5 things to watch as the Panthers welcome the Bucs for divisional matchup

Tampa Bay hasn’t had to pass much, though, instead riding the seventh-best rushing offense in the league, averaging 127.8 yards a game on the ground. It’s led by Bucky Irving, who is averaging 75.3 yards a game rushing, and supplemented by the mobile quarterbacks (both Daniels and Mayfield).

“They run the ball downhill,” noted Derrick Brown. “Bucky Irving back there…they got a very good system back there right now. So I mean we’ve got another challenge ahead of us to stop the run this week, and we look forward to it.”

Added linebacker Devin Lloyd, “We’ve got a lot of respect for the offense and the playmakers they have on their team, skill group as well. So you have variety in the run game, and then they have skilled players that can be explosive, make guys miss and make plays, make explosive plays. So, you know, we’re playing against a good offense that we have respect for, and we just have to do our job and execute.”

After the Chicago Bears exploded for 291 rushing yards in Week 1, the Panthers defense has held teams to an average of 92.5 yards over the last four games. In the last two games, that number has been below 50 yards (46 yards against Detroit and 35 yards against the Eagles).

“I think our schedule is pretty much filled with all the really good running backs and all the scrambling quarterbacks,” joked Brown. “So I mean, we get ready to face a new challenge every single week.”