STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Bucs' defense pulled off a rare feat Sunday, allowing more than 25 first downs but fewer than 20 points
• Rookie K Patrick Murray has been asked to try a very high percentage of his field goals from long range this year
• Bradley McDougald's 15 tackles against the Panthers were the most by any NFL safety in a single game in 2014
  
  The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the Carolina Panthers, 19-17, Sunday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, falling to 2-12 on the season. Here are some of the more notable statistics and milestones from Sunday's game:

• After Week 14 game in Detroit, in which Vincent Jackson put up 154 receiving yards, we noted that no pair of Tampa Bay Buccaneers had ever surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in the same season, though Jackson (1,384) and Mike Williams (996) came very close in 2012. After Jackson again led the Buccaneers with 70 receiving yards on Sunday in Charlotte, it looks quite likely that he and rookie Mike Evans will become that first 1,000-yard duo. Jackson improved his season total to 931 yards while Evans, even with a season-low 13 yards on two grabs, now sits at 948. Obviously, that means Jackson needs just 69 yards and Evans just 52 for the two to cross into quadruple digits. Jackson's per-game average in 2014 is 66.5 yards and Evans, who missed one game due to injury, is picking up 72.9 per outing.

• At the moment, only 17 yards separates the Bucs' two top receivers. Should Jackson and Evans stay that close to each other for two more games, that would represent one of the smallest separations between the Bucs' two top receivers in franchise annals. Here are the five seasons in which the Bucs' first and second-leading receivers, in terms of yards, finished with the most similar totals:

Year	Leader	Yds.	Second	Yds.	Diff.
2011	Mike Williams	771	Kellen Winslow	763	8
1996	Mike Alstott	557	Courtney Hawkins	544	13
1994	Lawrence Dawsey	673	Charles Wilson	652	21
1997	Karl Williams	486	Warrick Dunn	462	24
1982	Jimmie Giles	499	James Wilder	466	33

- The closest top two receiving yardage totals in a single Buccaneer season in which at least one of the players surpassed 1,000 yards occurred in 1988. That season, Bruce Hill topped the chart with 1,040 yards while Mark Carrier was 70 yards behind at 970.

• Rookie WR Mike Evans scored the Buccaneers' first touchdown on Sunday with a typically acrobatic catch on the right edge of the end zone of an eight-yard pass from Josh McCown. That marked the ninth scoring pass Evans has pulled in over the last seven games, the most among all NFL players in that span. Dallas' Dez Bryant is second on the list with eight, while Green Bay's Jordy Nelson and the New York Giants' Odell Beckham have six apiece. Evans' incredible run has already allowed him to capture a share of one of the Buccaneers' all-time single-season records. With 11 total TD catches, he has matched the mark set by Mike Williams in 2010, at the same time equaling the team's rookie record in that category. Here are the top receiving touchdown totals in franchise history:

Player	Season	TDs
1t. WR Mike Evans	2014*	11
1t. WR Mike Williams	2010*	11
WR Joey Galloway	2005	10
4t. WR Mark Carrier	1989	9
4t. WR Bruce Hill	1988	9
4t. WR Kevin House	1981	9
4t. WR Mike Williams	2012	9
8t. TE Jimmie Giles	1985	8
8t. WR Vincent Jackson	2012	8
8t. WR Keyshawn Johnson	2000	8
8t. WR Keenan McCardell	2003	8

*Rookie

• Evans also caught Williams on the list of all NFL rookies since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger in terms of touchdown catches. The two are now tied for third place on the list, and they are the only two with at least 11 TD catches in the last 15 years. Evans could surpass his Buccaneer predecessor with one more score and even reel in the second spot on the list with two more.

NFL Most Receiving TDs, Single Season (since 1970)

Player	Team	Year	TDs
WR Randy Moss	MIN	1998	17
WR John Jefferson	SD	1978	13
3t. WR Mike Williams	TB	2010	11
3t. WR Mike Evans	TB	2014	11
4t. TE Rob Gronkowski	NE	2010	10
4t. WR Daryl Turner	SEA	1984	10
4t. WR Sammy White	MIN	1976	10

• Meanwhile, Jackson continued his inexorable climb up the Buccaneers' all-time receiving yardage list, surpassing one of the top offensive players in team history with Sunday's performance. Last week, Jackson moved past former WR Gerald Carter into seventh place, and now he has leap-frogged former RB James Wilder (who is also the Bucs' all-time leading rusher). Jackson improved to 3,539 yards with his 70 in Charlotte. It would be difficult, if not quite impossible, for Jackson to catch Keyshawn Johnson in the fifth spot before the end of this season.

