{"id":105982,"date":"2022-10-23T23:09:13","date_gmt":"2022-10-23T23:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/minus-christian-mccaffrey-panthers-knock-off-buccaneers\/"},"modified":"2022-10-23T23:09:13","modified_gmt":"2022-10-23T23:09:13","slug":"minus-christian-mccaffrey-panthers-knock-off-buccaneers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/minus-christian-mccaffrey-panthers-knock-off-buccaneers\/","title":{"rendered":"Minus Christian McCaffrey, Panthers knock off Buccaneers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>CHARLOTTE, NC &#8212; Somebody forgot to tell the Carolina Panthers they were in tank mode after trading star running back Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Robbie Anderson to the Arizona Cardinals.<\/p>\n<p>Carolina defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21-3 on Sunday to hand quarterback Tom Brady one of the biggest upsets of his career in terms of being a favorite.  It also left Brady with a sub-.500 record (3-4) for the first time since 2002, when the New England Patriots started 3-4.<\/p>\n<p>It was the first win for interim Carolina coach Steve Wilks, who replaced Matt Rhule two weeks ago after Rhule was fired a day after the team fell to 1-4 with a loss to the San Francisco 49ers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I just told them they continue to impress me by the way they overcome adversity,&#8221; Wilks said of his postgame speech to the players.  &#8220;That definitely wasn&#8217;t a team out there that was trying to tank it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wilks said that after hearing the league-wide speculation the team might tank for the first pick of the 2023 draft, particularly after McCaffrey was traded late Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It didn&#8217;t bother me at all because I really keep my focus on the men in this room each and every day,&#8221; he said.  &#8220;I just wanted to put it out there to let you know these men in this room have too much character to even fathom anything like that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The Buccaneers were a 13-point favorite against Carolina (2-5), which had lost 12 of its past 13 games dating back to last season.  Brady&#8217;s biggest upsets in terms of point spreads were 2007 to the New York Jets (12.5 points), 2012 to Arizona (13.5 points) and 2019 to Miami (17 points).  Tampa Bay lost as a 9.5-point favorite last week.<\/p>\n<p>The Panthers knew the odds were stacked against them on the outside, but they never lost faith inside the locker room.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It hurt us a little bit,&#8221; linebacker Shaq Thompson said of the McCaffrey trade.  &#8220;But at the end of the day, everybody knew it was a business decision. We couldn&#8217;t let that get to us. Regardless, we had to go out there and play the Tampa Bay Bucs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Like I told the guys in my little speech, we&#8217;ve got to keep stacking them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The win left the Panthers only one game back in the NFC South behind Tampa Bay (3-4) and the Atlanta Falcons (3-4), with a road game against Atlanta next on the schedule.  They are 2-0 in the division.<\/p>\n<p>They pulled the upset with a defense that held the Buccaneers scoreless in the first three quarters and an efficient offense led by quarterback PJ Walker.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As you came into the building today, you could just feel the energy,&#8221; Walker said.  &#8220;You could just feel the vibe of us wanting to go out there and play this game. We talked last night in our team meeting about making that jump, and today we did.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Walker got a game ball for his part in the upset that saw the Panthers spread the ball around more than they did with McCaffrey, who accounted for almost 75 percent of the offense in last week&#8217;s loss to the Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n<p>Walker said the McCaffrey trade &#8220;absolutely&#8221; galvanized the team.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a heartbreak for all of us,&#8221; he said of the trade.  &#8220;We all knew what Christian meant to this team, this program in general. But for us to go out today and put up (173) rushing, that&#8217;s a big up to that O-line. That O-line played really good today.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our backs had opportunities and they made them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So did Walker.<\/p>\n<p>The former XFL star had two touchdown passes to improve his record as an NFL starter to 3-1 and make a case for him to remain the starter when Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold return from ankle injuries, perhaps as early as this week.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you look at what he did today, it&#8217;s going to be hard to try to pull him out,&#8221; said Wilks, a proponent of sticking with the hot hand.<\/p>\n<p>Walker completed four of his first five passes of 20-plus air yards for two touchdowns.  He was 5-for-21 with no touchdowns and three interceptions on those passes since entering the league in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Carolina&#8217;s running game didn&#8217;t miss a beat without McCaffrey, who entered the day fourth in the league in total yards from scrimmage.  Chuba Hubbard started and had 63 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.  D&#8217;Onta Foreman added 118 yards on 15 carries.<\/p>\n<p>Four players had at least one rush.  Seven had at least one catch, led by DJ Moore with seven catches for 69 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown.  The seven tied the season high and was three more than Carolina had a week ago.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You see what he can do,&#8221; Thompson said.  &#8220;You see what this offense can do when everybody touches the ball.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That wasn&#8217;t so much a knock on how McCaffrey dominated the touches as much as it was the team buying into Wilks&#8217; philosophy that the game is about more than one player.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He was spreading it around,&#8221; defensive end Brian Burns said of Walker.  &#8220;Everybody got in their route.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Burns said it&#8217;s not his call on who starts at quarterback next week, but added, &#8220;PJ had an amazing game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Walker said he&#8217;ll be ready to go on Monday regardless of whether he&#8217;s the starter or backup.  But he took satisfaction in the staff showing confidence in him to throw under all circumstances on Sunday, beginning with a deep pass that should have been caught on the first play.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Just that I can be trusted with the football in my hands, make the right decisions at the right time,&#8221; Walker said.  &#8220;Even late in the game, when we had an opportunity to throw the ball, I made the right decision.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wilks, as happy as he was with his first win as coach of his hometown team, couldn&#8217;t wait to begin preparation for the Falcons.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s about trying to win football games,&#8221; he said.  &#8220;I&#8217;m excited about the win today. It&#8217;s a lot we can build on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHARLOTTE, NC &#8212; Somebody forgot to tell the Carolina Panthers they were in tank mode after trading star running back Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Robbie Anderson to the Arizona Cardinals. Carolina defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21-3 on Sunday to hand quarterback Tom Brady one of the biggest upsets &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/minus-christian-mccaffrey-panthers-knock-off-buccaneers\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Minus Christian McCaffrey, Panthers knock off Buccaneers<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[4276,46,423,4967],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":105973,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nfl-world-reacts-to-buccaneers-loss-to-lowly-panthers\/","url_meta":{"origin":105982,"position":0},"title":"NFL World Reacts to Buccaneers&#8217; Loss to Lowly Panthers","date":"October 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"the buccaneers lost big to the panthers on Sunday, dropping to 3\u20134 on the season after a crushing 21-3 loss in Charlotte.Tom Brady's losing record through seven games marks the first time he's been below .500 at this point in the season since 2002 season, according to NFL Research.Because the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95335,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/panthers-seek-to-move-on-after-shock-of-matt-rhule-firing\/","url_meta":{"origin":105982,"position":1},"title":"Panthers seek to &#8216;move on&#8217; after shock of Matt Rhule firing","date":"October 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"CHARLOTTE, NC -- Quarterback PJ Walker, in line to make his third NFL start Sunday against the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, summed up how Carolina Panthers players felt about the decision to fire head coach Matt Rhule and replace him with Steve Wilks .\"Everybody was a little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":98279,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/panthers-listening-to-offers-for-star-rb-christian-mccaffrey-reports\/","url_meta":{"origin":105982,"position":2},"title":"Panthers listening to offers for star RB Christian McCaffrey: reports","date":"October 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It's an outside chance, but a fire sale in Carolina could soon begin.In the same week the Panthers fired head coach Matt Rhule, it is now being reported the team is listening to offers for Christian McCaffrey.When healthy, the 26-year-old might be the best running back in the league, so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":103529,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/biggest-questions-and-whats-next\/","url_meta":{"origin":105982,"position":3},"title":"Biggest questions and what&#8217;s next","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The San Francisco 49ers have mostly watched as the NFC West division rival Los Angeles Rams have repeatedly swung for the fences to try to win the Super Bowl. That approach worked for the Rams last season. The Niners believe it's their turn, which is why they pulled off a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":98772,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/49ers-reportedly-interested-in-trading-for-panthers-rb-christian-mccaffrey\/","url_meta":{"origin":105982,"position":4},"title":"49ers reportedly interested in trading for Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey","date":"October 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports After firing head coach Matt Rhule following an embarrassing 37-15 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Carolina Panthers have reportedly been receiving trade calls from several NFL teams, according to CBS insider Jonathan Jones.\"Teams have been calling the Panthers about some of their veteran players.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.49erswebzone.com\/v\/ZyEtHO\/content\/media\/cache\/article-770x433-abc47c781c0b2d35f5845d22c05ade37.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":100205,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/teams-to-watch-in-christian-mccaffrey-trade-talks-include-bills-49ers-other-contenders\/","url_meta":{"origin":105982,"position":5},"title":"Teams to watch in Christian McCaffrey trade talks include Bills, 49ers, other contenders","date":"October 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite a litany of media reports suggesting otherwise, the Christian McCaffrey trade talks are in the early stages of a junior high prom: More staring and waiting than actual dancing.Right now, that's the proper framing of talks involving the All-Pro Carolina Panthers running back.There's an emphasis on \u201cright now\u201d because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/a3.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=\/photo\/2022\/1023\/r1080188_1296x729_16-9.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105982"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}