The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ playoff hopes will be on the line when they host the Carolina Panthers in Week 17. The Buccaneers are favored at home over their NFC South rivals.
How to watch Panthers at Buccaneers
Tampa Bay (8-7) came up painfully short in a 26-24 road loss to the Dallas Cowboys this past Sunday night. This has the Bucs on the verge of elimination as they trail the Washington Commanders by two games in the wild-card chase and are also on the wrong end of the divisional tiebreaker with the Atlanta Falcons.
Tampa Bay defeated the Panthers (4-11) a few weeks ago, but the 26-23 overtime outcome is indicative of how competitive Carolina has been over the last two months. Last week, the Panthers eliminated the Arizona Cardinals from playoff contention, improving to 3-4 since the calendar turned to November.
The Bucs piled up 445 total yards in Week 13 against Carolina, with more than half (236) coming on the ground. The Panthers are dead last in the NFL in rushing defense and have given up 200-plus yards in four straight games. Expect Tampa to lean on the ground game once again, especially with Baker Mayfield taking plenty of hits the last few weeks.
Carolina has a formidable ground threat in Chuba Hubbard, but Hubbard was placed on the IR with a strained calf. Hubbard joins Miles Sanders and Jonathon Brooks on the IR. Raheem Blackshear and Mike Boone are next up in the Panthers’ backfield.
Elsewhere in the offense, the Panthers have to be encouraged by Bryce Young’s recent play. He had two touchdown passes and a rushing score in last week’s win and was both productive (season-high 298 passing yards with two total touchdowns) and mistake-free (no turnovers) in the first meeting with Tampa. The Bucs’ defense gave up too many big passing plays to the Cowboys, so that will be an area to watch on Sunday.
Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers odds
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