The Series: With the 28-21 victory, the Panthers defeated the Buccaneers for the 10th time in their last 13 meetings and fifth time in the last six games at Raymond James Stadium. Carolina leads the all-time series 11-7 and will meet Tampa Bay again this season at Bank of America Stadium on Dec. 6.
Inactives: The following eight players were inactive for the Panthers: quarterback A.J. Feeley (third quarterback), running back Mike Goodson, defensive tackle Nick Hayden, guard Duke Robinson, running back Tyrell Sutton, defensive end Hilee Taylor, tackle Garry Williams and cornerback C.J. Wilson.
Double Trouble: Running backs DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart combined to rush for 262 yards and three touchdowns on 47 attempts. Williams totaled 152 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries and Stewart accumulated 110 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries - the third time in the Panthers' 15-year history that two running backs gained 100 or more yards in the same game. The pair previously accomplished the feat versus Tampa Bay (12/8/08) and versus Detroit (11/16/08).
Williams Rushes Up Charts: Williams rushed a career-high 30 times to move into second place in team history for the most career rushing attempts with 627, surpassing the 611 by Tshimanga Biakabutuka from 1996-2001. DeShaun Foster is first with 851. Williams ranks first in team history with 27 rushing touchdowns and 12 games with 100 or more rushing yards and second with 3,105 rushing yards.
Williams gained a season-high 152 yards to generate his first 100-yard rushing effort this season and scored two touchdowns on runs of 20 in the second quarter and one yard in the fourth quarter. He leads the Panthers with 372 yards and four touchdowns on 89 carries this season.
Hot Stew: Stewart rushed for a season-high 110 yards and one touchdown - scoring on a 26-yard run in the third quarter - on 17 attempts to produce his third-career 100-yard rushing performance. Indicative of the flow of the game, he gained 74 of his yards in the second half. Stewart is second on the Panthers with 248 yards and two touchdowns on 50 carries this season.
Offensive Line Paves The Way: Behind an offensive line featuring Jordan Gross at left tackle, Travelle Wharton at left guard, Ryan Kalil at center, Keydrick Vincent at right guard and Jeff Otah at right tackle, Carolina amassed 267 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 48 attempts for an average of 5.6 yards per carry and gained 16 rushing first downs.
The Panthers' 267 yards rushing represented the second-most in team history behind the 299 tallied in their last game versus Tampa Bay (12/8/08). Combined with the Buccaneers' 124 yards rushing, the 391 total yards on the ground between the two teams was the third-most in a game involving the Panthers.
Carolina's 48 rushing attempts tied the second most in team history - previously accomplished versus Kansas City (10/5/08) - behind the team-record 52 carries at Atlanta (12/24/06).
The Panthers established a team record with 16 rushing first downs. They bettered the previous mark of 14 versus Tampa Bay (12/8/08).
Delhomme Boy: Quarterback Jake Delhomme completed 9-of-17 passes for 65 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions to produce a 42.2 quarterback rating. He threw a one-yard touchdown to tight end Jeff King in the third quarter. The 17 pass attempts equaled the second-fewest in team history, previously accomplished on two occasions - most recently at Green Bay (11/30/98).
Delhomme directed his 20th career game-winning drive (including the playoffs) and second this year that put the team ahead for good in the fourth quarter or overtime. He guided the Panthers 80 yards on 16 plays in 8:04, capped by a one-yard touchdown run by DeAngelo Williams with 29 seconds remaining. Fifteen of the 16 plays during the game-winning possession were runs with Delhomme's lone pass attempt a four-yard completion to Steve Smith.
Delhomme has completed 79-of-133 passes for 847 yards and four touchdowns with 10 interceptions this season. All of his touchdown passes have been to tight ends with King catching two and Dante Rosario accounting for two.
Moose Tracks: Wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad paced the Panthers with three receptions for 27 yards. He leads the team with 22 catches for 205 yards this season.
Takeaway/Giveaway: Carolina forced two turnovers on an interception by linebacker Thomas Davis, his second-career pick and first since 2007, and a fumble that was recovered by defensive tackle Hollis Thomas. The Panthers turned it over three times on two interceptions and one fumble to finish with a minus-one turnover ratio. The two takeaways resulted in seven points for Carolina, and the three giveaways led to seven points for Tampa Bay. The Panthers have a negative-10 turnover ratio this season, compiling an 0-1 record when being even in turnover margin and a 2-2 record when having a negative turnover margin.
Sack Party: The Panthers collected four sacks against the Buccaneers and have gathered 13 this season - and nine in the last two games. Defensive end Charles Johnson matched his career high with two sacks - previously accomplished versus Arizona (10/26/08) - and forced two fumbles, one on an eight-yard sack of Josh Johnson in the third quarter and another on a nine-yard sack of Johnson in the fourth quarter.
Red Hot Peppers: Defensive end Julius Peppers recorded two quarterback takedowns - his 18th career outing with at least two sacks - and forced a fumble on a seven-yard sack of Johnson in the second quarter. In his last two games, Peppers has corralled four sacks. He leads the team with five sacks this season and ranks as the Panthers all-time leader with 75.5 sacks and 26 forced fumbles.
Baker's Dozen: Punter Jason Baker punted three times to become the Panthers' all-time leader with 351 punts, surpassing the 350 by Todd Sauerbrun from 2001-04. Against Tampa Bay he generated a gross average of 40.7 yards and net average of 38.7 yards with two punts inside the 20, no touchbacks and long of 46 yards. His gross average fell to 48.4 yards and his net average improved to 34.6 yards with five punts inside the 20, two touchbacks, one block and long of 61 yards this season.
Claw Marks: The Panthers lost the coin toss with a call of tails but still began the game with the football as the Buccaneers opted to defer their option to the second half. Carolina has won three of five coin tosses this season...With running back Mike Goodson inactive for the second consecutive week, wide receiver Kenneth Moore handled kickoff return duties. He opened the game with a 24-yard return and averaged 19.7 yards on three returns...Tight end Dante Rosario, who was limited in practice last week because of an ankle injury, caught one pass for six yards, which resulted in a first down. Of his 32-career receptions, 24 (75 percent) have yielded a first down or touchdown.
House Of Blues: The Panthers wore their blue alternate jerseys for the first time this season and 14th time overall, including seven occasions against Tampa Bay, since debuting them in 2002. Carolina owns a 7-7 regular-season mark when wearing the blue tops. The Panthers will also wear their blue alternate jerseys this year at home versus Miami (11/19/09).
Swashbucklers: Buccaneers wide receiver Sammie Stroughter returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, the second-longest kickoff return ever by an opponent. It represented just the third kickoff return for a touchdown allowed by the Panthers in team history and first since Tim Dwight's 93-yarder for Atlanta (10/4/98)...Stroughter finished the game with a 47.3 kickoff-return average on three returns to set a record for the highest kickoff-return average by an opponent. He bettered the previous mark of 42.3 yards by Tim Dwight for Atlanta (10/4/98)...Tampa Bay guard Davin Joseph blocked a 52-yard field-goal attempt by John Kasay in the second quarter. It was the first blocked field goal against the Panthers since Shaun Rogers registered one for Detroit (10/16/05). Kasay has had eight field goals blocked in his career...Tampa Bay safety Tanard Jackson returned an interception 26 yards for a touchdown, the second interception return for a touchdown by an opponent this season along with to Terence Newman's 27-yarder for Dallas (9/28/09)...The Buccaneers fumbled five times to equal the most opponent fumbles in a game - previously accomplished twice, most recently versus Arizona (11/21/04).
