McCaffrey just keeps scoring touchdowns

L ON D ON» The way the Carolina defense kept taking the ball away, Christian McCaffrey and the Panthers offense didn’t have a whole lot of work to do.

Valor Christian alum McCaffrey scored two touchdowns and Carolina turned five interceptions by Jameis Winston into 17 points to give the Panthers their fourth straight victory, 37-26 over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

“Those guys are unbelievable,” McCaffrey said of his defense. “I felt like every single time they were on offense our defense had a chance to get a turnover or a sack. Our D-line is pretty vicious . ... They did an unbelievable job all day. It’s nice when you have a defense like that.”

After starting the season with two straight losses with hobbled Cam Newton at quarterback, the Panthers (4-2) have been on a roll with Kyle Allen at quarterback thanks to McCaffrey’s big plays and an opportunistic defense that had a franchise record-tying seven takeaways, along with seven sacks on the day.

The Panthers took advantage of 2-4 Tampa Bay’s banged-up line that forced the Bucs to use backups Earl Watford and Josh Wells on the right side to harass Winston all day. They hit him to help force two of the interceptions and forced fumbles on successive plays late in the second quarter, including a strip sack by Vernon Butler that Bruce Irvin recovered.

“When one guy makes a play, guys feel like, ‘Man, I have to make a play, too,’ ” Irvin said. “It’s special when you’re fighting to get sacks out there.”