CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Julius Peppers and Keary Colbert had their best games. Martin Gramatica had his worst, in another bizarre meeting between the Carolina Panthers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – the NFC’s newest rivalry.

Colbert caught a 40-yard touchdown pass, his second of the game, with 20 seconds to play Sunday to lift Carolina to a 21-14 victory over the Bucs, the Panthers’ third straight win.

The Panthers (4-7) reacted as if they had just won the Super Bowl, wildly celebrating in the end zone. That’s because no victory is sweeter than one against the hated Bucs (4-7), and this one put Carolina on the fringe of the NFC wild-card chase.

They did it behind Colbert, a rookie receiver, who had 72 yards on three catches – two of them were touchdowns. In addition to the game-winner, Colbert caught a 24-yard TD pass from Jake Delhomme on Carolina’s opening drive.

Then there was Peppers, who ran an interception back 46 yards for a score, blocked a field goal and had a sack to continue the tear he’s been on the past four games. After starting the year with two sacks through seven games, Peppers now has seven sacks in the past four weeks.

It’s no coincidence his play has improved at the same time as the Panthers, who are slowly climbing out of a 1-7 hole after a Super Bowl appearance last year.

The Bucs also had been on a slow climb after an 0-4 start to the season. Tampa Bay has Gramatica to blame for halting the rise.

Gramatica missed all three of his field goal attempts, including a 37-yarder with 1:48 to play that would have broken a 14-14 tie. The ball sailed wide left, just like the 39-yarder he missed in the first quarter.

There was also a 26-yard miss that Peppers got a hand on.

It was all too reminiscent for Gramatica, who had three kicks blocked by Carolina last season, including a potential game-winning extra point attempt at the end of regulation in a game the Panthers went on to win in overtime.

Carolina had its own kicking woes.

Jeff Chandler, filling in for the injured John Kasay, nearly mirrored Gramatica by missing one field goal and having a second one blocked.

Brian Griese threw for a season-high 347 yards and two touchdowns for the Bucs. Both scores came on shovel passes to Michael Pittman, who had eight catches for 134 yards and touchdown receptions of 6 and 8 yards.

One pass Griese wished he could have back was a floater intended for Ken Dilger that Peppers saw coming from a mile away. He stepped in front of the ball at least five yards ahead of Dilger, and sprinted into the end zone to give Carolina a 14-7 lead in the third quarter.

AP-ES-11-28-04 1637EST