Panthers-Buccaneers: Carolina Crumbles When It Matters Most in Lopsided Loss to

The Bucs defense was even better than advertised. The Bucs' pass defense was absolutely suffocating. 

If Panthers field general Jake Delhomme had enough time to get a good throw off, no one was ever open. But that didn't happen much—most of the time Delhomme hardly had time to avoid getting sacked, much less even look down the field to try to find an open receiver to throw to. 

Delhomme finished 20-of-39 for 242 yards and three interceptions. But none of the three picks were bad throws or bad decisions. I specifically remember that two of them were passes that hit the intended receiver right in the hands, but weren't caught.  Instead, they were both tipped to a lurking defender. 

The run offense got shut down. Absolutely blanked. The thunder-and-lightning backfield combination of Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams averaged only about 2.30 yards per carry. 

The best rushing play of the day came on a 3rd-and-1 as the first quarter concluded. Fullback Brad Hoover collected the remaining yard for one of the few Carolina first downs of the day. That first down kept a field goal-yielding drive going. The field goal turned out to score Carolina their only points of the game.

The biggest plus of the day for the Panthers—beyond not getting shut out (I wonder how many teams in NFL history have shut out their opponent one week and gotten shut out the next week)—was the play of linebackers Na'il Diggs and Jon Beason. They combined for 22 of the team's 64 tackles (34 percent). Now that's defense on a day where the Panthers didn't have any. 

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