CHARLOTTE — The Carolina Panthers can’t even tank right.
Days after trading their second best wide receiver, Robbie Anderson, and the best player on the team in running back Christian McCaffrey, the Panthers turned in their best game of the season, upsetting the visiting Tampa Bay Bucs, 21-3.
Anderson was dealt following a sideline confrontation with coaches during last week’s loss to the Rams — Carolina’s third straight and fifth in six games this season. The trade sending McCaffrey to San Francisco for four draft picks seemed to indicate the Panthers were looking toward the future and scrapping this season.
Not so fast, said interim coach Steve Wilks and a feisty Carolina defense.
“Circle the wagons and come together,” said Wilks, who took over after Matt Rhule was fired two games ago. “That definitely wasn’t a team out there today that was trying to tank it. These guys right here have come together. They believe in one another and it’s about trying to win football games.”
The Panthers’ defense stepped up, holding Tom Brady and the Tampa offense to three points, the first time since 2020 that Carolina has held an opponent without a touchdown. The Panthers also held the Bucs to 2 of 12 on third downs, the lowest rate for a Panthers opponent in 13 months.
The Panthers held Tampa to 46 yards rushing. Brady passed for 290 yards, but time after time, Bucs’ drives stalled. Through the end of the third quarter, Tampa’s first seven drives featured six punts and one turnover on downs.
Meanwhile, the Panthers’ offense was able to grind out a win. Without McCaffrey, who has been the team’s most explosive rusher and receiver over the past several seasons, Carolina was still able to control the ground game. Longtime backup D’Onta Foreman had 118 yards on 15 rushes, including a career-long 60-yarder that set up Carolina’s second touchdown.
“This game is about opportunities and creating opportunities for yourself,” he said. “You know, when your number is called you’ve got to be ready, you’ve got to be ready to go and put your best foot forward. I feel like, man, I’ve been waiting all season for an opportunity, and you know once you get them, you just have to capitalize. I was ready to go today, and moving forward I will be ready to go.”
Chuba Hubbard added 63 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown run immediately after Foreman’s long rush.
Quarterback PJ Walker, who started back-to-back games for the first time in his career, completed 11 straight passes in the first half and finished 16 of 22 for 177 yards. He threw touchdowns to DJ Moore and Tommy Tremble and showed a willingness to throw deep that hadn’t been evident in the longtime backup’s previous appearances.
“We weren’t going to sit back,” Wilks said. “That we were going to be aggressive and it showed that we wanted to push the ball down the field and try to really see what we can get.”
Even if what they end up getting is a worse draft pick, there will be no tanking in Charlotte this season.
