Carolina Panthers 37-26 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Kyle Allen leads Panthers to fourth straight win
- Published
NFL highlights: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-37 Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers maintained their fine form under quarterback Kyle Allen by beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 37-26 in the second NFL game at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Two Christian McCaffrey touchdowns put Carolina 17-7 ahead at half-time.
And Curtis Samuel added two more in the third quarter before the Panthers held off a late fightback by Tampa Bay.
Carolina are now 4-2 after their fourth straight win since back-up Allen replaced the injured Cameron Newton.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino and chairman Daniel Levy were among a crowd of 60,087 for the second of four games during this year's London series and Carolina named defensive end Efe Obada, who was raised in the English capital, an honorary captain for the day.
The Panthers have not lost since their week two defeat by the Buccaneers and they were immediately on top, claiming an interception from Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston from the game's first play.
Joey Slye made him pay moments later by kicking a 49-yard field goal before in-form running back McCaffrey reached over to cap a 99-yard drive with the opening touchdown.
Tampa Bay replied with Ronald Jones jinking into the end zone from five yards, but Allen then found McCaffrey and he cut inside to race past three Buccaneers and claim a 25-yard touchdown.
McCaffrey became the first player to score rushing and receiving touchdowns in the same London game - only for team-mate Samuel to repeat the feat in the third quarter, either side of a Matt Gay field goal.
McCaffrey became the first player to score rushing and receiving touchdowns in the same London game - and Samuel repeated the feat in the third quarter
Firstly Samuel ran into the corner from eight yards after a Luke Kuechly interception, then the wide receiver pulled off a superb catch for a 13-yard touchdown.
Trailing 34-10 going into the last quarter, the Buccaneers kept the game alive with touchdowns from Cameron Brate and Dare Ogunbowale, both followed by two-point conversions.
But Winston was intercepted on Tampa Bay's last two drives - making it seven turnovers for the day - as his side slipped to 2-4. Allen, though, is the first undrafted quarterback to win on his first five career starts since Kurt Warner with the St Louis Rams in 1999.
Match highlights will be shown on BBC One on Sunday at 23:40-00:40 BST (00:10-01:10, BBC One Wales; 00:25-01:25, BBC One Scotland). The last two games of the London series - Cincinnati Bengals v LA Rams (Sunday, 27 October) and Houston Texans v Jacksonville Jaguars (Sunday, 3 November) - will be shown live from Wembley on BBC Two.
