Carolina Panthers: 5 Bold predictions vs. Buccaneers, Week 2

The Carolina Panthers come off of a short week and a season-opening loss to face the Buccaneers on Thursday night in Week 2. Bold predictions for the Cats.

The Carolina Panthers may have lost in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams but it’s hard to not feel a little optimistic about the effort they showed against the reigning NFC champs. Not only did the Panthers just lose by three points but they showed some impressive things, specifically from Christian McCaffrey and flashes from the defense. Now, they come off a short week into an NFC South matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football.

As Cam Newton and company welcome their division rival to Bank of America Stadium, both teams will be looking for their first victory of the young 2019 season in this Week 2 matchup. The good news for the Panthers, though, is that they looked far more inspiring in their season-opening loss than the Buccaneers did.

Having that in mind, let’s take a look at this matchup for Carolina through the lens of making five bold predictions for the Panthers on Thursday Night Football.

5. McCoy gets a sack against his former team

It seemed that Gerald McCoy was being shown the door in Tampa Bay from the moment that head coach Bruce Arians arrived on sight. Eventually, that turned out to be the case as No. 93 was released this offseason. To add insult to injury, the Bucs then signed Ndamukong Suh and gave him McCoy’s old number, something that McCoy didn’t take kindly to as he eventually signed with the rival Panthers.

Now in his first matchup against the team that he spent every NFL season in his career with up until now, there’s no question that the veteran defensive tackle will be motivated. Given the pressure that Ron Rivera‘s defense will aim to dial up to try and force bad decisions from Jameis Winston, expect an amped-up McCoy to find his way to the quarterback and take him down at least once in primetime.