Luke Kuechly Got His Hall of Fame Ring While Tampa Bay Ran Carolina Out of the Building

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-5) snapped their four-game losing streak with a 43-13 demolition of the Carolina Panthers (3-3) at Bank of America Stadium on October 25, 2026, as Bucky Irving’s two touchdowns and a dominant defensive performance spoiled Luke Kuechly’s Hall of Fame celebration.

Quarter-by-Quarter

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
TB	7	26	3	7	43
CAR	0	6	0	7	13

Carolina welcomed Luke Kuechly home to celebrate his Hall of Fame induction, only for Tampa Bay to put on a defensive performance the former Panthers legend probably wished he could interrupt. Bucky Irving opened the scoring and later added another touchdown, finishing with 106 rushing yards as the Buccaneers piled up 258 on the ground. David Moore’s muffed punt set up a field goal before Al-Quadin Muhammad’s strip-sack became a 32-yard touchdown return for Calijah Kancey. Even Carolina’s 50-yard touchdown to Darren Waller backfired when Tykee Smith blocked the extra point and Zyon McCollum returned it for two. McCollum later intercepted Bryce Young, setting up Baker Mayfield’s 200th career touchdown pass to Tez Johnson. Returning from a thumb injury, Mayfield needed just 64 passing yards as Tampa Bay built a ridiculous 33-6 halftime lead.

Carolina’s offensive line spent the afternoon getting bullied, surrendering five sacks, including three to Yaya Diaby. Young completed just 14 of 27 passes for 163 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions before Kenny Pickett replaced him. Things weren’t much better defensively. Irving dominated, Kenny Gainwell added 88 rushing yards, and Sean Tucker broke loose for a 46-yard touchdown. The Panthers had allowed just 81 rushing yards in their previous two games combined before surrendering 258 to Tampa Bay. Chuba Hubbard managed 33 rushing yards, while Tetairoa McMillan caught four passes for 40. Losing right tackle Taylor Moton to an ankle injury only made an already miserable afternoon worse. Four turnovers, a blocked extra point and a 30-point defeat on Kuechly’s special day left Carolina with an embarrassing reminder of how far its defense still has to go.

Postgame Statistical Breakdown

Team Stats

Stat	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Carolina Panthers
Final Score	43	13
Total Offensive Yards	322	266
Passing Yards	64	178
Rushing Yards	258	88
Total Plays	60	54
Yards Per Play	5.4	4.9
First Downs	21	15
Third Downs	7-12	6-11
Third-Down %	58.3%	54.5%
Fourth Downs	0-1	0-2
Passing TDs	1	1
Rushing TDs	3	1
Total Offensive TDs	4	2
Turnovers	0	4
Interceptions Thrown	0	2
Fumbles Lost	0	2
Sacks Allowed	0	5
Penalties	6	4
Penalty Yards	35	56
Time of Possession	35:57	24:03

Passing

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1. Baker Mayfield — 7/11, 63.6%, 64 YDS, 1 TD, 0 INT, 5.8 YPA, 0 SACK, 109.7 RTG

Carolina Panthers

1. Bryce Young — 14/27, 51.9%, 163 YDS, 1 TD, 2 INT, 6.0 YPA, 5 SACK, 51.9 RTG

Rushing

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1. Bucky Irving — 24 CAR, 106 YDS, 4.4 AVG, 2 TD, LONG 15, 1 FUM
2. Kenny Gainwell — 14 CAR, 88 YDS, 6.3 AVG, 0 TD, LONG 29

Carolina Panthers

1. Chuba Hubbard — 7 CAR, 33 YDS, 4.7 AVG, 0 TD, LONG 8
2. Anthony Tyus III — 3 CAR, 23 YDS, 7.7 AVG, 1 TD, LONG 12

Receiving

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1. Tez Johnson — 2 REC, 2 TGT, 33 YDS, 16.5 AVG, 1 TD, LONG 19
2. Chris Godwin Jr. — 4 REC, 5 TGT, 27 YDS, 6.8 AVG, 0 TD, LONG 9
3. Bucky Irving — 1 REC, 2 TGT, 4 YDS, 4.0 AVG, 0 TD, LONG 4
4. Cade Otton — 0 REC, 1 TGT, 0 YDS, 0.0 AVG, 0 TD
5. Ted Hurst III — 0 REC, 1 TGT, 0 YDS, 0.0 AVG, 0 TD

