DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart were held to 39 yards on 17 carries, and the Panthers finished with just 40 yards as a team.

The Panthers tried repeatedly to get the running game going, but with little success.

"The linebackers are quick on their feet and they were quick getting to the gaps and they closed up the running game," Stewart said.

After the Bucs blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown, the Panthers found themselves in a 7-0 hole early on. Two drives later, Jake Delhomme threw an interception deep in Carolina territory and the Bucs capitalized with another touchdown.

"We have to eliminate turnovers. We didn't give our defense much of a shot from an offensive standpoint," said Williams. "Special teams did not help us out. I got to give it to the Bucs. They did a great job of playing us today."

"It was pretty much pathetic, let's be honest," said Delhomme, who threw three interceptions and finished with a quarterback rating of 38.6. "It didn't start out good and obviously it didn't get any better."

Wide receiver Steve Smith was Carolina's only offensive skill position player who did anything (six receptions for 112 yards), but even he dropped a touchdown and fell down after catching a 48-yarder with nobody in front of him.

"You have a good game last week. You dominate defensively, offensively, you run the ball, and pass the ball and then just come in here and basically lay an egg," Smith said. "A loss is always a letdown. With the kind of success we've had and we showed so early the way we had it. You know it's a letdown, you can't take away that they are a good team. A team like this, you can't start 14 down or seven in the hole, you just can't do that. You know you put yourself in a position where you have to do things you necessarily don't want to do, and that's what happened."