The Bucs hosted the Panthers to start the new year with the NFC South division title on the line with a Tampa Bay victory. And that’s exactly what happened. The Bucs rallied from a 14-0 deficit to beat the Panthers, 30-24, and win their second straight NFC South title. The Bucs have never won two division titles in consecutive years before.

Here are the most impressive players in the Week 17 victory over the Panthers.

WR Mike Evans

Evans shook off an early drop to have a huge first half for the Bucs. He hauled in five catches for 94 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown, in the first 30 minutes of play. After Carolina took an early 14-0 lead, Evans beat cornerback Keith Taylor to haul in a 63-yard bomb from Tom Brady to get the Bucs on the scoreboard. That catch put Evans over the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the ninth straight year to start his career, extending his own NFL record.

Evans’ touchdown catch was just his fourth of the year and his first since scoring two against Kansas City in Week 4. He added another one from 57 yards in the fourth quarter to cut the Panthers lead to 21-16, and then the go-ahead score, a 30-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Evans would go over the 100-yard mark for the third time this season and finish the game with 10 catches for 207 yards.

QB Tom Brady

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: USA Today

Brady started off the game reasonably well and was 15-of-20 passing for 196 yards and a touchdown at halftime as Tampa Bay trailed 14-10. After Evans dropped a deep ball early in the first quarter, Brady hit the Bucs’ star receiver in stride after he gained a step on cornerback Keith Taylor for a 63-yard touchdown. That cut the Panthers’ lead to 14-7.

In the second half Brady hit Evans with a 57-yard touchdown to cut Carolina’s lead to 21-16 with 13:49 left in regulation and then a 30-yard strike to put the Bucs ahead, 24-21, after Brady hit Chris Godwin with a two-point conversion and later scored a touchdown on a QB sneak to push the Bucs’ lead to 30-21. He finished the game completing 34-of-45 passes for a season-high 432 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

CB Sean Murphy-Bunting

Murphy-Bunting came up with his second interception of the season at the right time. With the Panthers leading 14-10 in the third quarter, Darnold threw a deep ball to Stephen Sullivan but Murphy-Bunting stepped in front and picked it off at the Tampa Bay 2-yard line. That play thwarted a Panthers scoring drive. In addition to a forced fumble that went out of bounds in the first half, Murphy-Bunting also broke up a pass in the end zone at the start of the fourth quarter. He finished with two tackles.

OLB Anthony Nelson

With the Bucs leading 24-21 late in the fourth quarter, Nelson came up with a huge strip-sack on quarterback Sam Darnold at the Carolina 13-yard line. Defensive tackle Vita Vea recovered for the Bucs at the Carolina 3-yard line. Two plays later, a 1-yard QB sneak by Brady put the Bucs up 30-21 with less than two minutes left. Nelson finished the game with four tackles.

LB Devin White

Bucs LB Devin White and Panthers QB Sam Darnold – Photo by: USA Today

Takeaways have been hard to come by this year for the Bucs, but White came through with a big one right before halftime. Darnold fumbled the snap and White smashed into him to make sure he wouldn’t recover it. Instead, White pounced on the ball and set the Bucs up for a field goal right before halftime to cut the Panthers’ lead to 14-10. White had five tackles at halftime and finished with seven in the game.

WR Chris Godwin

Godwin came up with a huge catch on the Bucs first drive of the game to convert for a first down but when trying to gain extra yards he got the ball punched out. Tampa Bay lost the ball on the fumble. Godwin later had an offensive pass interference call that negated a 30-yard catch-and-run by Cade Otton. But Godwin went on to redeem himself with a very productive game. He hauled in nine passes for a season-high 120 yards and caught a two-point conversion.