The Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffers devastating injuries to some of their key personnel, last week during their Monday night game, against Baltimore.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers now have a 4-3 record and face the Atlanta Falcons, also 4-3 on a short week. The two NFC South teams play Sunday at 1:00 pm eat, televised on Fox. This game should have major postseason repercussions. Both teams currently sit with 4-3 records. A win gives the Atlanta the lead in the division. It also gives the Falcons the head-to-head tiebreaker after beating Tampa in overtime in Week 5.
On Monday Night Football, Chris Godwin suffered a dislocated left ankle/broken ankle on “Monday Night Football” with 1:04 on the game, down 10 points. Godwin Likely out-for the-year. Godwin caught a pass over the middle and his leg was trapped underneath him by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith. Godwin didn’t get up.
ESPN announcer, Joe Buck, who was covering Monday night’s game with Troy Aikman let everyone know how serious the injury was when he said ESPN would not show the replay of Godwin’s injury:.
“I’m told by our production truck we are not going to show the replay,”
Buck then went on to call the injury “ugly”. While filming Godwin on the field suffering from his injury, the ESPN broadcast audio picked him up yelling and swearing, a reaction which was perfectly understandable and totally expected given the gruesomeness of the injury. Godwin was put on the injury cart, but not before an air cast on his left leg. Placement of the air cast, on Godwin’s lower left leg, indicated a serious unstable injury.
Godwin’s Surgery Will Keep Him Out Till After the Bucs Bye
After the game, Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles told reporters that Godwin is believed to have suffered a dislocated ankle. In the post game press conference Buccaneers head coach Tod Bowls stated: “It doesn’t look good,”
The following day, Tuesday, October 22, 2024, the injury was officially diagnosed as a dislocated ankle requiring surgery.. On Wednesday, Godwin underwent that surgery. According to NFL insider, Ian Rapoport:
“Bucs WR Chris Godwin is having surgery today to repair his dislocated ankle. Going into it, tests were as good as they could’ve been,
While there is an outside possibility Godwin return before the end of the season, it’s not likely.
Many of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers players are trying to “buck up” this week following Godwin’s injury. The asked about what Godwin said in the locker room after his injury, Buccaneers wide receiver, Jalen McMiillan said
”He just told us that he believes in us…And I believe in us as well.”
Evans’ Nagging Hamstring Injury is Hurting More than Just Him
The team will also be without Mike Evans, who aggravated a previous hamstring injury, in the second quarter against which is expected to prevent him from playing until at least until after the Buccaneers Week 11 bye.
Evans and Godwin are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise players. They are the team’s all-time leaders in receiving yards. Godwin was off to what could have been a career best year.
Godwin was tied for third in touchdowns with 5 at the end of week 7, leading the league in receptions with 50. Godwin’s 576 receiving yards ranked him second in the NFL, behind only Ja’Marr Chase who has logged 620 reception yards.
Mike Evans had 26 receptions for 235 yards, 6 touchdowns averaging 12.9 yards per catch after the the San Francisco 49ers game. . Todd Bowles confirmed this past Tuesday that Evans will most likely be out through the Buccaneers bye in week 11. The team definitely has taken a hit mentally as some teammates have expressed. As outside linebacker Joe Tyron-Shoyinka said:
“Those guys, we love them…and it hurts so much to see them go down — especially the fashion they did.”
Jalen McMillan said:
“Chris is the focal point, he’s a leader, he’s somebody that I kind of lean on when it comes to maneuvering in the league and being a rookie. So, you know, it sucked, but we have to pick up where we left off. At the end of the day, them being absent shouldn’t make our offense worse, it should stay the same. We just want to continue to improve and be better every week for those guys as well.”
Quarterback Baker Mayfield will feel the effects of losing Evans and Godwin immediately. As Mayfield said:
“I mean it obviously sucks…There’s no way around that.”
After Mayfield’s performance in Monday’s game, he was leading the NFL in touchdown passes with 18. His next closest competitors are, Lamar Jackson and Jordan Love, with 15 touchdowns apiece. Mayfield commented:
”You don’t want anybody to get hurt, but you should want to play for those guys…You know, you should want to bridge this gap in the meantime until we get Mike back as well, but yeah, you should want to play for these guys. They meant a lot to this team.”
Who Can The Buccaneers Turn To for Receptions?
On the offensive, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers now need more out of Jalen McMillan, who excelled during training camp but missed two games with a hamstring injury and not has performed to his potential. On the bright side He’s been catching 120 passes a day after practice and has been working to build a connection with Mayfield.
”I had a really good conversation with Jalen, I think it was on Sunday, and just said, ‘Hey, this is the week,'”
Offensive coordinator Liam Coen said he spoke to McMillian.
“We talked about it, ‘This is the week that you have to really kind of emerge and I trust you.'”
Second-year receivers Trey Palmer and Sterling Shepard, have chemistry with Mayfield from their collegiate days at Oklahoma. Shepard’s playing time and targeting will definitely increase given that he already played 44.9% of the offensive snaps in Week 7.
”I’ll be extremely confident in those guys…Obviously, I had rapport with Trey going back to last year, Sterling for years, obviously, and Jalen all of offseason and training camp. I expect those guys to have success and play really well throughout the week. … We expect everybody to step up in a big way.”
Coach Todd Bowls said of the replacement receivers:
“For us right now, we’re excited to see our young guys play…We had to play without some defensive guys this year, now we have to play without some offensive guys. We fared pretty well. We think we’ll fare pretty well with these guys.”
The Buccaneers Epitaph?
While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are vying for a fourth straight division title and fifth straight postseason appearance, its now an up hill battle, particularly without Godwin and Evans. It doesn’t get any easier in Week 9 when the Buccaneers go on the road to face the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs.
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