Carolina Panthers

1. Darren Waller — 1 REC, 2 TGT, 50 YDS, 50.0 AVG, 1 TD, LONG 50
2. Tetairoa McMillan — 4 REC, 6 TGT, 40 YDS, 10.0 AVG, 0 TD, LONG 12
3. Mitchell Evans — 2 REC, 2 TGT, 39 YDS, 19.5 AVG, 0 TD, LONG 32
4. Chuba Hubbard — 4 REC, 5 TGT, 27 YDS, 6.8 AVG, 0 TD, LONG 9
5. John Metchie III — 2 REC, 4 TGT, 20 YDS, 10.0 AVG, 0 TD, LONG 16

Scoring Plays

Qtr	Clock	Team	Play	Score
Q1	7:22	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Bucky Irving 4-yard run (Chase McLaughlin kick)	TB 7, CAR 0
Q2	14:12	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Chase McLaughlin 22-yard field goal	TB 10, CAR 0
Q2	11:05	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Calijah Kancey 32-yard Fumble Return (Chase McLaughlin kick)	TB 17, CAR 0
Q2	9:09	Carolina Panthers	Darren Waller 50-yard pass from Bryce Young. Zyon McCollum returned blocked extra point for defensive two-point conversion	TB 19, CAR 6
Q2	3:53	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Bucky Irving 1-yard run (Chase McLaughlin kick)	TB 26, CAR 6
Q2	0:04	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Tez Johnson 14-yard pass from Baker Mayfield (Chase McLaughlin kick)	TB 33, CAR 6
Q3	6:30	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Chase McLaughlin 44-yard field goal	TB 36, CAR 6
Q4	10:21	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Sean Tucker 46-yard run (Chase McLaughlin kick)	TB 43, CAR 6
Q4	5:28	Carolina Panthers	Anthony Tyus III 12-yard run (Ryan Fitzgerald kick) (Ryan Fitzgerald kick)	TB 43, CAR 13

Defense

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1. Yaya Diaby — 3 TOT, 3 SOLO, 3 TFL, 3 SACK, 3 QBH
2. Calijah Kancey — 1 TOT, 1 SOLO, 1 TFL, 1 FR, 1 FR TD
3. Tykee Smith — 7 TOT, 1 SOLO, 1 INT, 1 PD
4. Josiah Trotter — 10 TOT, 3 SOLO, 1 PD
5. Zyon McCollum — 2 TOT, 1 SOLO, 1 INT, 18 INT YDS, 1 PD
6. Al-Quadin Muhammad — 1 TOT, 1 SOLO, 1 TFL, 1 SACK, 1 QBH
7. Vita Vea — 1 TOT, 1 SOLO, 1 TFL, 1 SACK, 1 QBH
8. David Walker — 5 TOT, 5 SOLO, 1 TFL
9. Keionte Scott — 6 TOT, 2 SOLO, 1 PD
10. Alex Anzalone — 6 TOT, 4 SOLO

Carolina Panthers

1. Bobby Okereke — 10 TOT, 7 SOLO, 1 TFL, 1 PD
2. Nick Scott — 7 TOT, 4 SOLO
3. Derrick Brown — 5 TOT, 3 SOLO, 1 PD
4. Aaron Hall — 6 TOT, 1 SOLO
5. Devin Lloyd — 4 TOT, 1 QBH
6. Trevis Gipson — 3 TOT, 2 SOLO, 1 TFL
7. Nick Hampton — 5 TOT, 3 SOLO
8. Will Lee III — 5 TOT, 1 SOLO
9. Patrick Jones II — 2 TOT, 2 SOLO, 1 TFL
10. Princely Umanmielen — 2 TOT, 2 SOLO, 1 TFL

Kick Returns

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1. Kameron Johnson — 2 KR, 50 YDS, 25.0 AVG, LONG 26, 0 TD

Carolina Panthers

1. Anthony Tyus III — 5 KR, 122 YDS, 24.4 AVG, LONG 28, 0 TD

Punt Returns

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1. Tez Johnson — 1 PR, 22 YDS, 22.0 AVG, LONG 22, 0 TD

Carolina Panthers

1. David Moore — 1 PR, 0 YDS, 0.0 AVG, 0 TD