CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tom Brady will have to survive at least the remainder of the regular season without the biggest names on the Bucs offense.
The “no names,” however, stepped up and began to make their monikers memorable in Sunday’s 32-6 win over the Carolina Panthers.
With Leonard Fournette gone for the remainder of the season with a hamstring injury, Ke’Shawn Vaughn took the football and ran 55 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.
With Chris Godwin out of the year with a torn ACL and Mike Evans shelved with a hamstring strain, former LSU track star Cyril Grayson had a 62-yard catch and run to set up Cameron Brate’s 4-yard TD reception just before halftime.
Of course, one guy who didn’t need to re-introduce himself Sunday to Brady was receiver Antonio Brown. Fresh off a three-game suspension for misrepresenting his vaccination status, Brown played his first game since mid-October and led the Bucs with 10 catches for 101 yards on 15 targets.
What the Bucs did Sunday was significant in other ways. They won the NFC South for the first time in 14 years, claimed a playoff spot and perhaps the attention of those too quick to write off the defending Super Bowl champions’ hope of repeating as dead in the water.
Sunday’s victory, however, came with another steep price. Shaquil Barrett, the Bucs’ three-time Pro Bowl linebacker who recorded his 10th sack at Carolina, injured his kneed late in the first half, tried to return, then was gone for good early in the third quarter.
Fortunately for the Bucs, by the time Ronald Jones scored on a 7-yard touchdown run around left end with 2:08 remaining in the third, they were in complete control and well on their way to an 11th win.
Brady completed only 18-of-30 for 232 yards and a touchdown but it was more than enough. Credit the Bucs defense, which has not allowed a touchdown in two games. Carolina played both Cam Newton and Sam Darnold at quarterback, but the Bucs combined to sack them a season-high seven times, including 2.5 by William Gholston.
Safety Jordan Whitehead was all over the field. His interception of Newton led to a 36-yard field goal by Ryan Succop — his first of four — and a 10-3 lead.
The Bucs entered Sunday’s game as the fourth seed in the NFC with two weeks remaining. That certainly could change in the next two weeks.
They also have winnable games at the New York Jets next Sunday and the regular-season finale against the Panthers at Raymond James Stadium.
