By The Hudsonian, Joshua Hudson
Well this game was ugly. The Commish proclaimed the Bucs would get lit up by the Panthers offense.
His Bucs got the win so he really doesn’t care how it affected your fantasy team. At least you have me. And I care.
The Bucs didn’t want Jameis Winston throwing the ball 50 times in a football game, but with news coming out this week that RB Charles Sims was placed on IR and with Doug Martin still nursing a hamstring injury, starting duties fell on 3rd stringer Jacquizz Rodgers so the odds of Winston throwing that many passes seemed pretty high.
Instead, they split duties. Winston threw 30 passes (for 210 yards and 1 touchdown) and Rodgers carried the ball 30 times for 101 yards (including 28 yards receiving). They controlled the tempo and kept the Panthers defense on their toes. Evans did what we expected him to, 6 catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, and the defense created 4 turnovers. If anything, Rodgers showed he could fill in for Martin, but with a bye week this week, Martin should be back for week 7. Look for the Bucs offense to get back on track with Martin’s return.
The Panthers offense, meanwhile, had one good thing going for them, and his name was Greg Olsen. The tight end caught a career high 181 yards on nine catches for the high score on the Panthers. RB Cameron Artis-Payne had his best game of the season with 85 yards and 2 touchdowns. They sorely missed Cam Newton in this game. Derek Anderson, while one of the better backups in the league, is a backup for a reason. WR Kelvin Benjamin and the rest of the offense will be much better when that happens. Outside of that? Not much to speak of.
I told you this game was ugly.
Scoring Leaders
TE Greg Olsen – 27.1
WR Mike Evans – 20.9
RB Cameron Artis-Payne – 20.5
RB Jacquizz Rodgers – 19.9
QB Jameis Winston – 17.4
WR Kelvin Benjamin – 12
Bucs D/ST – 12
Panthers D/ST – 8
RB Fozzy Whittaker – 6.4
QB Derek Anderson – 5.5
TE Cameron Brate – 4.8