CHARLOTTE — So much of the Panthers' season has led to this: two of the next three games against the team they're deadlocked with at the top of the division, with a chance to notch a huge win in that race on Sunday. While Carolina can't clinch with a win and won't officially be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss in Week 16, a win would certainly go a long way towards locking up a spot.

"That's been a message all year," said Jaycee Horn. "So now it's just doing what we've been doing, like focusing on one game. We know of the magnitude they hold and how much is going into this game.

"But it doesn't change the fact that we just, we're trying to go 1-and-0 and just go dominate and play football."

After seeing how fans affected the Rams during that Week 13 win, Horn implored them to do the same.

"Do the same thing," Horn challenged. "Just show up and show out, and we're going to try to do the same thing."

To do that will take playing one of their best games. From dealing with Vita Vea to slowing down Baker Mayfield and more, here are five things to watch.

The Vea conundrum

At 6-4, 347 pounds, Vita Vea is a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the Buccaneers defensive line, which is a long way of saying something that Rico Dowdle summed up more succinctly.

"That's a huge human," laughed Dowdle this week while breaking down the struggle of facing the veteran who has terrorized offenses for years.

"It's a challenge with anybody running at him or running away from him, but just got to depend on those guys up front to move him, displace him, and the rest should be good."

The catch-22, trying to decide to run at him or away from him, shapes how the Panthers approach their offensive game plan this week.

"You really do," nodded Canales, agreeing you have to take Vea specifically into account when game planning. "The big question is, do you run out or away? "Because, for as big as he is, he's a phenomenal athlete, and he's been playing football a long time, so he understands concepts, he understands how to get himself into position.

"Block disruption and trying to get off of those things is a really big part of what he does, and we're aware of that, and we have to be really disciplined about our pad level and our combos as we're working with him."

A couple of options to negate Vea both involve Bryce Young. One is to let the quarterback run more on his own, as he did against the Saints in Week 15 when he picked up three first downs with his legs and scrambled to open up receivers downfield.

The second is giving Young protection while he gets the ball out quickly against this formidable rush. The Bucs have blitzed on 34.6 percent of opponent dropbacks this season, the fourth-highest rate in the NFL, and have generated a league-leading 52.9 percent pressure rate when doing so.

"There's a good, healthy balance of protecting it up, right, and getting every blitz look properly protected when you're trying to put the ball down the field," explained offensive coordinator Brad Idzik. "And then there's, get the guys out, space it out, pull a guard. You saw Bryce last week had a couple of huge scrambles and big-time plays on third and fourth down. One of those was empty where he hit Tetairoa McMillan.

"So it's just a healthy balance of spreading the field out and then knowing, 'hey, we need to protect this thing up.'"

Todd Bowles also told reporters on Friday that veteran Jason Pierre-Paul—who the Bucs signed back to their practice squad this week—is a possible elevation for Sunday.

Protect the ball

One of the Panthers' favorite sayings is, "It's all about the ball." It defines their approach every week, but will have to be at the forefront, especially this week. Cornerback Jamel Dean is tied for 15th in the league with three interceptions. He has seven total passes defended and an affinity for going after the ball.

"He's a big corner. He's a big body," explained receiver David Moore, who has the potential to play this week now that his window has been opened, but more importantly, faced Dean in practice every day when Moore was with the Buccaneers in 2023. It provided an up-close look at how to best work against the veteran corner.

"Use your speed and a lot of technique. You'll come out on the good side."

Being on a certain "side" is also important when facing Dean. It will be good-on-good when McMillan and Dean face off, as they are likely to do much of the day. According to Next Gen Stats, when lined up on the left side of the formation, McMillan has caught 38 of his 59 receptions for 618 yards (fourth-most in the NFL) and four of his six touchdowns.

His 22 downfield receptions (10-plus air yards) from the left side are the NFL's second-most, accounting for 468 of his receiving yards and all four touchdowns.

Dean has aligned as the Buccaneers' cornerback opposite the left receiver on 95.1% of his snaps this season. In that formation, Dean has allowed just seven completions on 31 downfield targets (22.6%) while intercepting all three of his passes and allowing zero touchdowns.

His 6.9 downfield passer rating allowed is the lowest by any player in a season since at least 2018 (minimum 20 downfield targets).

Dean will likely be handling a lion's share of top receiver work this week, with Zyon McCollum now on injured reserve.

