The Carolina Panthers host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday, Oct. 25, at 1 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium, their first home game since Oct. 4.
Carolina is 3-2 after winning its last two games, and Tampa Bay is 1-5. A win would give the Panthers a 4-2 start for the first time since 2019 and a 2-0 start against their own division, the NFC South, for the first time since 2022, according to the team.
Quarterback Bryce Young is set to make his 50th career start, the team said. He would be the fourth Panthers quarterback to reach 50, after Cam Newton, Jake Delhomme and Steve Beuerlein. He leads the NFL with 309.8 passing yards a game.
Outside linebackers Jaelan Phillips, second on the team with 2.5 sacks, and Thomas Incoom are out Sunday, according to the team's final injury report Friday. Phillips has a hamstring injury and Incoom a calf injury, and neither practiced Thursday or Friday. Tackle Monroe Freeling (knee) and linebacker Bam Martin-Scott (hamstring) are questionable. Young, listed with a knee injury, was a full participant Thursday and Friday and has no game status.
On Wednesday, Oct. 21, the team opened a 21-day window for Martin-Scott to practice before deciding whether to return him to the active roster. The Panthers also moved running back Anthony Tyus III from the practice squad to the active roster that day, a day after waiving rookie tackle Albert Reese IV.
Tampa Bay's report through Thursday had receiver Emeka Egbuka (concussion, foot), tackle Luke Goedeke (calf) and linebacker Christian Rozeboom (finger) missing practice Wednesday and Thursday.
Running back Chuba Hubbard can become the second Panther to rush for at least 120 yards in three straight games, the team said. Stephen Davis did it in 2003.
Tampa Bay allows 75.5 rushing yards a game, second fewest in the league, according to the Panthers' figures.
Long snapper J.J. Jansen would pass Jim Marshall for the third-longest streak of consecutive games played in NFL history by playing Sunday. Jansen and Marshall are tied at 282, according to the team; only Jeff Feagles and Brett Favre played more in a row.
At halftime, Panthers great Luke Kuechly, inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, will receive his Hall of Fame Ring of Excellence.
The Panthers lead the series 26-25. When the teams last met in Charlotte, in Week 16 of last season, kicker Ryan Fitzgerald's 48-yard field goal put Carolina ahead 23-20 with just over two minutes left, and safety Lathan Ransom's interception sealed the win.
The game is on Fox.
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