Tampa Bay Buccaneers DVOA, Stats, & NFL Rankings

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans caught eight of his nine targets for 97 yards and two scores during their demanding victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon. Evans did most of his damage in the first half by scoring twice. He caught his first score on a two-yard pass in the opening frame and his second score on a one-yard pass in the second quarter. His longest reception of the day went for 34 yards. His receptions, targets, and yardage total paced all Tampa wideouts and only tied for the most receiving scores with rookie Jalen McMillan. Since Week 13, Evans has found the end zone five times in five contests. During this stretch, he has tallied at least 90 yards in three of the five games. He will look to stay hot next weekend against a struggling New Orleans secondary.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield went 27-for-32 with 359 yards and five scores in their blowout victory over the Carolina Panthers. Mayfield connected with his top wideout Mike Evans twice, both times in the red zone. He also found rookie wide receiver, Jalen McMillan for two scores, once from 10 yards out and the other time from 16 yards out. His fifth passing score was caught by tight end Payne Durham. Since Week 14, Mayfield has thrown at least two passing scores in each contest and tallied at least three in three of them. Over this span he has tallied at least 280.0 passing yards in each game. Mayfield will look to cap off the best season of his career with a Week 18 matchup against the New Orleans Saints as the Buccaneers inch towards a playoff berth.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Chase McLaughlin is coming off a somewhat quiet, but clean outing against the Dallas Cowboys last week. McLaughlin connected on all three of his extra point attempts and his lone field goal in the loss. McLaughlin is now 8-of-9 on field goal attempts over his last four games. He'll now head into a game against the Carolina Panthers in Week 17. McLaughlin knocked down four field goals last time these two teams played in Week 13. The assumption is that this game will be a high-scoring affair, which makes McLaughlin a viable kicking choice for Week 17.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Payne Durham saw an expanded role last week with Cade Otton (knee) sidelined. That is likely to happen again with Otton remaining on the sideline for the Week 17 matchup against the Carolina Panthers. Last week, Durham hauled in five of his seven targets for 29 yards in the loss. The 24-year-old played 93 percent of the offensive snaps and did a fine job as the sole passing-catching option at tight end. Despite his success, Durham is a risky streaming option for this weekend. There is no guarantee he'll get seven targets again, so fantasy managers should probably look elsewhere for help. At best, Durham is a desperation deep league choice for Week 17.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Trey Palmer has moved into the third wideout role heading into the Week 17 matchup against the Carolina Panthers. The Bucs are without Sterling Shepard (foot, hamstring) for Sunday's game, which means Palmer should get more looks. Palmer hauled in two of his four targets for 31 yards during last week's loss to the Dallas Cowboys. A majority of his playing time came after Shepard exited the contest, so it might've been a bigger night if he had played the whole game. Regardless, it's going to be tough to trust Palmer for fantasy purposes. He hasn't done much this season and isn't guaranteed a ton of targets with Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan both healthy. Possibly, Palmer could offer desperation flex value in deep leagues for Week 17.