Familiar Foes: How Have Bucs Fared vs. Panthers?

It’s taken 12 weeks of the regular season, but the Bucs will finally meet the Panthers for the first time this season on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium. This will be the first of two meetings between the two sides, with the second set for Week 18 in Charlotte.

This game comes at a good time for the Bucs, who are 4-7 and badly needing a win to prove to everyone — and themselves, really — that they can still make things interesting in the NFC South race down the final stretch of this season. Why does this game come at a good time? Because the Panthers are 1-10 and just fired their head coach, Frank Reich, only 11 games into his tenure. Carolina is in disarray, and Tampa Bay needs to take advantage.

The Panthers lead the all-time series against the Bucs, 25-20, but the Bucs have a 5-1 advantage over the last three seasons. And given that these two teams match up twice every year, this is a familiar foe for quite a few players on the Bucs’ roster. Here, we’ll take a look at how some of Tampa Bay’s longer-tenured players have performed when matching up against Carolina throughout their careers.

Bucs’ Top Receivers Have Good Stats, But Mixed Performances vs. Panthers

Both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have absolutely dominated the Falcons over the course of their respective careers, but the same can’t really be said when it comes to the Panthers. Both all-time great Tampa Bay receivers have volume stats against Carolina, but that’s mostly as a result of just how many games they’ve played against Carolina. The game-by-game performances have been more hit-or-miss.

For Evans, he has 92 catches for 1,296 yards for 10 touchdowns (14.1 avg.) in 17 career games against the Panthers. That averages out well, with 76.2 yards and 0.6 touchdowns on 5.4 catches per game. But those 92 catches have come on 171 targets, which is just a 53.8% catch rate when facing the Carolina secondary over the years.

Most of Evans’ big-time success against the Panthers has come very recently. He struggled when these two teams matched up early in his career, with particularly difficult matchups against Josh Norman and James Bradberry. But both of the 10th-year receiver’s multi-touchdown games against Carolina have come within the last three meetings between the two sides.

Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The most recent game against the Panthers was Evans’ best. On New Year’s Day this year (some 11 months ago), he caught 10 passes for 207 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-24 win that clinched the NFC South for the Bucs. In that game, he caught touchdown passes of 63, 57 and 30 yards. That was the legendary Buc’s third career 100-yard game against Carolina.

As for Godwin, he has 51 catches on 66 targets for 774 yards and two touchdowns in nine career games against the Panthers. That’s a great catch rate, but the touchdown production hasn’t been there in this series.

Godwin’s best game against Carolina was in October of 2019 when he caught 10 passes for 151 yards. That was part of a good stretch for him against the Panthers, as he had three straight 100-yard games against them between 2018 and 2019. He has four 100-yard games against them overall, with the fourth being this past New Year’s Day — the same day as Evans’ monster performance.

The Unlikely Bucs Running Back With The Most Success Against Carolina

Bucs RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn – Photo by: USA Today

Rachaad White did very little in his first two career games against the Panthers last year. Over those two meetings, he ran 17 times for just 46 yards (2.7 avg.) while catching six passes for 34 yards (5.7 avg). He’ll have a chance to boost those numbers in a big way on Sunday, as the Carolina run defense has been porous this season.

The current Tampa Bay running back with the most success against Carolina may surprise you. It’s actually seldom-used backup Ke’Shawn Vaughn.

Vaughn has 99 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries in five games against the Panthers in his career. He has been a healthy inactive for weeks now, though, so it appears unlikely that he’ll get to add to those stats on Sunday.

Tampa Bay Gets After Panthers Quarterbacks Well

Panthers QB P.J. Walker and Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett – Photo by: USA Today

The most tenured members of the Bucs’ front seven have made themselves very familiar with Panthers quarterbacks over the years. Shaq Barrett has played against Carolina six times since signing with Tampa Bay in 2019 and in those six games, he has five sacks. Three of those came early in his 19.5-sack 2019 season before he added another later that year.

Vita Vea has 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery in nine career games against the Panthers, while longtime Bucs defensive lineman Will Gholston has seen Carolina plenty throughout his career. In 18 meetings between the two sides since Gholston was drafted in 2013, the former Michigan State Spartan has 25 solo tackles, 3.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.

The Bucs defender who has actually gotten into the Carolina backfield the most over the years is actually someone who has also seen the NFC South foes in black, white, blue and silver quite a bit in his career. That’s Lavonte David, who has 6.5 sacks against the Panthers in 20 games against them.

One Linebacker Outperforms The Other When Meeting Carolina

Bucs LB Lavonte David and former Panthers QB Cam Newton – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

Speaking of Lavonte David, he has dominated against the Panthers for over a decade now. In those 20 games against them, he has 102 solo tackles (plus 62 assists), 6.5 sacks, three fumble recoveries and an interception. Keep in mind that David has 32 career sacks. That means more than 20% of his career sacks have come against Carolina.

David’s best games in this NFC South series came in back-to-back Januarys. In a game on Jan. 3, 2016, he posted a sack, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. He was perhaps one of the only bright spots for the Bucs, who lost 38-10 as the Panthers put the finishing touches on a 15-1 regular season. The following year, though, Tampa Bay beat Carolina 17-16 on New Year’s Day. David collected two sacks in that one.

As productive as David has been against this Sunday’s opponent, his running mate has more pedestrian numbers. Devin White has seen Carolina eight times in his career and has 33 solo tackles (with 18 assists), no sacks, four quarterback hits, four tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.

Unfortunately neither David nor White will be available for the Bucs on Sunday as they are out with injuries.

Decent Numbers Against Panthers For Bucs Secondary

Bucs S Antoine Winfield Jr. – Photo by: USA Today

How Tampa Bay’s top two cornerbacks have performed against Carolina is essentially a microcosm of what they’ve done in their respective careers. Carlton Davis III and Jamel Dean aren’t known for hauling in interceptions, but they can get their hands on a fair few passes, right? Davis has the fourth-most passes defensed in Bucs history, while Dean currently ranks eighth.

So, it’s fitting that Davis has seven passes defensed and just one interception in seven games against the Panthers, while Dean has three passes defensed and no interceptions in eight career appearances against Carolina. Dean will miss this game though with an ankle injury, so Zyon McCollum will once again start in his place.

Perhaps the top performer in the Buccaneer secondary against the Panthers has been Antoine Winfield Jr. He has played in five of the six meetings between the two teams since he was drafted in 2020, totaling 21 solo tackles (with seven assists), three sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He has actually tallied one sack against Carolina in each year of his career so far.

Winfield had one of his first milestone moments in the NFL against the Panthers, too, forcing his first career turnover against them the first time he met them. That was back in an empty Raymond James Stadium during Week 2 of the 2020 season, as he forced a sack-fumble on Teddy Bridgewater.

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