In Week 13, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will kickstart intradivisional play against the Carolina Panthers at Raymond James Stadium. After losing six of their previous seven matchups, the Bucs are hopeful for redemption on their home field against the visiting 1-10 Panthers. This game will mark the first of two meetings between the two NFC South foes over the final six-week stretch of the 2023 itinerary. Every game is critical as the Bucs vie to reclaim a division title for the third-straight year. They are in the hunt behind the 5-6 Falcons and 5-6 Saints. Much like when the Bucs faced the Panthers during the 2022 season, the opposition is in the middle of a transitional period. The Panthers parted ways with first-year Head Coach Frank Reich and will look to Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor as the interim head coach for the remainder of the 2023 season in Carolina. After a week of preparation, here is what Sunday's battle comes down to:
4 Stats That Matter
- Antoine Winfield Jr. is the only player in the NFL with 80-plus tackles, three-plus forced fumbles and three-plus fumble recoveries.
- The Buccaneers have nine players with at least 2.0 sacks in 2023 (most of any team in the NFL). Vita Vea leads the team with 5.5 sacks and nine quarterback hits.
- The Panthers rank bottom-five in the NFL in points per game (15.7, 29th), pass yards per game (173.3, 30th) rush yards per game (92.6, 28th) and sacks allowed (43, 29th) in 2023.
- Bryce Young, the Panthers' rookie quarterback, ranks last in the NFL in passing yards per attempt (5.4), 26th in pass touchdown/interception ratio (9-8) and 30th in passer rating (74.9).
3 Lineup Notes
- After the final practice on Friday, the injury report confirmed that the Buccaneers will be without both of their starting inside linebackers on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. Lavonte David will miss his second-straight game with a groin injury and Devin White will be sidelined for the first game this year by a foot injury. In addition, Head Coach Todd Bowles said that rookie linebacker SirVocea Dennis, who played in David's absence in Week 13 against the Colts, has "a long way to go" in order to be ready for Sunday's matchup. Dennis missed every practice this week due to an undisclosed illness. As a result, the Bucs will be starting K.J. Britt and J.J. Russell at linebacker against Carolina. Britt was a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Auburn. Russell, who played collegiately at Memphis, was an undrafted free agent pickup in 2022 who has spent most of his first two seasons with the club on the Bucs' practice squad. Britt will wear the green sticker on his helmet come Sunday as the quarterback of the defense, meaning he is the player who will receive radio communications from the coaching staff on the Bucs' sideline.
- In addition, for the Bucs, starting cornerback Jamel Dean (ankle/foot) will miss his second-straight game. He did not practice during the week leading up to the team's Week 13 matchup and second-year speedster Zyon McCollum will start in his place. Receiver Chris Godwin, who missed practice on Friday with a specified neck injury, was listed as questionable.
- For the Panthers, tight end Hayden Hurst has been ruled out for the Week 13 matchup. Hurst has missed the last two games due to a concussion and fellow tight end Tommy Tremble is likely to join him on the sideline. Tremble was listed as doubtful with a hip injury. He has posted three touchdown receptions on the season, tied for the second-most on the team. Additionally, Vonn Bell, who did not practice all week for Carolina, was ruled out with a shoulder injury.
2 Challenges Presented by the Panthers
The Panthers have a rookie quarterback at the helm after they snagged Alabama's Bryce Young with the first overall pick of the Draft in April. Young has endured the peaks and valleys that usually encompass a rookie passer's first season as a pro. Overall, Carolina's offense has struggled to reach the end zone, ranking 29th at 15.7 per game. Young's go-to target has been saavy veteran Adam Thielen. In March, the Panthers added former Vikings receiver, Thielen, to their roster on a three-year, $25 million deal with $10 million in the first year. Thielen leads the Panthers with 77 receptions, 728 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns in 2023. He has accounted for 30.7 percent of his team's receptions this year and adjusts based on leverage with crafty route-running and fluidity in-and-out of breaks.
The Panthers' defense has a talented nucleus of players, including edge rusher Brian Burnes, defensive tackle Derrick Brown and linebacker Frankie Luvu. Reinforcements could be in play on Sunday as both safety Jeremy Chinn and outside linebacker Yetur Gross-Matos were designated to return from injured reserve earlier this week – both were listed as questionable on Friday's final injury report. Burns has amassed a team-high 6.0 sacks in 2023 and wins with suddenness around the rush arc, effective pursuit and rare bend. His lateral agility and lower-body flexibility makes him a menace around the edge and Derrick Brown possesses an elite combination of power, shed technique and hand-placement. He is adept at both invading the backfield with quickness off the snap and getting to the quarterback. Frankie Luvu leads the Panthers in tackles with 83 and is able to mirror running backs and limit targets by reading the quarterback's eyes and diagnosing to disrupt passing windows.
1 Key Quote from Dave Canales
On improvements in the run game:
"We're always hoping for those big games to control it from the run game. It opens up a lot more things for us – play actions and some of the screens and things that we do there. I think it's a testament to a couple of things: first of all, talk about the offensive line and how well they've been playing together – particularly in the run game – for about a month now. I know we haven't had the big yardage that you'd love to see, but it all starts with them. It starts with [Robert] Hainsey getting us directed the right way, which he's doing a great job. And then, seeing Cody [Mauch]'s growth, especially over the last couple of weeks, and [Aaron] Stinnie doing a great job. That group, really. Then Rachaad [White] trusting what's happening up front. I thought it was his best disciplined run game that he had of the year, in terms of just pressing the runs the right way to force the defense into those combo blocks. That's where we're seeing that all come together. Now, the pass game, we were just a little bit sloppy last week. That's the part that really needs to come together for us, as well, to be able to finish these drives, get us into field goal range and some of those things. We're really continuing to try and detail out some of those things, spending a little extra time during walk-throughs and practice to just get the landmarks perfectly where we want them as we go forward here."