Most Career Receiving Yards, Buccaneer History

Player	Years	Yards
WR Mark Carrier	1987-92	5,018
WR Kevin House	1980-86	4,928
TE Jimmie Giles	1978-86	4,300
WR Joey Galloway	2004-08	3,912
WR Keyshawn Johnson	2000-03	3,828
6. WR Vincent Jackson	2012-14	3,539
RB James Wilder	1981-89	3,492
WR Gerald Carter	1981-87	3,443
WR Mike Williams	2010-13	2,947
WR Bruce Hill	1987-91	2,942

• Tampa Bay's defense recorded three more sacks on Sunday, with LB Danny Lansanah getting the first 1.5 QB takedowns of his career, LB Lavonte David adding his first of the season and DE Jacquies Smith splitting one with Lansanah to get to 6.5 on the season. Smith has 5.5 sacks in the last five weeks. As a team, the Buccaneers have recorded 18 sacks over that same five-game span, which is the fifth-highest total in the NFL. Here are the top five NFL sack teams since Week  11.

1. N.Y. Giants…25
2. Baltimore*…20
   3t. Arizona…19
   3t. St. Louis…19
3. Tampa Bay…18

* In four games

• The Bucs' pass rush, which got off to a somewhat slow start to the season, has quietly turned into one of its most effective crews in roughly a decade. Tampa Bay players are sacking opposing quarterbacks on 6.4% of their drop-backs this season, which if maintained would be the team's best mark since 2005. Led by Simeon Rice, the last Buccaneer to finish a season with double-digit sacks (he had 14.0), that '05 team sacked the quarterback on 7.0% of their passing plays.

S Bradley McDougald had 15 tackles Sunday and helped the Bucs' defense stand strong in its own end of the field

• Incredibly, the Panthers finished every one of their 11 drives in Buccaneer territory on Sunday (not including the kickoff return that ended the first half, after which no plays were run). Still, Tampa Bay's defense repeatedly stood strong with its back to its own goal line, allowing just one touchdown and five field goal attempts, of which four were successful. The Panthers did move the ball well for much of the day, finishing with 28 first downs, the second-highest total Tampa Bay has allowed all season. In fact, that's the second-highest total of first downs the Buccaneers have ever allowed in a game in which it also gave up fewer than 20 points. Below are the only eight games in franchise history in which the opponent gained at least 25 first downs but did not top 20 points. It's unfortunate but worth noting that this is the first time the Buccaneers have lost such a game.

Opponent, Date	Opp. 1st Downs	Score
Green Bay, 10/12/80	32	T 14-14 (OT)
Carolina, 12/14/14	28	L 17-19
Minnesota, 9/5/81	27	W 21-13
Buffalo, 11/26/00	25	W 31-17
Minnesota, 10/29/00	25	W 41-13
Chicago, 12/22/96	25	W 34-19
New Orleans, 9/24/89	25	W 20-10
New Orleans, 12/5/82	25	W 13-10

• Sunday's final score of 19-17 was strangely fitting for the Buccaneers in 2014. That's the second time this season that Tampa Bay has lost by that exact score, also falling 19-17 to the St. Louis Rams in Week Two. Those are also the only two 19-17 finishes in the franchise's 39 seasons, wins or losses. The Buccaneers also fell to Minnesota, 19-13, in Week Eight, which means they have surrendered exactly 19 points three times this year. Prior to the 2014 season, the Buccaneers had allowed exactly 19 points in a game eight times, or about once every five seasons. It's not one of the more common game scores allowed; in fact, of the 15,164 NFL games played since 1920 (which would generate, of course, 30,328 team game scores), one team or the other has finished with exactly 19 points just 529 times. Thus, a team finishes a game with 19 points roughly 3.5% of the time. The Buccaneers gave up 19 points to the Miami Dolphins in 2013 (in a 22-19 victory) but before that hadn't allowed exactly that total since a 34-19 loss to Chicago in 1996. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers have scored exactly 17 points in six of their 14 games so far. Now, 17 is a much more common final score for a team in an NFL game, but to hit that mark in 42.9% of your games is still unusual. In the 38 Buccaneer seasons prior to this one, Tampa Bay had scored exactly 17 points on 38 occasions, or an average of exactly once per campaign. (From the editor: Andrew Norton contributed to this note.)

