The good, bad and ugly from Buccaneers' crucial win over Panthers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made their fans wait for it, but after some back-and-forth late in the fourth quarter, they were able to hold on for a 16-14 win over the Carolina Panthers.

The win doesn’t guarantee a playoff berth, but it keeps them alive in the hunt for one of the last remaining spots. The Bucs have now done all they can after self-sabotaging themselves for weeks, and now their season hangs in the hands of the New Orleans Saints. If the Saints can somehow beat the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, the Buccaneers will have officially punched their ticket to the playoffs by way of a fifth straight NFC South title.

It could have been a lot prettier, but a win is a win — and the Bucs will take those any way they can get them. In a tale of two Baker Mayfields, here’s the good, bad, and ugly from the Buccaneers 16-14 win over the Panthers.

Good

TE Cade Otton

Otton had a big second-down grab on the first drive for 10 yards to move the sticks, and followed it up on the next play with an 18-yard touchdown grab from Baker Mayfield. Otton made a few other big grabs in the game, including a 22-yard grab before the half to help set up a field goal and 12-yard screen late in the fourth quarter to push the ball across midfield.

Baker hit Otton again in the fifth quarter for a gain of four yards to set up 4th & 1. Unfortunately, the Bucs went for the field goal, and it was blocked. Otton made one of the plays of the game in the fourth quarter on 3rd & 4 with just over two minutes remaining. Reeling in a 20-yard grab, Otton allowed the Bucs to pick up a first down and move the sticks for the Bucs to run out the clock.

Bucs third-down defense

The Bucs defense stepped up over the first two drives after the Panthers practically started each possession near midfield. Holding the Panthers to punts on both drives, the Bucs' defense banked Carolina in the first quarter. The Bucs stepped up twice on the Panthers' first drive of the second half, coming with not one, but two third-down stops on the drive. Through three quarters, the Bucs held Carolina to a 0-6 mark in the critical down. The Bucs finally allowed a third-down conversion early in the fourth quarter, but caused a fumble and recovered it on turned play. On the day, the Bucs allowed just one third-down conversion on eight attempts.

LB Lavonte David

David recovered a fumble early in the fourth quarter on an errant play by the Panthers while their offense was in field goal range. The play shifted the momentum back into the Bucs' favor as they marched down the field to go up three scores on the day. Lavonte tied Derrick Brooks for most career tackles in franchise history. The fumble recovery signaled his 35th career takeaway, which tied him with Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher as the only players with 40+ sacks and 35-plus takeaways since 1982.

CB Jacob Parrish

The rookie cornerback made a huge play in the second quarter, picking off Bryce around with 1:51 remaining in the first half. Parrish broke on the outside pass, getting in front of the wideout to come down with a crazy sideline grab to give the Bucs the ball back for a two-minute drive with all three timeouts.

K Chase McLaughlin

McLaughlin knocked in three of his attempts (the last one blocked), with his longest coming from 48 yards out. His fourth-quarter kick gave the Bucs a two-score lead over the Panthers.

Bad

DL Elijah Roberts

Roberts picked up an unnecessary roughness call on the Bucs' first defensive drive, essentially giving the Panthers starting field position at the 50-yard line. The Bucs escaped danger and forced a three-and-out, but it was an undisciplined play early in the game. Roberts' mother, Shonda Roberts, had sung the national anthem prior to the game starting.

QB Baker Mayfield

After a strong start, Baker Mayfield once again put the Bucs' chances of winning at risk with an ill-timed interception early in the second quarter. Mayfield was targeting Emeka Egbuka, but apparently didn’t see linebacker Christian Rozeboom sitting in the zone. Rozeboom picked the ball off and ran it back 20 yards to the Bucs 19-yard line, and the Panthers punched it in three plays later on an eight-yard touchdown by known Bucs killer Tommy Tremble, cutting Tampa Bay’s lead to three points.

Midway through the second quarter, Mayfield hurt his team twice on the same drive. On the first play, he essentially tackled his own running back, Sean Tucker, on a handoff as the two ran into each other on the exchange, resulting in a four-yard loss. The very next play, Mayfield dropped back to pass, and the ball slipped from his hands. The play registered as a sack and a loss of five yards, setting up a failed 3rd & 15 attempt.

Ugly

Blown assignments and missed tackles

On the Panthers' touchdown in the second quarter, the Buccaneers' defense suffered yet another miscue with a blown assignment to allow a wide-open score. It looked like SirVocea Dennis bit on the play-action fake to the running back when he was supposed to carry tight end Tommy Tremble in coverage. Lavonte David ended up being the closest defender, but he immediately looked back to see where his help was on the play.

A returning Calijah Kancey and a starting Christian Izien both missed tackles on Rico Dowdle's 25-yard catch and run in the fourth quarter. Miscues happened again in the fourth quarter. Facing fourth and eight with three minutes remaining, Parrish let Tet McMillan get behind him for a huge 40-yard gain to set up 1st & Goal. Two plays later, Bryce Young found Jalen Coker for the score.

Todd Bowles coward ball

With just over two minutes left in the first quarter, Todd Bowles elected to kick a field goal from 4th & 8 on the 11-yard line. The Bucs had beaten the Panthers' coverage on both plays and just missed touchdowns on back-to-back plays.

It happened again in the second quarter, with just under two minutes to go and all three timeouts. The Bucs showed no urgency to move the ball down the field to try and score before the half. Instead, they ran the ball down the middle of the field to set themselves up for a field goal to close out the first half.

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