Another huge game this monday night to end a great way this week 14, the Carolina Panthers hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium.
This game was a NFC South rivalry within these two teams have the two first places and where all teams have a positive record.
After a field goal for each team, Panthers' running game began to blast Bucs' defense which is known as one of the toughest in the league.
Besides I was a little bit surprised to see this defense, after an interception by Ronde Barber, unable to contain Carolina's running game.
Both rookies Johnatan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams compiled 301 yards and set a new NFL record, it was the first time two teammates ran for at least 100 yards, scored two touchdowns and have an average per carry of at least 7 yards.
That's just amazing. Stewart (photo #28) ran 15 attempts for 115 and scored 2 touchdowns, his longest one was for a 30-yard distance. The other part of this dynamic duo, DeAngelo Williams carries the ball 19 times for 186 yards and scored 2 touchdowns too, his longest was for a 41-yard distance.
Williams (photo #34) has an unbelievable average about 9.7 yards per carry.
They've got already nicknamed, Smash & Dash, after Giants' ground attack Earth, Wind and Fire.
With this success, Jake Delhomme (14 of 20 for 173 yards, 1 touchdowns, 2 interceptions) didn't need to overpass. The first of his two interceptions was picked off by Ronde Barber who realised a fantastic anticipation, he cut at the right time the pass route.
After this defensive big play, the Bucs showed a poor face. Their passing game had one only big target, Antonio Bryant who caught only 9 passes for an amazing 200-yard gain of and 2 touchdowns. Bryant (photo below) was the only danger for the Panthers.
Even if quarterback Jeff Garcia (24-38 for 321 yards and 2 touchdown) completed passes to 9 targets, Bucs' passing game didn't weigh on the game.
We know that Buccaneers' trademark is their defense, however something really surprised me a lot, they usually allow about 95 yards per game on the ground, but this monday Carolina's Smash & Dash ran for 301 yards.
Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin could not trust what he saw, his players were uncapable to avoid Panthers' big running plays.
Although there are very big names in the front seven, Derrick Brooks, Cato June, Barrett Ruud, Kevin Carter, Chris Hovan, Ryan Sims.
But their incapacity of tackling was their biggest problem.
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As I said in one of my previous article, Steve Smith is really great, can you believe he caught 9 passes as being targeted 9 times?!
He earned 117 yards and scored 1 touchdown. Smith (photo left #89) faced a really big corner, Ronde Barber, but he made the adjustments needed, due to his height (5.9), catching Delhomme's passes almost immediately after the snap to gain yardage after with his speed!
The Panthers won the game, 38-23, with this victory Carolina took the 1st place of the NFC South with a 10-3 record, the Bucs lost the lead of this division. They're now with 9-4 but they have to worry because it remains three weeks and Atlanta (8-5) and even the New Orleans Saints (7-6) are not so far.