Tom Brady wins first game as Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB, 31-17 over Carolina Panthers
Forget all the talk about miscommunication, poor throws, hurt feelings and bad hamstrings.
Tom Brady and Mike Evans need to be the passing combination to ignite the Bucs, and they showed signs of that Sunday.
But give the Bucs defense its due.
When their 43-year-old quarterback needed a lift, it was the guys on the other side of the ball that carried him, forcing four turnovers to lead the Bucs to a 31-17 win over the Panthers.
After Tampa Bay gave back much of its 21-0 halftime lead, the Panthers trailed by a touchdown and had the ball at midfield when quarterback Teddy Bridgewater’s pass was stolen by cornerback Carlton Davis. On the next play, running back Leonard Fournette ripped off a 46-yard touchdown run to put the game away.
Evans was held to only one catch for 2 yards and a touchdown on four targets in last week’s loss at New Orleans and knew something had to change. One of those throws resulted in an interception.
On Sunday, Brady and the Evans were the redeem team.
Evans caught seven passes for 104 yards – 91 of them coming in the first half – including a beautiful back-shoulder throw for a touchdown.
Tampa Bay’s defense not only forced turnovers, the Bucs also snuffed out a fake punt to set up Brady and the offense all day.
Brady finished 23 of 35 passing for 217 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Fournette led the rushing attack with 103 yards on 12 carries.
The win improved the Bucs to 1-1 overall and prevented the first 0-2 start of Brady’s career.
The Bucs took advantage of a couple breaks in the first quarter to score 14 points off Panthers turnovers. After going three-and-out in the opening possession, Carolina drove to the Tampa Bay 22-yard line.
But safety Jordan Whitehead intercepted a badly overthrown screen pass by Bridgewater to Christian McCaffrey to end the threat. Ronald Jones capped that 78-yard drive in 10 plays with a 7-yard scoring run, stiff-arming safety Juston Burris on his way to the end zone.
Carolina turned the ball over again. Rookie safety Antoine Winfield sacked Bridgewater and forced a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul at the Carolina 23-yard line.
Brady and Evans weren’t on the same page at New Orleans last week on one play, resulting in Brady’s first interception. Evans misread a coverage on the play.
But this time, Brady threw a perfect back-shoulder pass to Evans for a 23-yard touchdown pass. Evans had cornerback Donte Jackson over the top, so both read the defense correctly.
The Bucs’ big mistake in the first half came when Brady and Jones fumbled an exchange and the Panthers recovered.
The Bucs’ third touchdown was set up after a missed faked punt attempt. Safety Jeremy Chinn took a direct snap and was tackled for a loss of 1 yard.
Brady was visibly upset on the bench about the botched handoff. But he made up for it with a 30-yard completion to Justin Evans on a flea-flicker pass after taking a pitch back from Fournette.
The Bucs did a good job of rotating their backs with Jones and Fournette doing most of the work on the ground and LeSean McCoy on passing downs.
This time it was Fournette who got the call on the goal line. After his 12-yard reception for a first down, Fournette bulled in from the 1-yard line for a touchdown to give the Bucs a three-touchdown lead.
The Bucs’ defense produced its third turnover when Lavonte David forced and recovered a fumble by McCaffrey.
But Brady gave it right back, badly overthrowing a pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski that was intercepted by Jackson and returned 44 yards to midfield.
That led to the Panthers’ first score, a 1-yard run by McCaffrey to cut the Bucs’ led to 21-7 with 8:36 remaining in the third quarter.
The Panthers made it 21-14 when McCaffrey took an option pitch from Bridgewater and ran it in for a 7-yard touchdown with 13:25 remaining in the game. That capped a 93-yard drive in 13 plays.
After Davis’ interception, Ryan Succop connected on a 45-yard field goal. The Panthers added a 23-yard field goal by Joey Slye with 1:57 remaining in the game. But the onside kick was recovered by Gronkowski. On the next play, Fournette escaped for a 46-yard touchdown run.