The Tampa Bay Buccaneers completed a season sweep of the Carolina Panthers with a dominant 48-14 win at Raymond James Stadium in Week 17. (Full highlights here.) Suffice it to say, this was a more aesthetically pleasing performance for the Buccaneers than the one that let them barely escape Charlotte with a 26-23 overtime win a month ago.
In that Week 13 contest, Tampa Bay's offense produced three punts and a turnover in the first half and the team went into the intermission down 13-10. The Bucs' first three drives of the second half also went punt-punt-interception, and only a late surge and a critical takeaway in overtime saved them from what would have been a crushing defeat.
On Sunday, the Bucs had no such issues. They scored on each of their first five drives and seven of nine overall to run away with a 34-point decision. The team finished with 551 yards of offense and 33 first downs while converting 10 of 14 third-down attempts. Those 33 first downs tied for the second most in a single game in franchise history, just one behind the record.
"It was about starting fast," said quarterback Baker Mayfield, who completed his first nine passes and finished the game with as many touchdown passes (five) as incompletions. "It was sloppy ball on the offensive side of things in Carolina. So we wanted to make sure we corrected that, and I thought our guys did just that. Just a few hiccups here and there. We'll look back on the tape and figure that out, but for the most part everybody was dialed in."
And they were dialed in from the very first snap, a six-yard Bucky Irving run on a veer to the left. The Buccaneers' "success rate" in the first quarter was impressive. For this particular statistic, a play is considered successful when it gains at least 40% of yards-to-go on first down, 60% of yards-to-go on second down and 100% of yards-to-go on third or fourth down." Each of Tampa Bay's first 11 plays, including all six on the game-opening drive, qualified as successes.
That had something to do with Irving, the Bucs' breakout rookie back, getting the ball early and often. He started the game in a two-back set with Rachaad White and took the first six handoffs of the game. Irving would finish with a season-high 190 yards from scrimmage, 113 on the ground and 77 through the air. At one point he had a 34-yard run and a 42-yard reception on consecutive plays, making up most of an 81-yard drive that ended in Mayfield's one-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans.
"Bucky always brings the aspect of, even if it's a dirty run – not all of them are blocked perfect but he's able to break some tackles and create explosive plays," said Mayfield. "Anytime you give him that many opportunities, good things are going to happen."
The Bucs' 48 points tied for the most the team has ever scored in a home game, and it was the result of sustained offensive succes through all four quarters (a blocked punt returned for a touchdown didn't hurt, either). And all of that derived from a very fast start, as the Bucs' offense did exactly what it set out to do in Week 17.
