Christian McCaffrey scored two more touchdowns and showed why he's getting into the MVP conversation as the Carolina Panthers withstood a late Tampa Bay fightback to beat the Buccaneers 37-26 in London.
The second NFL International Series game of the season to be staged at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium had a bit of everything with seven touchdowns, eight turnovers and even a rarely-seen free kick field goal attempt at the stroke of half time.
McCaffrey and Curtis Samuel both scored twice when helping build a 24-point lead for Carolina before Jameis Winston almost made up for a host of errors as he led his team to two late touchdowns, with two-point conversions, to make the Panthers see out a difficult ending.
Undrafted QB Kyle Allen continues his winning run as Panthers starter when filling in for the injury Cam Newton - throwing for 227 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions, as he made throws when he needed to but also let McCaffrey, and the Panthers defence, do their things.
🏃♂️ We did say Christian McCaffrey could be the best RB in the @NFL
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) October 13, 2019
👏 This TD run says it all @run__cmc #NFLUK | #CARvsTB | #NFLLondonGames pic.twitter.com/MrsHEV02C1
Winston had made a stunning start to the season but was relentlessly bothered by the Panthers defence, who sacked him seven times and also picked off five interceptions in what was a woeful outing for the Bucs quarterback.
The Bucs arrived later than the Panthers, flying into London only on Friday, and the jet-lag may have showed itself in Winston's decision-making, which was back to the kind of poor decisions that has plagued him over the last few years.
Winston and the Bucs did pile up a lot of yards through the air - 400 of them to be exact with 151 going to emerging start receiver Chris Godwin - but it led to just one receiving touchdown to tight end Cameron Brate.
The win was a fourth straight success for Carolina as they continued to respond to a poor start by moving on to 4-2, while NFC South rivals Tampa Bay slipped to 2-4 in a strange season that has seen them beat the powerful LA Rams but lose to the lowly New York Giants.
It also capped an emotional return to London for Carolina Panthers defender Efe Obada who has made a name for himself in the NFL after coming through a nightmare childhood.
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