The home opener in 2020 had no fans but the result was pleasing to all as the Bucs bounced back from their opening day loss in New Orleans jumping out to a 21-0 first half lead and then making enough key plays to even their record at 1-1 on the season. Leonard Fournette’s clinching TD put the game away although there had been enough chances during the second half to do that long before his 46-yard scoring run inside the final two minutes.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Fournette 12-103, Jones 7-23, Miller 1-1, Brady 1-0, McCoy 1-(-5). PANTHERS: McCaffery 18-59, Samuel 4-26, Davis 1-1, Chinn 1-1. PASSING BUCS: Brady 35-23-217-1-1. PANTHERS: Bridgewater 42-33-367-2-0. RECEIVING BUCS: Evans 7-104, McCoy 5-26, Fournette 4-13, Watson 2-48, Miller 2-11, Jones 2-4, Howard 1-11. PANTHERS: Anderson 9-109, Moore 8-120, Davis 8-74, McCaffery 4-29, Samuel 2-13, Armah 1-14, Manhertz 1- 8. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Davis 1-2, Whitehead 1-0. PANTHERS: Jackson 1-44. KICK RETURNS BUCS: none. PANTHERS: none. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Mickens 1-0. PANTHERS: Cooper 2-(-1). SACKS BUCS: Suh 2-14, Gholston 1-7, Pierre-Paul 1-6, Winfield 1-0. PANTHERS: none.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31 Carolina Panthers 17 Sunday 20 September 2020 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING TB 5:42-1Q Jones 7 run (Succop kick) TB 4:38-1Q Evans 23 pass from Brady (Succop kick) TB 3:01-2Q Fournette 1 run (Succop kick) CAR 8:36-3Q McCaffery 1 run (Slye kick) CAR 13:25-4Q McCaffery 7 run (Slye kick) TB 6:13-4Q Succop FG33 CAR 1:57-4Q Slye FG23 TB 1:48-4Q Fournette 46 run (Succop kick)
GAME REPORTS How Rick Stroud saw the Bucs win their home-opener in front of no fans John Romano wonders if we should judge Tom Brady differently Mike Evans rebounds with 100-yard game The receivers had some big drops that could have cost another day The defense got some serious pressure on Teddy Bridgewater afternoon Scott Smith’s official game report Click here for the play-by-play and the NFL gamebook
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith DE 93 Suh LG 74 Marpet DT 50 Vea C 66 Jensen DE 92 Gholston RG 65 Cappa LOLB 90 Pierre-Paul RT 78 Wirfs LILB 45 White TE 87 Gronkowski RILB 54 David WR 10 Miller ROLB 58 Barrett WR 13 Evans LCB 24 Davis WR 17 Watson RCB 23 Murphy-Bunting QB 12 Brady SS 31 Winfield RB 27 Jones FS 33 Whitehead PLAYED 3 Succop, 8 Pinion, 15 Grayson, 25 McCoy, 26 Adams, 28 Fournette, 29 Smith, 30 Vaughn, 32 Edwards, 35 Dean, 37 Wilkins, 48 Cichy, 51 Minter, 56 Nunez-Roches, 57 Bell, 72 Wells, 79 O’Connor, 80 Howard, 84 Brate, 85 Mickens, 88 Hudson, 97 Triner, 98 Nelson DID NOT PLAY 11 Gabbert, 62 Shipley, 73 Haeg INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 14 Godwin, 18 Johnson, 39 Motley, 49 Gill, 64 Stinnie, 94 Davis
COMMENTARY CREW Alex Amin and Mark Schlereth
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays Ronald Jones got the party started with a mis-direction run to the right side and a score After a Carolina turnover, Tom Brady and Mike Evans hooked up on a back-shoulder throw Leonard Fournette sealed the deal with a touchdown run after a failed onside kick