Tampa Bay Buccaneers Lose to Carolina and Fooled You, Didn't They?

The Buccaneers fooled you, didn't they?

Bet you thought this was the game. Bet you thought they'd beat Carolina on a picture-perfect day in Raymond James Stadium.

Bet you thought this was their day after that near-perfect first quarter and a 7-0 lead over the Panthers.

Bet you still felt pretty good about things with that 7-7 halftime score.

Your Buccaneers were looking decent, playing well and doing what they needed to do to capture that elusive first win for Raheem Morris.

Bet your heart began to sink in that third quarter when the Panthers turned a Josh Johnson mistake into a 14-7 lead then added another TD to lead 21-7.

Looked dismal, didn't it?

Ah, but then those huge plays gave you hope, didn't they?

Didn't you go crazy when little Sammie Stroughter went for a 97-yard kickoff return for touchdown, longest in Buccaneer history and only the third-ever for this franchise?

You had hope at 21-14, Carolina.

Then Tanard Jackson excited you with the interception for a touchdown that created a 21-21 game with 8:33 to play.

You felt it coming, you knew this was the day, the Bucs' day. The Bucs' day to pull one out.

Then came the "heartbreak."

It was a drive like no other, a "heartbreak" like no other.

You watched helplessly as the Panthers took to the ground on a mighty 16-play drive.

You watched in horror as eight hand-offs went to DeAngelo Williams for 33 total yards, and another seven hand-offs to Jonathan Stewart for 43 total yards. Only a four-yard pass to Steve Smith broke up the ground massacre of the Tampa Bay defense.

The "heartbreak" chewed up eight minutes, four seconds, and there were only 29 ticks left on the clock when Williams scored from a yard out.

At that point, at 28-21 with those 29 ticks left, you knew it was over.

You knew it wasn't to be.

You realized that 0-5 is now 0-6 and that the Panthers (2-3) still own the Buccaneers.

You realized that these Bucs can't stop the run when they need to.

You realized that on this day, the Buccaneers fooled us.

Didn't they?