Panthers crushed by Bucs: What we learned from Week 17 loss

The Carolina Panthers were riding high after a huge win last week. They beat the Arizona Cardinals and subsequently eliminated them from the playoffs. While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wouldn't have been out, another Panthers win would have made it very difficult to move on.

Unfortunately, the same Panthers from a week ago did not show up on Sunday. This is partly due to a desperate and angry opponent, but it's also due to an incomprehensible amount of key injuries. Here's what we learned on Sunday.

What a 48-14 loss can teach the Panthers

Maybe Chuba Hubbard is a lot more valuable than his $33.2 million price tag currently indicates. Without him, the Panthers' offense was one-dimensional, and that might be putting it nicely. Bryce Young did well with the circumstances, but this was a bad offensive performance without Hubbard.

The fact that the Panthers didn't have Jonathon Brooks or Miles Sanders hurts, too. Even one of them could have changed the game because Mike Boone and Raheem Blackshear are not NFL-level running backs.

On a positive note, one thing we did learn from this game is that Young can still deal with pressure. He was pressured 63% of the time on Sunday. That's Todd Bowles being aggressive and the offensive line struggling without Taylor Moton. Both of Young's TD passes, including a 40-yard bomb, were against pressure.

Those two touchdowns were also thrown to Adam Thielen, who continues to showcase why he's still the best WR on the roster. While Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette may represent the future, the present is all Thielen and it's not close.

On defense, there is really no positive takeaway. The same logic for Hubbard's value applies to Jaycee Horn and Josey Jewell. 552 yards of total offense for the Bucs wasn't going to be stopped by those two, but they've made a historically awful unit somewhat bearable at times.

Horn's agent should point to today when the extension talks get going, and Jewell looks like one of the more underappreciated offseason moves by Dan Morgan and company. Both were sorely missed, but especially Jewell. With no Jewell, Trevin Wallace, Claudin Cherilus, or Shaq Thompson, the Panthers couldn't stop a nosebleed.

Even the special teams was dismal. Johnny Hekker had a pretty rough day, as most of his punts took Buccaneers bounces and he was blocked for the nail in the coffin in the third quarter (a duck on the broadcast interrupted this).

It was ugly, but it wasn't a total surprise. The Panthers were missing someone who accounted for almost 30% of the offense and two of their best defenders. A win was always going to be difficult to come by against a better team on the road, but at least the 48-14 final score should teach the team some lessons.

- Enjoy more free Panthers coverage with Carolina Panthers on SI -

Carolina Panthers announce 5 roster moves, including a few surprises

What Bryce Young is doing better than any other QB since midseason

Why Panthers QB Bryce Young’s unimpressive numbers are deceiving

MLB star responds to Cam Newton’s hot take about baseball dying