"I think (Jacob Parrish's) going to step out there and play corner for them. They also have the guy from Notre Dame, the rookie, Benjamin Morrison," noted Jalen Coker, of whom the Panthers were preparing for this week, with Tampa Bay adjusting to life after McCollum.

"Those are the two guys I'm looking at…Just physical, I mean, I think that's kind of their brand of defense. So they're going to be handsy, but you know it's just going to take us to just continue to do what we've been doing."

Defending Mike Evans

Mike Evans will likely miss the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his 12-year career. After breaking his collarbone in Week 7 and being sidelined until last week against the Falcons, Evans only sits at 272 total yards this year. He'd need to average 242 yards per game for the remaining three games to hit the 1,000-yard mark.

That is not the goal Evans is chasing anymore this year, though, as he instead just tries to give Baker Mayfield more familiarity back on the field and push the Bucs to the playoffs.

"Just the competitor that he is, it really didn't matter what it was, it could be ping pong, it could be darts, it could be cards, certainly on the field, shooting hoops, whatever it is, he just loves to compete," said Canales of Evans. "He loves to find that moment. He brings a lot of energy. He's challenging somebody and very comfortable in that place. He's huge, and he's got a catch radius and understands coverage and how to beat things."

Whoever draws the Evans assignment will have to face a big-bodied receiver who is smart enough to make every rep count. And as Canales pointed out, they have a crew on Sunday that will be watching closely.

"This is a guy that forces you to play a physical nature and certainly…goes without saying, he draws a lot of defensive pass interference calls, and going into this game, I understand the crew that we have, that's something that they do call; this is information we're aware of.

"But we have to be up to the challenge, and Jaycee and Mike Jackson are going to have their opportunities, and you have to play him physical, because he's going to bring that power forward type of mindset, to the position, and so we're not going to back off of that."

Echoed Horn, "You can't as a corner, you can't really let that bother you, even though it does sit in the back of your head a little bit while you're out there if you got two or three of them, but at the same time you got to go out there and play football and be aggressive and not let that, change your game."

Getting after Baker

Of course, much of the day will likely depend on how the Panthers affect—or don't—Baker Mayfield. The Bucs quarterback is 4-0 against his former team, and he turns up the heat in these games.

It is possible to get after him, though, particularly this season. He's taken 29 sacks, which is 11th most in the NFL, including 19 in the last eight games alone. A lot of that is due to the Bucs rotating offensive line. Two of the Bucs guards have been placed on injured reserve.

When this front seven, which had 5.0 sacks on Sunday against the Saints, is trying to get after Mayfield, though, Derrick Brown just wants everyone to remember to do their part in the play.

"I think when you got trust like we do, you don't have to even worry about that," Brown said. "Nobody's trying to do too, nothing extra. We're a defense that, we want to play complementary football with the offense and special teams, and guys on defense want to just do their job within the scheme."

The Panthers will be starting Claudin Cherelus at linebacker now that Trevin Wallace has been ruled out with a shoulder injury. Additionally, Bobby Brown III will step in again for Tershawn Wharton, who continues to nurse a hamstring injury.

If the front can rattle Mayfield, though, the secondary has an opportunity to make him pay.

The Panthers' defense has allowed 5.9 yards per attempt (second-fewest in the NFL) and a 60.4 percent completion percentage (fifth-lowest) on play-action passes. They have intercepted four play-action passes (tied for fourth-most) while surrendering first downs on just 29.6 percent of play-action dropbacks (fourth-lowest).

Kicking in December

The Panthers have relied on rookie Ryan Fitzgerald for three game-winning field goals this season, and he's come through each time. The last time the kicker was put in such a situation was Week 11 against the Falcons. That game was in a dome. Carolina hasn't asked Fitzgerald to kick a game-winner outside since Week 9 in Green Bay.

Why does this matter?

Because it's now December, temperatures are dropping, and that changes how far a ball will fly.

"Kicking gets harder for each guy every year throughout the season because the weather changes," special teams coordinator Tracy Smith explained this week. "It's just harder to do your job. There's a reason that the PGA doesn't show up in December. It's just harder to put a ball in the air.

"So, that's part of it for each guy you ever have. They're not the same person opening day as they are at the end, whether or not there's fatigue for that particular person or not."

Luckily for the Panthers, temperatures are currently projected to be in the 50's during game time on Sunday, but the low for the day is in the mid-30's.

Which means the conditions are nearly perfect, for kicking, and for a game of this magnitude.