Panthers 38

Buccaneers 23

CHARLOTTE - The glittering lights of pro Football shone down on the Queen City, and the Carolina Panthers came down hard on the Tampa Bay Bucs to win 38-23 Monday night.

The trucks rolled in, and the lines of traffic from every direction emptied into stadium parking lots and 74,113 fans filed in as if headed for a circus. The first Monday Night Football game in more than two years was ultimately a Football game, not a show, and the Panthers slugged their division counterpart into submission before the largest crowd ever to see a game in Charlotte.

The cheerleaders came dressed in glitter, but the Panthers were in black and blue. While much of America tuned in for Monday night programming, it was a work week for Carolina. The biggest game of the season was also the best, and it came with the entire league watching.

"People remember what you did in December," coach John Fox said. "This was on a big stage."

The collision between the Panthers and Bucs was inevitable. The teams came in atop the NFC South, each at 9-3, and while most everyone understood the carnival atmosphere of the eighth MNF game in franchise history, the Panthers and the Bucs understood how much they disliked each other.

The players had to be separated over and over, including an impressive meeting at halftime as the teams tried to criss-cross the field on the way to the locker rooms. Officials and Fox emerged from the skirmish, pulling players apart as the show took on the quality of a prizefight.

There would be a fight on the second-half kickoff and another one after an on-sides kick attempt late in the game and several that went all but unnoticed by officials or television cameras. At the end, the players shook hands and went their separate ways.

The game was like something out the old NFL days, back before they played on Monday nights, back when every play from the line of scrimmage was a fight in and of itself, back when the ball was thrown only three things could happen and two were bad.

Neither team was around in those days and Charlotte's only connection with the national media was the Amoco radio broadcasts of games out of Washington. But the two division rivals came in fighting for the same ground with players who are sick of seeing each other and with no regard for the glittery trappings of cable television.

Carolina earned a field goal early on, and Tampa Bay roared right back for a field- goal attempt that slammed into an upright. The gritty Bucs eventually tied the score, fell behind by a touchdown at the half then fought back to tie it again midway through the third quarter.

Through it all, the Panthers probed the tough Tampa Bay defense, and the Bucs probed the rugged Carolina defense and the teams played to a virtual standoff through much of the evening.

The defenses seemed to have everything figured out, but a 38-yard touchdown pass from Jake Delhomme to Steve Smith with 8:19 left in the third was something Tampa Bay simply couldn't cover. Delhomme, who threw darts at his receivers and the Bucs defenders, fired an arching bomb to Smith who caught it and dragged his feet at the edge of the end zone to give Carolina a 17-10 lead. The game became a slugfest at that point.

Tampa Bay started still another slow drive into the heart of the Panthers defense, converting a fourth-down on a fullback plunge near midfield before uncorking a deep pass to Antonio Bryant that unleashed more emotions and flags that carried into the next play as teams were continuously admonished and penalized for outbursts, and shoves and late hits.

Cadillac Williams capped the Tampa Bay drive with a running touchdown and an old-school spike of a Football that landed in the seats.

In the end, Carolina went old school itself, grinding out three fourth-quarter touchdowns against a Tampa Bay defense tired of fighting. The offensive line began opening gaping holes and fullback Brad Hoover began blowing linebackers out of running lanes and De'Angelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart began gashing the Bucs.

Both would finished with more than 100 yards rushing, and each scored two touchdowns.

And still, the Panthers had to deal with the Tampa Bay offense and Bryant, the one player they couldn't control, almost to the very end. Not until a blocked extra point with 2:29 left and then a recovery of the ensuing on-sides kick did the Panthers force the Bucs to submit.

Carolina controls its destiny from here on out as the playoffs near and the circus effect fades and the winter games begin. Monday night's game began after the commissioner of the NFL gave an impromptu state-of-the-game speech in the press box and declared all is well with the league.

It's not of course, and sometimes the carnival sideshows and the glitter and the bright lights block out the rough stuff. But usually it's just Football, and some teams seem better equipped to play it than others. This might be one of those years for the Panthers.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin @news-record.com