Monday, 4 a.m.
Yes, it was ugly. Yes, it was sloppy. Yes, the Bucs tried their best to make a hero out of Bryce Young.
On the other hand, the Tampa Bay Bucs had heroes. That’s how they were able to salvage a 26-23 overtime win over the Carolina Panthers Sunday evening.
They had Anthony Nelson, forcing a fumble when the Panthers had moved into position for a potential winning field goal. They had Rachaad White, breaking loose for 38-yard run to set up the Bucs’ winning field goal. They had Chase McLaughlin, who hit the winner after he tied the game with a 51-yarder as time ran out.
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They had Bucky Irving, who ran for 152 of the Bucs’ 236 rushing yards. They had Mike Evans, who caught eight passes for 118 yards. They had Baker Mayfield, who shook off a bad day and scrambled for 10 yards on the tying drive in regulation.
That’s the way it works when a team wins a close game in the NFL. A lot of players play a part.
“It was a tough game,” Bucs’ coach Todd Bowles said. “The football gods were kind to us. The first half of the season, we wouldn’t have finished that game out. We did a heck of a job fighting back. They played tough, we played tough. We learned some mental toughness.”
Mayfield thew two interceptions and was sacked four times. However, he took his team downfield for the tying field goal with just 30 seconds left.
“We found a way to win,” Mayfield said. “To be on the right side of things at the end is good for us. We were sloppy at first all over. Too many penalties, mental errors, things like that.”
Oh, there were bad moments, too. Young threw for 298 yards, including a go-ahead touchdown with 30 seconds to play. The Panthers are just 3-9 on the season, but they’ve been solid for the last month.
They were good Sunday, too, except for field goal kicker Eddy Pineiro, who missed two makeable kicks.
The Bucs came back strong in the fourth period behind Irving, the rookie who keeps threatening to take over the team’s rushing attack. He carried 25 times Sunday.
He gained 62 of the 69 yards on the Bucs’ go-ahead drive and 28 more on a field goal drive to pad the lead. With third-and-one at the goal, however, the Bucs took Irving out. They promptly lost six yards on a run by White.
“He had a heck of a game,” Bowles said. “He had over 100 yards. Rachaad played well as well. Irving has a hip pointer right now.”;
Once again, however, the secondary of the Bucs was porous. Young drove his team downfield for a go-ahead touchdown.
The win allowed the Bucs to tie Atlanta for the lead in the NFC South, although the Falcons have the tiebreaker.
The Bucs are home Sunday at 1 p.m. against the Las Vegas Raiders.