The Carolina Panthers have won three of their past seven games, matching their win total for the 25 games before that.

After the Panthers defeated New Orleans 23-22 on Nov. 3, the Saints fired coach Dennis Allen the next day. Carolina’s 20-17 overtime victory against New York on Nov. 10 was followed by the benching of Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. Now he’s with the Minnesota Vikings. On Sunday, the Panthers killed the Arizona Cardinals’ playoff hopes with a 36-30 overtime victory.

The consequences of losing to Carolina have spawned a nickname for Panthers quarterback Bryce Young – the Carolina Reaper.

“That’s my first time hearing it,” Young said this week when asked about the nickname. “… Reaper is a little evil. I don’t know. I try not to be evil, I guess. I don’t know how to feel, but that’s not really up to me, I guess.”

Reaper might sound “a little evil” to Young, but it beats what he was being called before the Panthers’ improved play in the second half of the 2024 season – bust.

Carolina traded into the No. 1 position to select the Alabama All-American in the 2023 NFL Draft. In his rookie season, the Panthers won two games, and of the league’s 32 regular quarterbacks, Young posted the lowest passing-efficiency rating for the season.

Two games into the 2024 campaign, Carolina benched Young for veteran Andy Dalton.

An auto accident sent Dalton to the sideline with a thumb injury after five games, and Young has re-established himself as the Panthers’ No. 1 QB over the past eight games, including a 26-23 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 1. Carolina lost a fumble in the extra period to set up the Bucs’ game-ending field goal.

The Panthers play Tampa Bay again on Sunday, and while Young and Carolina cannot kill the Buccaneers’ playoff chances, they can leave the postseason hopes on death’s door.

With two weeks remaining in the regular season, Tampa Bay and the Atlanta Falcons are tied for the lead in the NFC South at 8-7. Because the Falcons swept the season series with the Bucs, Tampa Bay needs one more victory in the last two weeks than Atlanta to earn the division title and the accompanying spot in the NFC playoffs.

The Buccaneers also could make the playoffs as a wild-card qualifier if they win their two remaining games and the Washington Commanders lose both of theirs.

In the latter case, a loss to Carolina would block that avenue to the postseason. On the other hand, Tampa Bay could be counting on the Carolina Reaper on the final Sunday of the regular season, when the Panthers play the Falcons.

“There was stuff that we were able to do that we have to now figure out again,” Young said of the rematch with the Buccaneers. “It’s a whole new game. That doesn’t entail us anything. We have a ton of respect for them. They’re a winning team. They know what it takes to win, so we know it’s going to take everything. You try to build off the stuff you did positive the week before. Obviously, they know the same thing, too. We’re all watching the same film. And then figure out ways we still have to elevate and do better.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t get it done, so we know it’s going to take everything.”

In the first 20 games of Young’s career, he had 11 touchdown passes, 13 interceptions and a 71.0 passing-efficiency rating while averaging 5.36 yards gained on 592 passes.

In the past eight games, Young had 10 touchdown passes, six interceptions and an 83.0 passing-efficiency rating while averaging 6.42 yards gained on 257 passes.

“We’re definitely confident,” Young said. “We have confidence in each other. But that confidence doesn’t give us any points on Sunday. We’re confident in what we can do, but we have to earn the right to do it again.

“We have a ton of respect for the Bucs. They’re a really good unit on defense. We have to be at our best. We know what we’re capable of. But we have to earn the right to be able to perform and execute that on Sunday.”

The Panthers and Buccaneers kick off at noon CST Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.