• Rookie K Patrick Murray continues to be a trustworthy weapon from long range. He had only one attempt on Sunday in Charlotte, and while it wasn't quite his eighth field goal try of 50 or more yards, it was a 48-yarder and he drilled it with ease. Murray is now six of seven from the 40 to 49-yard range, adding to his five successes in six tries from 50 and beyond. Murray hasn't had it easy in his first NFL season; only two of his 21 tries have been in the proverbial "chip shot" range of 29 yards or less. In fact, of all the kickers in the NFL with at least 10 attempts this season, nobody has had a lower percentage of his attempts come from 29 yards or closer.

NFL Kickers with Lowest Percentage  of FG Attempts from 29 Yards or Closer, 2014

Kicker	Team	=<29 Yds.	Total	Pct.
Patrick Murray	TB	2	21	9.5%
Sebastian Janikowski	OAK	2	17	11.8%
Josh Scobee	JAX	3	24	12.5%
Chandler Catanzaro	AZ	4	30	13.3%
Graham Gano	CAR	5	31	16.1%
Randy Bullock	HOU	5	29	17.2%
Mike Nugent	CIN	5	28	17.9%
Blair Walsh	MIN	6	31	19.4%
Dan Bailey	DAL	5	25	20.0%
Mason Crosby	GB	6	29	20.7%

• Meanwhile, Murray is one of just nine kickers in the NFL who have had more than 50% of their tries come from 40 yards away or further, and only Oakland's Sebastian Janikowski has tried a higher percentage than Murray from that longer range.

NFL Kickers with Highest Percentage  of FG Attempts from 40 Yards or Further, 2014

Kicker	Team	=>40 Yds.	Total	Pct.
Sebastian Janikowski	OAK	12	17	70.6%
Patrick Murray	TB	12	21	57.1%
Matt Bryant	ATL	16	28	57.1%
Matt Prater	DET	13	23	56.5%
Dan Bailey	DAL	14	25	56.0%
Blair Walsh	MIN	17	31	54.8%
Nick Folk	NYJ	17	31	54.8%
Josh Scobee	JAX	13	24	54.2%
Phil Dawson	SF	14	28	50.0%
Ryan Succop	TEN	9	19	47.4%

• Doug Martin's 63-yard rush was the Buccaneers' longest play from scrimmage this season and the team's longest rush since Bobby Rainey's 80-yard run against Buffalo last season (12/8/13). It is the third-longest rush of Martin's career and his longest since facing Oakland in 2012, when he had a 70-yard touchdown run and a 67-yard touchdown run (Nov. 4, 2012).

• Mike Evans' touchdown on Sunday capped an 80-yard drive on the Buccaneers' first possession of the game. That marked just the second time in 2014 that Tampa Bay has taken its first possession to the opposing end zone; the previous instance was in Pittsburgh on Sept. 28, when the Bucs scored two plays after getting the ball on the Steelers' nine-yard line following a sack-fumble. Sunday's drive in Charlotte was Tampa Bay's longest opening possession since another 80-yarder last year versus Buffalo (Dec. 8, 2013).

• With T Demar Dotson making his first career start at left tackle on Sunday after opening the first 13 games at right tackle, there are now only three positions out of a possible 22 at which the same player has started every game for the Buccaneers this season. WR Vincent Jackson, RG Patrick Omameh and LG Logan Mankins are all just two games away from being 16-game starters for the Bucs at a single position.

• S Bradley McDougald nearly doubled his career tackle total during Sunday's game against the Panthers. McDougald came into the game with 18 stops in 2014, which also represented his career total. He then led the Buccaneers on Sunday with a career-high 15 tackles, which is tied for the most by any safety in the NFL this season. His 15 tackles were the most by a Buccaneer since LB Lavonte David recorded 16 in at Oakland on Nov. 4, 2012.