The Buccaneers made it two wins a row with a much-improved defensive performance in recording no less than four interceptions of Cam Newton. Jameis Winston had another turnover-free performance with two scoring passes and only a goal-line fumble by Peyton Barber spoiled the offensive output. Andrew Adams had three of the interceptions to tie a single-game record held by Ronde Barber (twice) and Aqib Talib.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Winston 5-48, Barber 16-45, Jones 4-2. PANTHERS: McCaffery 10-106, Newton 6-33, Moore 2- 21, Samuel 1-8. PASSING BUCS: Winston 30-20-249-0-2. PANTHERS: Newton 41-28-300-4-2, Heinicke 1-0-0-0-0. RECEIVING BUCS: Humphries 7-61, Godwin 5-101, Evans 4-48, Brate 3-36, Cross 1-3. PANTHERS: McCaffery 9-55, Samuel 6-88, Thomas 5- 46, Moore 4-44, Wright 2-44, Olsen 1-13, Funchess 1- 10. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Adams 3-21, Elliott 1-50. PANTHERS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: none. PANTHERS: Barner 2-35. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Humphries 1-0. PANTHERS: Barner 3-6. SACKS BUCS: Minter 1-8, David 1-7, Curry 1-5, Pierre-Paul 1-4. PANTHERS: Short 1-10, Obada 1-8, Poe 1-6, Love 0.5- 2.5, Addison 0.5-2.5.
COMMENTARY CREW Kenny Albert and Ronde Barber
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24 Carolina Panthers 17 Sunday 2 December 2018 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING TB 9:46-1Q Humphries 3 pass from Winston (Santos kick) TB 6:41-1Q Santos FG35 CAR 4:14-1Q McCaffery 8 pass from Newton (Gano kick) TB 0:13-2Q Godwin 13 pass from Winston (Santos kick) CAR 10:58-3Q Gano FG37 TB 7:23-3Q Barber 1 run (Santos kick) CAR 2:24-3Q Funchess 10 pass from Newton (Gano kick)
GAME REPORTS The Bucs ride four takeaways on the way to victory Rick Stroud reports on the day a bunch of defensive cast-offs came up big Tom Jones knows the Bucs still have a mathematical chance of the playoffs Tampa Bay’s hits on Cam Newton the set tone What makes the Bucs and Jameis Winston tough to beat How Roy Cummings saw the game for Florida Football Insiders Scott Smith’s official game report Click here for the play-by-play and the NFL gamebook
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 94 Nassib LG 74 Marpet DT 93 McCoy C 66 Jensen DT 50 Vea RG 77 Benenoch RDE 90 Pierre-Paul RT 61 Wester MLB 53 Taylor TE 82 Auclair WLB 54 David WR 10 Humphries CB 35 Elliott WR 12 Godwin LCB 22 Harris WR 13 Evans RCB 29 Smith QB 3 Winston SS 31 Whitehead RB 25 Barber FS 21 Evans PLAYED 5 Santos, 9 Anger, 17 Watson, 26 Adams, 27 Jones, 30 Shaw, 32 Rogers, 37 Rivers, 39 Johnson, 41 Minter, 45 Cross, 49 Bullough, 52 Lynch, 57 Spence, 59 Bond, 65 Cappa, 67 Liedtke, 84 Brate, 85 Wilson, 89 Sanborn, 91 Allen, 92 Gholston, 97 Curry DID NOT PLAY 14 Fitzpatrick INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 11 Jackson, 24 Grimes, 33 Davis, 36 Stewart, 56 Nunez-Roches, 69 Dotson
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays Javien Elliott’s first career interception came late in the first half and set up a scoring play Jameis Winston found Chris Godwin in the back of the endzone to put the Bucs up by 10 at the half Andrew Adams had a franchise-tying three interceptions in the game - this is the third one