Eddy Piñeiro entered Sunday as the NFL’s most accurate all-time kicker. He passed Ravens kicker Justin Tucker a few weeks ago.
Tucker, though, again is the leader.
Piñeiro has missed two field goals, going wide left on tries of 38 and 45. He had made 33 field goals in a row of under 40 yards.
He did make kicks of 47 and 27 yards, giving the Panthers a 13-10 halftime lead, but it should be more.
The Panthers nearly had an 8-yard touchdown with seven seconds left, but officials ruled that Adam Thielen bobbled the ball after he went out of bounds. Thielen clearly landed in bounds with the ball, but the play was ruled incomplete on the field, and review didn’t have a definite shot as he hit the goal post to show that the ball never moved.
The Panthers settled for the chip-shot Piñeiro field goal that wasn’t all that chip shot as he snuck it just inside the left upright.
Carolina is 1-for-3 in the red zone and Tampa Bay 1-2.
The Panthers scored their only touchdown on a 10-yard run by Bryce Young.
They have outgained the Bucs 221 to 146 as Young is 15-of-26 for 186. Tommy Tremble has three catches for 63 yards.
The Bucs’ only touchdown came on Mike Evans’ one-handed catch of a 2-yard pass from Baker Mayfield. Mayfield is 7-of-16 for 96 yards and has thrown an interception, with Evans catching three for 47 and the score.
Panthers safety Sam Franklin was penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness on the final play of the half as the teams got into it after the kickoff before leaving the field for halftime.
