It was painful to watch. The Bucs managed a whopping three points against a Panthers team that lost last week to the Bears and a rookie quarterback. Here is our list of Most Disappointing. Take a look and see if you agree.
QB Jameis Winston
After putting together one of his better halves of football a week ago at Buffalo, Winston had his worst four quarters against Carolina in a long time. From the opening drive, until the end of the game, Winston was rarely in synch with his receivers. And the few times he was able to get something going, his offensive line let him down with poor protection and penalties. Winston admitted after the game his play was bad, and for those in attendance and watching from home, not many would disagree.
On the afternoon Winston completed 21-of-38 passes for 210 yards with two interceptions and one fumble.
Offensive Line
Easily their worst game of the season, much of the struggles offensively can be traced back to poor play up front. J.R. Sweezy was exceptionally bad on Sunday with a penalty that helped stall a drive, while also giving up a sack in the game and also missed some blocks in the run game. But it wasn’t just Sweezy who underwhelmed, Donovan Smith had two costly penalties and Demar Dotson also added another. Overall the line gave up way too much pressure and committed to many costly penalties that doomed the Bucs chances.
WR Mike Evans
Evans was upset after the game, and rightly so, but part of his frustration should be directed on himself. Drops happen, but can’t on third down. In the first quarter Evans’ drop of a Winston slant that would have been enough to keep the chains moving. Evans ended up leading the team in receiving but had at least two drops and it would have been nice to see him lay out of the late fourth quarter overthrow from Winston. We can’t say for sure it would have been caught, or even have made a difference, but seeing the ball hit his fingertips before falling to the ground was painful to watch.
RB Peyton Barber
While the offensive line had most of the penalties on the day, second-year running back Barber had a costly one in the first half that negated a first down catch by Evans and pushed the Bucs back, and eventually out of field goal range. Barber also had a penalty on a good punt return by Bernard Reedy, but it wasn’t accepted by the Panthers.