Johnson Added To Walking Wounded

August 19th, 2014

Bucs DE Michael Johnson is among the Bucs’ walking wounded Lovie Smith revealed.

The Bucs defense is starting to resemble an infirmary with so many players hurt or fighting through an injury of some sort.

It is worrisome, especially now that the prized jewel of the Bucs free agent spending spree this spring, defensive end Michael Johnson, has been felled.

Bucs coach Lovie Smith noted that Johnson did not practice today as he has a bruised knee.

Now before Bucs fans start running into traffic in panic, Lovie stated Johnson should be good to go for Saturday’s third preseason game at Buffalo.

Also, Lovie noted that defensive end Steven Means is recovering quicker than expected from his upper-leg/groin injury. He has not been ruled out for Saturday.

In what may be no more than an oddity in timing, Lovie said there are serious position battles still brewing and that guys who are hurt need to be on the field as they are giving up reps to others who may bump them off the final 53-man roster.

As a follow-up to his statement about players needing to be on the field, Lovie was asked about the status of defensive lineman Da’Quan Bowers, who is hampered by a groin injury. Lovie said Bowers is not yet ready to practice.

43 Responses to “Johnson Added To Walking Wounded”

  1. Tom Edrington Says:

    The “Hard To Fathom” Truth is that this team could go down the drain to the oblivion of a 6-10 season with just a few injuries.

    That would be a shame.

    They will need to get lucky but you hate like all get-out that that is the case.

  2. DallasBuc Says:

    Oh Johnson out with injury?…not sure how one would notice since he is completely invisible when he is perfectly healthy! Funny how little Cincy tried to retain his services. More evidence of quantity over quality for the new regime.

  3. Rob Says:

    “The “Hard To Fathom” Truth is that this team could go down the drain to the oblivion of a 6-10 season with just a few injuries.”

    Down the drain? 6-10 would be an improvement!

  4. jb Says:

    I just can’t see Mike Jenkins making this roster when he hasn’t played a down in training camp, and I just hope Johnson can do more than he’s showed so far, which is absolutely nothing.

  5. Brandon Says:

    DallasBuc Says:
    August 19th, 2014 at 4:37 pm
    Oh Johnson out with injury?…not sure how one would notice since he is completely invisible when he is perfectly healthy! Funny how little Cincy tried to retain his services. More evidence of quantity over quality for the new regime.

    ==============

    They franchised him the season before and they re-signed Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap for lesser per year deals that the one year franchise offer for Johnson. Then this season they had to have cap money because they knew they had to spend big to keep Andy Dalton. If Johnson had re-signed with Cincy, for the same amount we gave him, they COULDN’T have re-signed their starting QB.

    Also, Cincy drafted freak of nature, DE Margus Hunt in the 3rd round last year in the hopes that he could develop for a season then take over for Johnson when they knew they wouldn’t BE ABLE to re-sign Johnson.

  6. DB55 Says:

    Lovie would have been off under promising and over delivering. He should have set the expectation that this a rebuilding year, will take at least 2 years to get where we want to be. This way we as fans could feel better about all the production or lack there of. But what do I know?

  7. Kevin#1 Says:

    As a die hard bucs fan and Tampa native I want to see this team have a good year. We have waited long enough and it’s time to see some good football played. I think this team has a solid foundation and is headed in the right direction. With that said, I will not be upset if this season does not pan out to and 8-8 year. Everything is new and it is all happening very fast. Next year I will be pretty upset if we are not pushing for the playoffs. Don’t get me wrong it could happen this season and I’d love to see it, but I won’t be very disappointed as I know there will be some growing pains the way this roster was turned over and the coaching staff overhauled. This weekend will give us a good idea of where we are at…

  8. unbelievable Says:

    I’m cracking a cold one, here’s to hoping it’s not serious.

    A few more injuries and this team is going to have a very rough year.

  9. SAMCRO Says:

    @jb

    To say he hasn’t done absolutely nothing is slightly over exaggerated!

    Woo Hoo! ….He did have a fumble recovery, Man

    ….caused by who other than his teammate GMC, who has had 4 unassisted tackles, one sack, the caused fumble in virtually the same amount time on the field.

    Now in Johnson’s defense, he did go up against LT Fat Albert while McCoy played over rookie RG Thomas, but in the grand scheme of things Johnson shouldn’t be owned on every single play. Granted, he has only played somewhere around 3 quarters of football but I’m with you jb and everyone else who thinks we need to see “some” results.. or this is only going to grow legs, and in a real hurry.

  10. DallasBuc Says:

    Brandon- not sure if you were trying to make my point for me but he is not worth what WE paid him and Cincy drafted his replacement. Leave it up to us to overpay for an unproductive or under-productive player. That’s the story of our offseason.

  11. Tom Edrington Says:

    @Rob says:

    It’s sad, but you’re right, the bar is set pretty low these days, isn’t it?

  12. Harry Says:

    “…Lovie said Bowers is not yet ready to practice…”

    Cheeseburger “is not yet ready to practice” for going on 4 years now.

  13. Buccos Says:

    @dallasbuc You are a douche. Why don’t you follow the Cowboys if you can’t get excited about our team. I’m really sick of your posts. Loser!

  14. Martinii Says:

    It is often not the high priced, big name , high draft pick that we idealize and worship that impact the outcome of our season. It is the eighth member of the practice squard, the so called camp meat, or the guy driving a beer truck that is the true guts of a football team.

  15. willie.D Says:

    good thing we draft at all those offensive players to take these players places

  16. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    @ Kevin 1

    You are oh so right……lets be realistic…..hopeful yes…but it should take a year to get things really rolling.
    As for some of these injuries, probably including Johnson….most except Sims are precautionary. There is no way we play players who have even the slightest injury in preseason. That could spell disaster. The good news is we haven’t lost anyone but Sims to this point and although he is important, he may not be crucial.
    Relax….we still have some cap space and I suspect we will add a couple of players.

