANTHERS: Nelson 1-20. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Stroughter 4-80, Parker 1-21. PANTHERS: Pilares 1-17. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Spurlock 1-9. PANTHERS: Edwards 1-1. SACKS BUCS: Bennett 1-8. PANTHERS: Neblett 1-7, Keiser 1-4, Kearse 0.5-2.5, Shirley 0.5- 2.5. .

STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 70 Penn DE 91 Bowers LG 76 Zuttah DT 90 MIller C 52 Faine DT 98 Okam RG 75 Joseph DE 94 Clayborn RT 65 Trueblood SLB 58 Black TE 88 Stocker MLB 59 Foster TE 82 Winslow DB 33 Mack WR 19 Williams LCB 31 Biggers WR 17 Benn RCB 20 Barber RB 27 Blount SS 26 Jones QB 5 Freeman FS 36 Jackson PLAYED 9 Koenen, 10 Barth, 18 Stroughter, 23 Lewis, 24 Gaitor, 28 Lumpkin, 32 Madu, 41 Lynch, 43 Black, 44 Lorig, 48 Economos, 53 Reed , 56 Watson, 57 Hayward, 58 Black, 62 Larsen, 69 Dotson, 71 Bennett, 72 Haye, 80 Pianalto, 81 Spurlock, 87 Parker, 89 Briscoe DID NOT PLAY 11 Johnson INACTIVE 12 Carpenter, 22 Asante, 50 Te'o-Nesheim, 73 Hardman, 77 Lee, 92 Price, 95 Haynesworth

COMMENTARY CREW Sam Rosen and Chad Pennington

GAME REPORTS Roy Cummings reports on another humiliating loss How Rick Stroud saw the game unfold Gary Shelton weighs in with his opinions Defensive line woes Morris frustrated with Blount's early blunder Long touchdown pass breaks defense's heart Ronde Barber can't understand game breakdowns Newton's encore all too familiar for Bucs Game notes and Buccaneer anecdotes Scott Smith's game report The official gamebook including the play-by-play