Panthers-Buccaneers Prediction - Week 8

Carolina Panthers (3-3) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-6):

So this is the Carolina team everybody has been half-expecting for the last season and a half. A defense that, since the Giants’ game in Week 3, has been on absolute lockdown, and a power running attack that completely compensates for the Panthers’ anemic passing attack. At the same time, though, for all the weaknesses this Bucs team is showing, its run defense is not one of them. The Panthers will have to be able to utilize Steve Smith and Greg Olsen in order to open up the Bucs’ defense tonight, or there’s a good chance they’ll be running into a brick wall for 60 minutes. On the other side of the ball, Mike Glennon has looked better than Josh Freeman, but he seems to only have one trick up his sleeve: Throw to Vincent Jackson. However, this Panthers defense is good enough to figure out ways to stymy Jackson, which will force Glennon to start checking down to receivers he typically avoids and to rely on a run game that struggled even with Doug Martin in the backfield. This should be a fairly low-scoring game, but the Panthers should keep the edge.

Carolina Panthers: 20-13