Good Game for Collins, Better One for Weldon

Kerry Collins accomplished almost everything he hoped for Sunday. Casey Weldon far exceeded his own expectations.

“I learned probably more today than my whole career,” Weldon said after he replaced injured Tampa Bay quarterback Trent Dilfer and led the Buccaneers to a 20-13 victory over the expansion Carolina Panthers before 50,076.

Collins, the Panthers’ first draft choice, made his first start at quarterback, and completed 18 of 32 passes for 233 yards. He had one scoring pass and was intercepted once, but it wasn’t enough to keep the miscue-plagued Panthers from dropping to 0-4.

“I felt confident out there, and I think I did a lot of things right for my first time out,” he said. “But the ultimate goal was to win the game.”

The Panthers, who had seven turnovers in losing to St. Louis in their last game, turned it over four times inside the Tampa Bay 35-yard line.

The Buccaneers (3-2) did not wrap it up until Toddrick McIntosh pressured Collins into dumping off an incomplete pass on fourth down from the Tampa Bay 22-yard line with 1:05 to play.

Dilfer left the game late in the second quarter because of a mild concussion. He spent the second half watching from the sidelines as Weldon, getting the first extensive action of his four-year career, completed eight of 20 passes for 150 yards.

While Collins took almost every snap in two weeks of practice leading up to Sunday’s game, Weldon was almost the exact opposite. Weldon, who has never started an NFL game and threw only 20 passes before Sunday, got almost no time under center in the Buccaneers’ workouts.

“Casey just played beautifully,” Tampa Bay Coach Sam Wyche said. “I’ll bet he didn’t have 10 practice snaps all week long.”

Said Weldon: “That was the tough part, but the guys on the line helped me out, and I learned a lot.”