The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered Week Seven knowing their divisional matchup against the Carolina Panthers would be a pivotal point in their season. Win that game, and the Bucs start 1-0 in NFC South play and gain some much needed momentum. Lose it, and they fall to 1-6, a record only one team in NFL history has overcome to make the postseason (1970 Cincinnati Bengals). Baker Mayfield resumed his starting role after being sidelined for three weeks with a thumb injury. Tampa Bay wanted to give Mayfield as much support as possible in his return to the field, so the Bucs built their game plan around the ground game and then proceeded to execute it beautifully.
When the clock hit zero, the Bucs had routed the division-leading Panthers 43-13, behind a 258-yard rushing attack. Bucky Irving led the charge, rushing for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Kenny Gainwell had his best game as a Buccaneer, picking up 88 yards on 14 carries for the third-highest rushing total of his career. Sean Tucker got in on the action too, breaking off a 46-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
The combined output ranks as the fourth-highest single-game rushing total in franchise history, just 25 yards shy of the team record (283 yards at Philadelphia in 2015). The Bucs dominated time of possession, holding the ball 11:54 longer than the Panthers on Sunday and that was by design. Carolina entered the game with one of the league's most productive passing attacks, so every second the Bucs pounded the rock meant the Panthers' offense was stuck on the sideline. Todd Bowles was pleased with his squad's production.
"Did a great job moving the ball," said Bowles. "We talked about it before the game. We knew we had to control time of possession and keep them out there because they're very explosive on their offensive side of the ball. We cashed in. We didn't settle for too many field goals. We got touchdowns. They made plays. We got turnovers. It was a full team effort."
Tampa Bay set the tone early, scoring a touchdown on a 14-play, 70-yard opening drive that chewed up half of the first quarter. Irving was the engine of the series, touching the ball 11 times for 51 scrimmage yards and moving the chains five times en route to his first of two touchdowns. It was his fifth-career 100-plus-yard rushing performance and his first-career game with multiple rushing scores.
When Irving was out, Gainwell and Tucker did not miss a beat, keeping the pressure on the Panthers throughout the game. Gainwell averaged 6.3 yards per carry and Tucker's 46-yard touchdown run was the longest rush of his career. Tampa Bay ended up running the ball 49 times, which was 81.6 percent of their offensive snaps. Bowles praised the trio's performance, saying it was exactly what he had in mind when the Bucs built such a talented running back room.
"All three of them had some good runs in there," explained Bowles. "When you can run the ball like that and use the guys like that, you can save them to try to wear people down, it worked in our favor."
With the run game clicking like it was, Mayfield was not required to air the ball out during his first game back. The quarterback finished 7-for-11 with 64 passing yards and a touchdown. Tampa Bay's 11 pass attempts vs. Carolina marked the third-fewest in franchise history. Mayfield did not seem to mind, focusing on the team's synergy in all facets.
"Yeah, that was big-time," said Mayfield. "Just complementary football at its finest. For me, I'm just trying to command and operate the huddle with the cans in the run game. When you're able to lean on those guys up front and the tight ends and receivers are involved too and let the backs do their work, that was fun to watch."
The whole team seemed to rally behind the offensive blueprint installed by Zac Robinson. The offensive line enforced their will all game and loved seeing the tailbacks take advantage of the lanes they were creating.
"The consistency was there," shared center Graham Barton. "Z-Rob, [Robinson] put us in great positions all day. So super happy, super proud of him. Just super proud of the group as a whole, just the unit from the top down. Great plan, executed it well."
Through seven games, Tampa Bay boasts one of the most lethal rushing attacks in the entire league. The team ranks second in the NFL in rushing yards (1,025), second in rushing first downs (58) and third in yards per carry (4.9). The Bucs have plenty of work ahead, but if the run game can become the team's calling card, Bowles believes it could be the formula that keeps them moving in the right direction.
"I would hope it becomes that," said Bowles. "It's got to be consistent for it to become that so we have to try to do something like that next week. At the same time, it helps us a great deal. It helps us not getting blitzed as much. You don't see as many holding penalties and it helps us offensively overall, so that's what we got to keep trying to grind out."
