"Our playoff games started last Sunday when we won, so this Sunday will be the same." "It is a playoff game - they need it and we need it, so it’s essentially a playoff game," Bucs coach Todd Bowles said. The game has the all-in urgency of a playoff game, and the Bucs are treating it as such. Tampa Bay, despite the disappointment of a 7-8 record, can clinch the NFC South title with a win, and the Panthers can put themselves in good position to do the same, as a win Sunday would allow them to clinch next week by beating the Saints. That turnaround started in Week 7, when the Panthers were 1-4 and dominated the Bucs in a 21-3 win in Charlotte, with Foreman ripping off a 60-yard run in the second half, setting the tone for the team's strong play in going 5-5 under interim coach Steve Wilks. Foreman, who had just 37 rushing yards on the season when the Panthers traded star back Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers in late October, is third in the NFL in rushing since then, going for 774 yards, including five 100-yard games. The Panthers rushed for a franchise record 320 yards in last week's win over the Lions, and they've had at least 40 carries in each of their four wins over the last six contests to pull within a game of the Bucs atop the NFC South standings. You’ve got to be willing and ready to come meet it head on."
But you’ve got to be gap sound, you’ve got to know what to do about the ball, you’ve got to know where your help is at and play fundamentally sound up front. "You've got to bring your big-boy pants, you’ve got to be gap sound, you’ve got to be physical and bring that demeanor to the game," Bucs co-defensive coordinator Larry Foote said this week. So much of the Carolina Panthers' surprising charge to playoff contention has been their dominant running attack, and as they go to Tampa on Sunday with the NFC South title hanging in the balance, the Buccaneers have a major challenge to keep that ground game in check.
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