– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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CHARLOTTE — Despite its oxymoronic nature, Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales and quarterback Bryce Young continue stressing the need to start a second play in the middle of a play that’s already going on to sustain success on offense. On the Panthers’ most important play on offense on Sunday, Young hit the restart button at the perfect time, and Carolina hit almost all the right buttons from then on to close out a victory that puts them on the doorstep of the postseason .
Young threw two touchdown passes, the second coming late in the third quarter while avoiding a heavy rush, as the Panthers held on for a 23-20 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers inside Bank of America Stadium to take over first place in the NFC South from their opponent with two games remaining. Rookie safety Lathan Ransom ended the Buccaneers’ final drive in Carolina territory with a diving interception with 42 seconds remaining to snap the Panthers’ five-game losing streak against Tampa Bay.
Along with wresting away control of the division’s top spot from the Buccaneers, Carolina now owns sole possession of the NFC South lead for the first time since 2021, and, a win next weekend at home against Seattle plus a Tampa Bay loss to Miami would clinch the division title. Any other result in Week 17 would mean the two teams would play a winner-take-all game for the division title in two weeks’ time in Tampa Bay.
“Everything is right in front of us still and to give ourselves a chance to continue to play meaningful football this time of year, they’ve earned that,” Panthers head coach Dave Canales said. “They’ve earned that because of the work. They’ve earned that because of being accountable to each other and really having a great week of preparation and … just the focus this group had this week and understanding what’s in front of us. My message to them was, like, we’ve been playing playoff football for a really long time.”
Even through another season of ups and downs for Young, the third-year signal-caller has continued to have his best moments in his breakthrough season in the most crucial of moments, and he stepped up big — literally — on a key play late in the third quarter. On third-and-5 from the Buccaneers’ 6-yard line, Young pirouetted away from the initial Tampa pass rush, keeping the play alive before stepping up back into the pocket and finding a wide-open Ja’Tavion Sanders for a go-ahead touchdown to give the Panthers a 20-17 lead with 17 ticks left in the period.
That score capped an 11-play drive that answered Tampa Bay’s 14-play, 66-yard drive to begin the second half that ended with Sean Tucker’s 1-yard run that gave the Bucs’ their final lead of the game.
Young also delivered on a third down late in the fourth quarter with the game tied, dropping a perfect rainbow-arched pass down the far sideline to Jalen Coker for a 34-yard gain that eventually set up Ryan Fitzgerald’s 48-yard field goal just before the two-minute warning.
“Moments like that, where else would you rather be? I have all the confidence in the world in our guys,” Young said. “I just want to be able to give them a chance to go make a play. They did a great job around me stepping up. Those plays, great pockets. They did a great job of getting open, making catches. I trust on those guys and it’s a fun place to be.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer William Anthony. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 51 pictures in total.
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