Week 2 - Thursday Nighter

'00 Tampa Bay vs. '15 Carolina

The weather was nice and cool at Bank of America Stadium as the Buccaneers traveled to Carolina this time to try and stop Newton and the Panthers.  Over 73,730 people were in attendance.

Hot off a win against Montana's 49ers, the Buccaneers found themselves quickly working a bit harder to keep their momentum up against the Panthers. On their first drive, the Panthers picked off Brad Johnson, promptly turning the opportunity into the first score of the game.

From there, Newton took charge in the first half, coming up with 2 TD's. Though making it look easy, he also had great ball position each time, at one point benefiting from a 48 yard punt return by Ted Ginn Jr.

Tampa Bay tried lots of attacks to get past Carolina, but the Buccs just couldn't turn their gains into first downs. Struggling to make progress, the Panthers went up at halftime 24-7.

In the 3rd quarter, Tampa Bay's defense put extra pressure on Newton, and he struggled a bit more to get his passing game together. But Newton was the one who seemed to remembered he could turn to Jonathan Stewart to help move the ball ahead in a rush attack. Stewart, who had a big game with 119 yards averaging 7.4 per carry, was 1 of 7 different plays on Carolina to carry the ball.

Brad Johnson didn't seem as together as Newton, and continued to struggled completing the key passes that would have given him the lead..

Newton, getting his stride back in the 4th quarter, helped the Panthers take home another win, 38-7.

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