2024 NFL season, Week 13: What We Learned from Sunday’s games

FULL BOX SCORE

Eric Edholm’s takeaways:

1. McLaughlin, Bucs’ D got redemption in OT. The Buccaneers were on the verge of dropping a brutal game at Carolina when they found a way to pull it out in overtime. Chase McLaughlin hit the game-tying field goal at the end of regulation to force overtime but missed his first OT try from 55 yards out when it tailed wide left. The Buccaneers’ defense, which allowed Bryce Young to lead a go-ahead drive late in regulation, was on its heels in overtime after a one-handed Adam Thielen catch put the Panthers in field-goal range. But that’s when the ever-underrated Anthony Nelson stripped the ball away from Chuba Hubbard, giving it back to the Bucs. After a long Rachaad White run, the Bucs were in much comfier field-goal range from 30 yards out, and McLaughlin wouldn’t miss his game-winning chance. On the flip side, Panthers kicker Eddy Pineiro made three field goals but also missed two, from 38 and 45 yards — both wide left. The Bucs watched the Falcons lose earlier on Sunday and couldn’t let this one slip away. The NFC South is officially a race, with both leaders sitting at 6-6.
2. Bryce led a convincing, confident go-ahead drive. It wasn’t the result the Panthers wanted, but what they saw from Bryce Young had to make them feel like they’re in better hands. In the course of maybe a month, Young has seemingly rewritten his career trajectory. He hit Adam Thielen and Tommy Tremble, his two favorite targets Sunday, on big pass plays in the final minute on the go-ahead touchdown drive with 30 seconds left. Young did his job. Then in overtime, after the Bucs’ missed field goal, Young scrambled for 5 yards and hit Thielen on a 16-yard pass on third-and-5, comfortably within Pineiro’s range; that’s when Chuba Hubbard fumbled. Again, Young did his job. Even early in the game, Dave Canales didn’t show great trust in Young to convert on fourth-and-2 from the Tampa 27, setting for a field goal. It missed. Young has looked much more comfortable, getting the ball out of his hands quickly and more decisively. He looked spry on a 10-yard TD run. His receivers didn’t always help Young out, and replay didn’t help out Thielen on what looked like a TD catch before the half. Plus, the Panthers committed multiple penalties on offense, defense and special teams, but Young gave them a chance to win Sunday.
3. Bucky’s big game gave Bucs a bump. Baker Mayfield was having a tough game, briefly leaving at one point after being stepped on, and the Bucs decided it was time to get back to the run game they’d forgotten a bit about. Smart move. And it was interesting who was getting the handoffs. The Buccaneers kept Bucky Irving busy early in the game, but they really leaned on him with 13 touches in the fourth quarter and overtime. He finished with a season-high 24 rushes (and he never had more than 22 in a game at Oregon) for 152 yards and a TD, plus three catches for 33 yards. Rachaad White was stuffed for a loss on a goal-line touch late in regulation but broke free for a 38-yarder in overtime to set up the game-winning kick. On a day when Mayfield was sacked four times and forced two interceptions, the run game came to the rescue. Even Mayfield’s 10-yard run at the end of regulation was big. Collectively, they ran for 236 yards on 39 carries, for a healthy 6.1-yard average.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Buccaneers-Panthers (via NFL Pro): Bryce Young was at his best passing against the Buccaneers’ zone coverage in Week 13, completing 23 of 32 attempts for a season-high 242 yards (+5.3% CPOE). Against man coverage, Young completed just 3 of 14 attempts for 56 yards (-9.8% CPOE). Young was also productive on passes under 10 air yards, completing 21 of 25 attempts for a season-high 185 yards (7.4 yards per attempt).

NFL Research: Baker Mayfield is now 4-0 against the Carolina Panthers, one of his three former teams. As a Carolina starter in 2022, he had just one win, going 1-5 in six starts.