The Carolina Panthers came into Sunday on a two-game winning streak, with a chance at their first 4-2 start since 2019, according to the team. By halftime they trailed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that had won once all season, 33-6.
Tampa Bay won 43-13 at Bank of America Stadium, scoring 20 points off four Carolina turnovers, and the Panthers lost right tackle Taylor Moton to a broken fibula. Carolina is 3-3.
"I've never been a part of a half of football like that," Panthers coach Dave Canales said.
Carolina was already down 10-0, after a muffed punt by receiver David Moore set up a field goal, when quarterback Bryce Young was sacked on third-and-14 early in the second quarter and lost the ball. Bucs defensive lineman Calijah Kancey picked it up and ran 32 yards for a touchdown.
"The ball was in my hands and then it got on the ground, and the other team ended up with it," Young said. "That's always my fault."
The Panthers answered on their next possession with Young's 50-yard touchdown pass to tight end Darren Waller. Tampa Bay blocked the extra point, and cornerback Zyon McCollum returned it for two points. Running back Bucky Irving then scored from the 1, McCollum intercepted Young at midfield, and quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to receiver Tez Johnson with four seconds left in the half.
Mayfield, back from a thumb injury, barely had to throw. He attempted 11 passes. Tampa Bay ran 49 times for 258 yards, with Irving gaining 106 and scoring twice, and held the ball for nearly 36 minutes. "We wanted to control the time of possession a little bit more," Bucs coach Todd Bowles said.
Moton, 32, was hurt on a sack early in the third quarter and did not return. He had missed the first four games with blood clots in his right lung and was activated Oct. 17. "It was the fibula. There is a fracture there," Canales said. Moton will miss "a substantial amount of time," Canales said, and it is not yet known whether his season is over.
"He worked so hard to get back to where he was," Young said. "It was killing him, not being able to be out there to start the year."
Young was sacked five times, three by outside linebacker Yaya Diaby, and threw two interceptions. After a 14-play drive ended on fourth-and-1 at the Tampa Bay 5 late in the third quarter, Kenny Pickett played quarterback the rest of the way. Canales did not say why.
Running back Anthony Tyus III scored Carolina's other touchdown, the first of his career, on a 12-yard run with 5:28 left. Long snapper JJ Jansen played his 283rd straight game, passing Jim Marshall for the third-longest streak in NFL history, according to the team.
The Panthers play at the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night. "We play Thursday," Young said. "You got to turn the page. You don't have a choice."
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