Tampa, Fla. – The Carolina Panthers don’t want to get ahead of themselves.
Five straight victories have propelled them to a 6-2 record and a tie for first place in the NFC South midway through the season, but coach John Fox and his players feel it’s important to keep their strong start in perspective.
“It’s like how nobody remembers halftime scores. Same way with this season,” Fox said after Sunday’s 34-14 domination of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“What does being 6-2 mean?” defensive tackle Brentson Buckner added. “It means we can still go 6-10.”
Not the way the Panthers have played since stumbling out of the gate in September by losing two of their first three games. Lately, they’ve looked more and more like the championship contenders many expected them to be.
Stephen Davis ran for two touchdowns, Steve Smith caught his ninth TD pass and Chris Gamble scored on a 61-yard interception return to key the team’s fifth straight victory in its bitter division rivalry with Tampa Bay.
Since the NFC South was formed in 2002, four of seven games between the teams have been decided by seven or fewer points. The past two have been blowouts, but Smith said that doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.
“All we do is come out here and make plays. Every week is different,” the speedy receiver said. “The thing they have that we don’t have is a championship, and that’s what we’re trying to get.”
The Bucs (5-3) lost for the third time in four games, falling out of a first-place tie with Carolina and Atlanta.
“We just got beat by a better team today,” Tampa Bay’s Chris Simms said. “I’m not going to make any excuses.”
Smith scored on a 35-yard pass from Jake Delhomme in the fourth quarter, and Carolina’s defense forced four turnovers and sacked Simms five times to ruin the quarterback’s second start of the season.
Davis scored on a 4-yard run that defensive end Mike Rucker set up by recovering Carnell “Cadillac” Williams’ fumble. Rucker also sacked Simms to force a third-quarter fumble that led to one of John Kasay’s two field goals for the Panthers.
Delhomme’s 61-yard completion to Ricky Proehl was the big play in a five-play, 90-yard drive that Davis finished with a 1-yard run that put Carolina up 17-7 in the second quarter. Smith’s TD made it 34-7 and gave the receiver his sixth 100-yard game of the season.
Simms completed 25-of-41 passes for 259 yards and two interceptions. He threw a 50-yard TD pass to Joey Galloway in the second quarter, and Mike Alstott had a 1-yard TD run in the fourth quarter for Tampa Bay.
Simms also struggled in his first start of the season for the injured Brian Griese, throwing two interceptions and losing a fourth-quarter fumble in a loss at San Francisco last week.
The 49ers sacked him five times, and the Bucs were unable to ease the burden on the third-year pro by running the ball.
Williams was held to 29 yards on 11 carries in his second game since returning from a foot sprain.
Since becoming the first player in NFL history to begin his career with three consecutive 100-yard days rushing, the Bucs rookie has been limited to 62 yards on 35 attempts in his past three games.
“We’re in a slump right now,” Williams said. “We just didn’t get much done.”