  17. DallasBuc Says:

    Hey Buccos…adding name calling your complement of well thought out posts! I left a detailed response to your whiny post yesterday that you might want to check out… In any case, I’m a Buc fan all the way like it or not! Btw, your little intolerant temper tantrums are enormously entertaining. Keep em coming tough guy!

  18. DallasBuc Says:

    Buccos…here’s the link in case you get lost!
    https://www.joebucsfan.com/?p=118721#comments

  19. Louis Friend Says:

    Nah, he’s right. You are a whiny douche. That’s cool though, plenty of room in Buc land for all sorts of people.

  20. ToesOnTheLine Says:

    Well at least we now know it’s not the ‘torture test gauntlets’ or whatever nonsense that causes an abnormally high number of Bucs players to get injured. New coach similar results on the injury front…either it’s a violent game and injuries happen or it’s something in the water 🙂

  21. Buc the Haters Says:

    Admit it, Dallasbuc, I’m actually slightly more tolerable for u than buccos…. Anyway, maybe this Johnson injury will often the door for someone else to get involved in the rotation more frequently. Does anyone know what with Chaz Sutton? I haven’t seen the 2nd halves. That dude was a flash of lightning around the RT in practice

  22. BigMacAttack Says:

    Johnson got hurt early in the game. He was slow moving after the play but shook it off and kept going. He was moving slower after that but hung in hard. The guy is a trooper for that, but he was really hurt and I’m surprised it wasn’t a torn ligament or something worse from watching the play.

  23. BigMacAttack Says:

    I hope they aren’t hiding the severity of it.

  24. Buc the Haters Says:

    Does anyone know what’s *up with Chaz Sutton?

  25. Buc the Haters Says:

    Omg, and I meant *open not often smh

  26. BuccaneerBonzai Says:

    DallasBuc Says
    “Oh Johnson out with injury?…not sure how one would notice since he is completely invisible when he is perfectly healthy! Funny how little Cincy tried to retain his services. More evidence of quantity over quality for the new regime.”

    You mean like the bucs and Michael Bennett?

  27. Jon Says:

    I agree with Dallasbuc, we spent in offseason everyone was happy but somehow besides the first two draft picks I don’t think we are any better. Even Lovie says now that Glennon is the future. Should have saved the money on Collins and mcclown and paid a real talent like Albert from KC

  28. Legarrettes Blunt Says:

    Damn bucs fans we are already turning on the guy and it’s only the preseason?! Come on folks show some patience, wait until the regular season to judge his performance. He will turn it up a notch just watch! He is very disruptive.

  29. PRBucFan Says:

    Better to get all the injuries now and early than mid or late season.

    Not ready to cry the sky is falling yet.

  30. PRBucFan Says:

    And with a few drives in TWO preseason games we have all the analysis on MJ we need to declare him a bust or wasted signing?

    Man the people saying this need their heads checked ahahahaha.

    Geniuses

  31. PRBucFan Says:

    And with a few drives in the preseason we have all the analysis on our new DE that we need to declare him a bust or wasted signing?

    Man the people saying this need their heads checked ahahahaha.

    So smart I tell you…

  32. PRBucFan Says:

    testing

  33. PRBucFan Says:

    And with a few drives in TWO preseason games we have all the analysis on our ne DE that we need to declare him a bust or wasted signing?

    Come on now…

  34. Broy3434 Says:

    Ya samcro it’s going to grow real legs..in here

  35. BigMacAttack Says:

    LB, ex wives are disruptive too but not necessarily productive or worth the payout.

  36. Andrew 1 Says:

    I’ve already gone on record as saying Johnson will not be a dominant DE, but I sure as hell hope I’m wrong. The guy is an athletic freak, but lacks the production to back it up. I think if Lovie or Cullen can somehow get him to improve his technique and use of his hands then maybe, just maybe he can turn into the dominant DE that we are all hoping for.

    I also noticed he has a hard time setting up the tackle. For example, most DEs will set up the tackle by using speed, speed, speed, and then hit em with the bull rush ( or any combination like that). It effectively catches the tackle off guard resulting in a sack. Johnson hasn’t quite figured out that part of the game yet. He’s got to learn how to trick the tackle.

  37. Jacko101 Says:

    The Bucs seriously needs to start adding stipulations and performance factors to these contracts, tired of people robbing my team. I’m not saying he is, but he sure is looking like Eric Wright, Carl Nicks, …

  38. Broy3434 Says:

    ITS BEEN TWO GAMES. Joe is the only one who can talk. High priced
    End signed a with a team who released the best corner in the league. Last thing he wants to do is get hurt and get cut next year and all of a sudden that cash flow cuts off(not sure about guaranteed money). I’m skeptical too but we need to atleast give him 4 weeks. This team has more new parts than any team I can recall in recent memory. People relax

  39. Owlykat Says:

    Til Johnson is 100% well, let him heal up and let our former Buffalo speed rusher take his slot so he can try to rack up sacks in front of his family and friends. Johnson needs to be pushed by competition to play with some urgency anyway.

  40. biff barker Says:

    Owly, Means has a groin injury.

  41. Ghost Says:

    Some teams can rebuild with a completely new regime Like Kansas City and be competitive and others like the bucs can’t.

  42. MTM Says:

    The one constant throughout every year: injuries. The injury b.s. is beyond ridiculous.

  43. PRBucFan Says:

    Smh season hasn’t even started for anyone to say whether we will be competitive or not.