Bryce Young's four giveaways turn Panthers -3 into a 43-13 wipeout

This is the worst we've looked all year. We laid three at home on the premise that Bryce Young was the best quarterback on the field and that Tampa Bay's line would collapse. Young went 14 of 27 for 163 with two interceptions, a lost fumble and five sacks taken. Baker Mayfield started with the bad thumb, threw it 11 times for 64 yards, and Tampa ran it 49 times for 258. Calijah Kancey returned a strip-sack 32 yards for a score. Buccaneers 43, Panthers 13. Lost by 30 laying three.

Bryce Young leads the NFL in passing at 309.8 yards a game with 11 touchdowns to two interceptions and a 98.5 rating, which is not a sentence anybody wrote in August. Tampa Bay has allowed 22 sacks in six games, a 62-sack pace that would beat the worst season in franchise history, and the sacks have followed both quarterbacks, so whoever starts stands behind the same problem; Luke Goedeke did not practice Wednesday with a calf and Justin Skule is the listed replacement at right tackle. Carolina hit Tanner McKee 10 times last week, its most quarterback hits since 2022, even without Jaelan Phillips, who was held out of Wednesday's practice and whom Dave Canales has said will not play Sunday, though ESPN's own roster still carries him as questionable. Tampa's answer is the run game at 4.8 a carry against a Carolina defense allowing 5.12, last in the league, but Bucky Irving sat Wednesday with illness and Carolina held Philadelphia to 35 rushing yards a week ago. Tetairoa McMillan has 471 yards and Carolina has increased his slot usage, which moves him around against a Tampa secondary whose number one corner Zyon McCollum also sat with illness. The caution is why this is ranked fourth rather than first: Tampa's quarterback, leading receiver, lead back, right tackle and top corner are all unresolved until Friday, and if Baker Mayfield starts our number comes down to -4.5 and the edge compresses to a point and a half. We make it Panthers -5.5; the market says -3 at the one book still offering it.