Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are headed back to the playoffs, confident they are still capable of making this a special season.
Brady threw for 432 yards and three long touchdowns to Mike Evans, and the 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.
“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,” Bucs 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.”
Photo: AFP
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 touchdowns were the first for Evans since Oct. 2 last year — 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 touchdown sneak, which put the game out of reach with 1 minute, 58 seconds left.
The Bucs can finish the regular season with a winning record by beating the Atlanta Faslcons 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.
Instead, they wound up missing the playoffs for a fifth straight year. Among their priorities entering the off-season will be determining the future of interim coach Steve Wilks, as well as Darnold, who would be an unrestricted free agent.
“Obviously we knew what we were playing for... We were right there,” Darnold said. “At the end, we just couldn’t get it done.”
Darnold threw for 341 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He also lost two fumbles while falling to 3-2 since becoming Carolina’s starter in November last year.
In other games on Sunday, it was:
‧?49ers 37, Raiders 34
‧?Giants 38, Colts 10
‧?Packers 41, Vikings 17
‧?Falcons 20, Cardinals 19
‧?Lions 41, Bears 10
‧?Jaguars 31, Texans 3
‧?Chiefs 27, Broncos 24
‧?Patriots 23, Dolphins 21
‧?Saints 20, Eagles 10
‧?Browns 24, Commanders 10
‧?Seahawks 23, Jets 6
‧?Chargers 31, Rams 10
‧?Steelers 16, Ravens 13
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