NFC Notes: Dennis Allen, Sean Tucker, Buccaneers, Panthers, Saints

Buccaneers

With the injury to RB Rachaad White, Buccaneers RB Sean Tucker saw more opportunities that led to 192 total yards and two touchdowns in Week 6. Tucker reflected on his breakout game where everything came easy.

“Just whatever I got, I wanted to take advantage of it,” Tucker said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “I wasn’t really worried about how many touches I would get. I just wanted to play great out there.”

• Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles on Tucker’s breakout game: “It’s definitely worthy of him making it a three-headed monster.” (Greg Auman)

Panthers

Carolina has allowed over 30 points in three straight contests after getting run over by the Falcons in Week 6. Panthers S Nick Scott feels embarrassed by their performance and knows they can’t let teams build confidence in the trenches going forward.

“I think we’ve got the right guys in the huddle. But it’s definitely demoralizing. It’s a little embarrassing,” Scott said, via Joe Person of The Athletic. “I don’t think it affected how we approached that drive. But more so, it gives them momentum. They’re hyped on the sideline. Their guys are firing off the ball even more now. So you can’t ever give a team that type of momentum or bravado in a situation like that. And unfortunately, that’s what we did.”

Panthers HC Dave Canales believes they need to return to the fundamentals to turn things around on that side of the ball.

“We’ve gotta play team defense and stop the plays that are there to stop. I truly believe that. Ejiro believes it,” Canales added. “We’re just gonna attack the fundamentals and the basics because that’s what we’ve got. If we can just make the story as simple as that. Can we get better at our fundamentals?”

• Panthers CB Jaycee Horn was fined $11,817 for Unnecessary Roughness (striking/kicking/kneeing), LB D.J. Johnson was fined $6,948 for Unnecessary Roughness (late hit), and TE Tommy Tremble was fined $17,083 for Unnecessary Roughness (use of the helmet) in Week 5.

Saints

With the injury to QB Derek Carr, Saints fifth-round QB Spencer Rattler made his NFL debut against the Buccaneers in Week 6. New Orleans HC Dennis Allen reviewed Rattler’s solid debut where he felt the rest of the offense could’ve performed better.

“Overall, I thought he did some good things,” Allen said, via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “There were some encouraging things, some things he’s going to learn from, from a mistake standpoint on his part. I don’t think we did enough around him to help him. It was hard for us to be able to run the football.”

“I thought they really won the interior part of the line of scrimmage, really probably on both sides of the ball on the line of scrimmage. I thought he did some things really well early in the game, in particular the first half. In the second half, it kind of went on. I thought they started pressuring him a little bit more. We weren’t able to be as good in protection, which made it a little more challenging for him.”

• Allen on their biggest problems recently: “I think execution has been a big issue. We haven’t executed as well as we need to. And tackling has been an issue. Something we have to figure out, and we have to figure it out in a hurry.” (Nick Underhill)
• Allen also feels his team ran out of energy against the Buccaneers: “I thought somewhere there in the late third quarter, fourth quarter, we got worn down in there. … I don’t question effort with our guys.” (Underhill)
• Underhill adds RB Kendre Miller is expected to play in Week 7.