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NFL London, Buccaneers 26-37 Panthers: Christian McCaffrey stars as Carolina ease past Tampa Bay in Tottenham

AP
AP

Christian McCaffrey further enhanced his early MVP case as the Carolina Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 37-26 in a high-scoring NFC South showdown in London.

‘CMC’ - the NFL’s leader in touchdowns, rushing yards and total yards from scrimmage in 2019 - produced two first-half scores at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to help the Panthers wrap up a fourth successive victory on their first regular-season trip outside of the United States and move to 4-2 on the season.

Curtis Samuel also notched two touchdowns for Carolina, while notoriously inconsistent Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston threw five ugly interceptions and lost a fumble as the error-plagued and turnover-prone Bucs slipped to 2-4.

There were cheers at the coin toss as a predominantly pro-Panthers crowd of 60,087 applauded British-born defensive end Efe Obada, a poster-boy for the NFL’s International Player Pathway Programme, who was made an honourary captain by head coach Ron Rivera on his return to London.

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Tampa Bay made the worst possible start to proceedings when, on the very first offensive play of the game, a Winston pass was wrestled away from Mike Evans in determined fashion by Panthers cornerback James Bradberry.

While Carolina’s offense stalled quicky thereafter, kicker Joey Slye - who missed three times during last week’s win over the Jacksonville Jaguars - gave them a narrow early lead with a successful field-goal attempt from 49 yards.

(PA)
(PA)

Both attacks were struggling out of the gate and Winston was offered precious little protection by an injury-hit offensive line as former Bucs stalwart Gerald McCoy and Dontari Poe each broke through for back-to-back sacks.

The Panthers were forced to play out from their own one-yard line after a booming punt, but a 15-yard face mask penalty on Shaquil Barrett and successive big throws by Kyle Allen - still starting in place of the injured Cam Newton - to receivers Samuel and DJ Moore helped Rivera’s side back into the redzone.

McCaffrey added nine more yards on the ground before Allen was stopped while trying to sneak up the middle on third down.

(Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I)
(Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I)

Rivera and offensive co-ordinator Norv Turner made the easy decision to go for it on 4th-and-goal from the Bucs’ one-yard line and McCaffrey finally punched the ball in to cap a precise 99-yard, 12-play scoring drive.

Trailing 0-10 at the beginning of the second quarter, Winston was sacked again on third down by rookie pass-rusher Brian Burns, but the Bucs immediately recovered possession as Ryan Smith forced a fumble on the punt return by Ray-Ray McCloud which was secured by Kevin Minter.

Winston then connected with towering tight end OJ Howard for a crucial 30-yard gain that teed up second-year runner Ronald Jones for the five-yard touchdown dart.

Momentum seemed to be swinging in the Bucs’ favour after a difficult start, only on the next drive for Winston to be spooked by another sack - this time a combination of McCoy and Bruce Irvin - and then send a woeful pass over the head of Howard that was gratefully picked off by Javien Elliott.

After a short run by McCaffrey and incomplete effort to Greg Olsen, the Panthers converted with a third-down pass to Moore and their formidable running back did the rest.

‘MVP’ chants rung around the stadium after McCaffrey took a short pass 25 yards to the house after capitalising on a crucial slip from Vernon Hargreaves and cutting inside, bouncing out of tackles in typically slippery fashion.

(Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I)
(Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I)

The Bucs were on the march as the whistle sounded for the two-minute warning at the end of the first half, with Evans, Chris Godwin, Peyton Barber and Bobo Wilson all contributing to set up first-and-10 at the 12-yard line.

However, the Panthers and specifically defensive end Vernon Butler regrouped to force successive Winston fumbles - the second of which was recovered by Irvin.

Ndamukong Suh’s first-down sack helped ensure Carolina were unable to build on yet another mistake from the one-time Heisman Trophy winner, who was subsequently left further frustrated as a holding penalty and deep juggling Evans drop ended hopes of hitting back before the break.

An entertaining first half ended in a flurry of flags and Slye missed right from 60 yards with an extremely rare fair catch/free-kick attempt to leave the score 17-7.

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Both teams were forced to punt at the start of the third quarter, before Slye made no mistake with a 46-yard field goal after a 30-yard gain by Samuel.

A bad day for Winston got worse as a dreadful pass towards Evans was easily picked by linebacker Luke Kuechly deep inside Bucs territory and the speedy Samuel quickly scored from eight yards on a smart end-around play.

In response, Winston withstood an offensive holding penalty and used Evans and Godwin to move the chains, though the Bucs had to eventually settle for a 54-yard Matt Gay field goal.

SCOREBOARD

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

T

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

0

7

3

16

26

Carolina Panthers

10

7

10

10

37

The Panthers were looking confident and Allen leaned on Olsen and Moore - who briefly left the game with a rib injury - before Samuel showed deft hands in the right corner to extend the lead with a 13-yard touchdown catch.

Staring at a sizeable deficit, the Bucs suddenly snapped into life courtesy of big plays from Godwin and Dare Ogunbowale and a face mask penalty on Mario Addison that helped tee up a 10-yard catch at the back of the endzone for tight end Cameron Brate.

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Evans’ deflected catch on the two-point conversion attempt made it 34-18 with more than 12 minutes of the final quarter remaining.

After muffing and then regathering the previous punt, Wilson was not so fortunate on the next as his latest fumble was dived upon by Jordan Scarlett.

It was the latest in a long line of Bucs blunders and two holding penalties gave the Panthers even better field position, but, after Olsen failed to bring in a tough one-handed catch, they settled for another Slye field goal, this time from 29.

The Bucs, to their credit, refused to give up and third-string running back Ogunbowale ran in from four yards after an eye-catching drive that featured a 37-yard pass to Brate and saw Winston shake off another sack from former team-mate McCoy. Winston ran to his right to secure another successful two-point conversion.

Ultimately it proved too little, too late - despite the Panthers failing to run down the clock - as Winston struggled to find Evans on third down and then had a fourth pass picked off by Ross Cockrell with the two-minute warning looming.

The Panthers were unable to reach 40 points on the day as Slye's final field-goal attempt - from 41 yards - was pushed narrowly wide.

There was just time for one last Winston interception as Bradberry claimed his second pick of the afternoon on a ball intended for Evans in the back of the endzone.

With the Tottenham portion of NFL London 2019 now concluded, the four-match series returns on October 27 as the Los Angeles Rams take on the winless Cincinnati Bengals at Wembley Stadium.

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