With Home Loss on MNF, Panthers May Finally Be in Hole They Can’t Escape

Winning without your franchise quarterback is never easy, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tried their best to make it very easy on the shorthanded Carolina Panthers on Monday night.

And yet the Panthers still found a way to lose for the fourth time in five games to start the 2016 NFL season. 

On the road against a depleted secondary, Tampa Bay got a mediocre-at-best performance from franchise quarterback Jameis Winston and saw second-round rookie kicker Roberto Aguayo miss two field goals. The Bucs found the end zone just once and did everything they could to botch a two-minute drill with the game on the line. 

But the Panthers still fell short at home to a Tampa Bay team that was missing key cogs Doug Martin, Gerald McCoy, Robert Ayers and Clinton McDonald. 

Concussed Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is the reigning NFL MVP, but high-quality teams should be able to beat mistake-prone, inferior opponents with or without their star quarterback. Just look at the New England Patriots, who started 3-1 without suspended future Hall of Famer Tom Brady. Or the Arizona Cardinals, who defeated the San Francisco 49ers by a double-digit margin on the road this week despite the absence of concussed Pro Bowl quarterback Carson Palmer. 

The Minnesota Vikings are 5-0 without the injured Teddy Bridgewater. The Pittsburgh Steelers were 3-2 last year without injured star signal caller Ben Roethlisberger. The Denver Broncos just continue to win regardless of who’s under center. 

So spare me the excuses for the Panthers, who would have needed only 18 points at home Monday night in order to beat a weakened Bucs team that had allowed at least 24 in each of its first four games, and an average of 32 per game. 

Instead, Carolina settled for just two third-quarter …

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