NFL
By: Christopher Jordan
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have clinched their ticket to the playoffs after the Buccaneers beat the division-rival Carolina Panthers 30-24.
Tom Brady had a monster game against the Carolina Panthers. Brady threw for 432 yards and three long touchdowns to Mike Evans.
Throughout the season, Brady and Evans have been struggling to connect all season, so seeing Brady and Evans put together a great game was something remarkable to see.
Evans finished the game with ten receptions for 207 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Evans became the first player in NFL history to begin a career with nine consecutive seasons with 1,000-plus yards receiving.
Coming into Sunday’s game, the Bucs had to win a home game against a Carolina Panthers team that’s been playing well the past few weeks.
In the first game earlier this season, the Bucs got dominated 21-3, so coming into the game, the Buccaneers wanted to get some revenge on the Panthers.
The Buccaneers throughout the season, have struggled for the most part, and with the playoffs two weeks away, the Bucs need to start playing their best football going into the playoffs.
Throughout most of the first half of the game, the Panthers looked like they had the Buccaneers’ number because the Panthers had a 14-point lead.
The Bucs have been struggling to score points all the season, and early on the same struggles had been an issue for the Buccaneers once again.
All that changed when Brady threw a long heave to Evans for a touchdown to make the game 14-7. From that point on the Bucs’ offense went into a gear they’d been searching for all season.
That was Evan’s first touchdown since October 2. Since Brady had arrived in Tampa two years ago, Evans had scored 14 touchdowns in the 2021 season and 13 in 2020 when the Bucs won the Super Bowl.
” We’ve battled through a lot of tough things this year,” Brady said. ” Happy to win the division. It’s always tough to do it. NFL games are tough to win, and we always figure out a way to keep them somehow exciting. I wish they wouldn’t be as exciting as we made them.”
The Panthers led the game 21-10 after Sam Darnold’s third touchdown pass of the day. From that moment on, the Buccaneers took over the game.
The Bucs outscored the Panthers 20-3 for the rest of the game and dominated Carolina on both sides of the ball. The Buccaneers never allowed Carolina to score another touchdown.
After the win against the Panthers, Tampa is on a two-game winning streak, and they have an opportunity to play another great game against the divisional rival Atlanta Falcons.
If the Buccaneers win this upcoming week, the Bucs will enter into the playoffs with a 3-game winning streak.
The Buccaneers will have a home playoff game, and it’s looking like the Buccaneers will be facing the Dallas Cowboys or the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Buccaneers are a team that’s still getting healthy, and it’s another gear they can go moving forward into the playoffs.
The Bucs are a team that has a lot of playoff experience, and if there’s someone you can never count out a playoff game is Tom Brady.
Brady has won, the most playoff games, more than anybody else currently playing in the NFC.
The playoffs will come down to how the team’s matchup up and what team makes the least mistakes, and who can rise in big moments.
No one’s more battling tested in the playoffs than Tom Brady and the Buccaneers playing in the NFC.
The playoffs are a completely different season, and sometimes just getting in the playoffs is something you can build on.
The NFC is wide open, and no team’s just better than all the other teams. The Eagles, Cowboys, Vikings, and Giants haven’t proven anything in the playoffs yet.
The 49ers have a rookie quarterback with no playoff experience, and the Packers or the Detroit Lions haven’t made the playoffs as of right now.
The Tampa Buccaneers have a puncher’s chance like everyone else, especially when you have the Greatest of all time playing as the quarterback for your team.
