Brady, Bucs rally to beat Panthers 30-24, clinch NFC South
TAMPA, Fla. — Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are headed back to the playoffs, confident they’re still capable of making this a special season.
Brady threw for 432 yards and three long touchdowns to Mike Evans, and Bucs (8-8) erased a double-digit, fourth-quarter deficit for the second week in a row to clinch their second straight NFC South championship with a 30-24 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
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“Every year you try to win the division and we won the division. It doesn’t matter how you win the division. My heart ain’t got much left in it, but it feels great,” coach Todd Bowles said. “We’re in one spot we need to be. We can’t get where we want to be unless we win the division. We won the division.”
Evans finished with 10 catches for 207 yards, scoring on receptions of 63, 57, and 30 yards and becoming the first player in NFL history to begin a career with nine consecutive seasons with 1,000-plus yards receiving.
The TDs were first for Evans since Oct. 2 — a stretch of 12 games — and hiked his season total to six after scoring 14 times in 2021 and 13 two years ago, when Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl.
“We’ve battled through a lot of tough things this year,” Brady said. “Happy to win the division. It’s always tough to do it. NFL games are tough to win and we always figure out a way to keep them somehow exciting. I wish they wouldn’t be as exciting as we made them.”
The Panthers (6-10) led 14-0 early and 21-10 after Sam Darnold’s third TD pass of the day, 10 seconds into the fourth quarter.
It was all Bucs from there, with Evans beating cornerback C.J. Henderson for touchdowns twice and Darnold losing a fumble on a sack inside his own 10. That turnover set up Brady’s 1-yard TD sneak, which put the game out of reach with 1:58 left.
The Bucs can finish the regular season with a winning record by beating Atlanta on the road next weekend. As division champs, they are assured of beginning the playoffs with a home game in two weeks.
“The playoffs start a clean slate for everybody,” Bowles said. “You’ve got a three-game elimination tournament. Doesn’t matter where you are. … At least we know we’ll be in the games. We just have to cut down on the mistakes in order to win them.”
The Panthers, who had won four of six to climb back into playoff contention after firing coach Matt Rhule and trading star running back Christian McCaffrey, could have clinched their first NFC South title since 2015 by beating the Bucs and then winning at New Orleans.
