Tampa Bay prediction

It seems kind of fitting that this is the week Van Halen came to town, because the Panthers are getting a first-hand look at what happens when you try to do without your lead singer.
The Panthers offense with QB David Carr at the helm might not sink to Gary Cherone levels, but it could end up more like what happened to the band when Sammy Hagar tried to replace David Lee Roth.
It might be close, it might look and sound the same, but it could easily lack the soul and fire that defined them otherwise.
Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith have a chemistry, one knows the other’s moves before they happen. They burn hot, and they’ll yell at each other from time to time. But when they’re together, they’re really together, and the results are amazing. (Just as Roth and Eddie Van Halen were Thursday.)
Carr’s cooler than Delhomme, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. After all, Keary Colbert’s cooler than Steve Smith, so which would you rather have?
All of this, of course, ignores the fact that Tampa Bay’s coming to town.
And you know what, the Bucs are pretty good. Their getting-younger defense is playing well, they can run the ball, and they’ve got a quarterback who has given the Panthers fits in the past.
Put that together with the fact the game’s in Charlotte, and I’ll just give you “Fair Warning.”
This one’s going to look a lot more like “5150,” than any of the good stuff you remember.
Prediction: Buccaneers 17, Panthers 12