CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tampa Bay barely needed its quarterback on Sunday. The Buccaneers piled up 258 rushing yards on 49 carries, took the ball away four times and buried the Carolina Panthers 43-13 in Charlotte in Baker Mayfield’s first game back.
Mayfield had sat out three straight games with a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand and played with a protective glove. He threw only 11 passes, completing seven for 64 yards and a score, and the Bucs never asked for more. The win moves him to 7-1 in his career against Carolina.
Bucky Irving did the heavy lifting with 106 yards and two touchdowns, including a 4-yard run that capped a 14-play, 70-yard march on the opening drive. Sean Tucker later broke a 46-yard touchdown run, and Kenny Gainwell added 88 yards on 14 carries after a brief exit with a hip problem.
The defense made life miserable for Bryce Young, who went down for five sacks and completed 14 of his 27 throws for 163 yards. Young found the end zone once through the air, yet Tampa Bay picked him off twice and recovered one of his fumbles. Calijah Kancey scooped up the ball after an Al-Quadin Muhammad strip-sack and went 32 yards for a touchdown.
Special teams piled on. Tampa Bay recovered a muffed punt, and after Carolina scored on a 50-yard pass to Darren Waller, Zyon McCollum took a blocked extra point 70 yards the other way for two points. The Bucs led 33-6 at the half.
Head coach Todd Bowles said the run game made the afternoon easy for a quarterback coming off an injury. Tampa Bay improved to 2-5 with the division road win, while Carolina dropped to 3-3 and will look to clean up the turnovers before next week.
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