Buccaneers

Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles told reporters he wasn’t surprised that the Saints were able to come out on top Sunday, as the two division rivals usually have a tough matchup.

“It’s a division game; they always play us tough,” Bowles said, via the team’s website. “I said that all week. We don’t look at records. When we play division games they know us and we know them. We had plenty of chances to make plays, coaching-wise offensively, defensively and special teams, definitely player-wise offense, defense and special teams. We had situations come up where we didn’t make any plays. We could have made better calls. There’s a myriad of things that could have happened that we lost this ballgame. It doesn’t matter whether the team was 12-0 or 0-12. It’s the NFL; you’ve got to show up and play and make plays or the other team is going to beat you.”

• Buccaneers first-round WR Emeka Egbuka after his dropped go-ahead touchdown pass in Week 14’s loss to the Saints: “You know, I can’t help but feel I let them down today. I’m on this team for one reason, and it’s to catch the ball.” (Rick Stroud)
• Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving was fined $6,349 for a violent gesture, and QB Baker Mayfield was fined $14,491 for a violent gesture.

Panthers

One year ago today, Panthers RB Jonathon Brooks tore his ACL for a second time on a non-contact play against the Eagles. He is still young and hoping for a return in Carolina for the 2026 season despite the brutal injuries.

“Honestly, it just makes me see how far I’ve come,” Brooks told Joe Person of The Athletic. “I feel pretty much almost 100 percent again. From the moment it happened, I knew that God had a plan. I knew that it was all gonna be OK and I was gonna be right back to where I was.”

“I had no business even trying to go outside. My read was there,” Brooks said of the play on which he was injured. “My read was supposed to keep me inside. I chased what we call fool’s gold and I was gonna try to outrun the DB. But it was just the wrong read.”

“I want to be back for OTAs so I can get back on that football field and get back to running the plays full speed, being in a team setting. Just so whenever we do hit (training) camp, I can hit the ground running and ultimately, just prove myself,” Brooks concluded. “I feel like I haven’t gotten that chance in the league to prove myself. And that’s OK. It’s a part of God’s plan. And I know that when I get out there, I trust in myself, trust in my teammates, trust in God that I’ll be able to get it done.”

• Panthers DE Thomas Incoom was fined $5,722 for a late hit, and S Lathan Ransom was fined $5,996 for using the helmet.
• Panthers HC Dave Canales said CB Jaycee Horn and LB Claudin Cherelus are “trending in the right direction” to play this week. (Darin Gantt)
• Canales also said they won’t open RG Robert Hunt‘s practice window this week, but they could before the year ends. (Gantt)

Saints

The Saints won their third game of the season and second since second-round QB Tyler Shough took over as the starter. New Orleans HC Kellen Moore praised Shough’s resiliency, specifically for getting a road win against a playoff contender in some less-than-ideal conditions.

“These are great opportunities for him to learn, playing on the road against a really good opponent,” Moore said, via ESPN’s Katherine Terrell. “This opponent’s going to be battling all the way to the end, and then the weather obviously became a little bit of a factor, and so we had to face that. So yeah, I thought his resiliency was really special.”

Saints LB Demario Davis said Shough has the “it” factor and explained the rookie’s ability to make something happen in big spots when they needed it most. 

“It’s that savviness to make heads-up plays … to have that level of ice in your veins to make plays when plays kind of could be dead, in essence,” Davis said. “To save a play, to extend a play, to make big runs in big moments, big third downs, to be able to turn into that pocket passer that can read the defense quick and get the ball out. … It’s been great to see him make those plays, and we need him to continue make those.”