Dealing With Injuries
October 13th, 2025
Injury updates.
[UPDATE: 1:27 p.m.] You know what is as impressive to Joe as the Bucs’ 5-1 record atop the NFC standings? The coaching job by Bucs offensive coaches.
Think about it, the Bucs are digging into the very bottom of the roster for bodies due to injuries and yet the Bucs keep winning.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles said Monday that is likely to continue, unfortunately. Emeka Egbuka is scheduled to have an MRI on Tuesday, per Bowles, and he discussed other injury news.
“Hope to see Mike [Evans] and Zyon [McCollum] and [Benjamin] Morrison do something this week,” Bowles said. “Then we will see how much they can do to determine if they can play and what they can do.”
Bowles added that Chris Godwin is not expected back at practice this week and he all but suggested Godwin is already out for next Monday night’s game at Detroit. Bowles noted Bucky Irving is in the same boat.
Additionally, Bowles said the Bucs hope to have backup guard not-that Michael Jordan back practicing this week.
As for guard Luke Haggard who left yesterday’s game with a shoulder injury, Bowles said he hopes he can practice this week and currently thinks Haggard will be listed as “doubtful” for the Lions game next Monday night.
When Bowles was asked how the Bucs are able to keep winning and get production from receivers Nos. 6 and 7, he said the Bucs look at backups differently than the general public.
“We don’t look at it as [numbers on a depth chart],” Bowles said. “We look at it as guys made this team for a reason.
“When somebody goes down somebody has to step up and have a job to do. It’s also up to the coaches to know what they can do well and how they fit into the scheme and work it that way and give them the best possible chance to succeed.”
This is why Joe is so impressed with (rookie) Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard and his staff. The Bucs are scraping the barrel with receivers and to a lesser degree with offensive linemen. But Grizzard and his staff, specifically offensive line coach Kevin Carberry, are doing fantastic jobs having backups ready to produce.
October 13th, 2025 at 1:25 pm
great work coaching staff!!!!!!
this team will “hopefully” be healthy after the bye!!!!
5-1!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
October 13th, 2025 at 1:26 pm
Should be a no-brainer to elevate Greene from the practice squad with Mek out now.
Greene is a stud.
We have to have the deepest and best WR room in the league. All our WR’s are capable of producing at a high level.
October 13th, 2025 at 1:30 pm
Grizz keeps the offense humming with or without a full compliment of players
Defensively they can’t limit an offense from moving the ball or carving up the pass defense no matter if the team is healthy or injured. As an intelligent fan you have to ask “Why can’t this defensive coordinator scheme up a competent pass defense after 6 plus years here…”
October 13th, 2025 at 1:33 pm
I’m basking in the glow all day today. I didn’t think we’d be 5-1 with a fully healthy roster two months ago. Unbelievable job by the entire organization. Buuuuut ….. next Monday could get ugly. Bowels and his defense are going to have to really show up huge.
October 13th, 2025 at 1:38 pm
Wow. Saw earlier on one of these Monday Morning programs, that Detroit has SIX Defensive Players currently listed on their injury report. FIVE of the six are all ‘lower’ body type injuries… Knees, Ankles, & Hammies. Tellin’ ya now, it’s that ‘synthetic’ turf playing a HUGE part.
October 13th, 2025 at 1:39 pm
Its so unbelievable that mouthbreathers like the commenter above me continue to throw shade on Todd Bowles after a 6 sack 2 interception game and a 5-1 record. How can anyone not look at this team and record and not root for the people that are doing this. Just blind and/or racist hatred is the only thing that makes sense to me.
October 13th, 2025 at 1:41 pm
Hey, Smarter than Joe, we just held that team to one TD. We aren’t perfect but damn
October 13th, 2025 at 1:49 pm
Kudo’s to the players that did play this game. I’m proud of all of them with the possible exception of Chris Braswell. He’s terrible. Even SVD contributed to the defensive performance.
October 13th, 2025 at 1:50 pm
There must be an issue with the turf at RYJay behind the plethora of hamstring injuries. It was obvious the turf gave when Evan’s injured his hamstring. It is ludicrous for an NFL team to share its facility with a college. USF needs its own stadium.
October 13th, 2025 at 1:50 pm
JL , TB and Grizz are doing a phenomenal job. To be sitting in 1st place after a qtr season of play with all the injuries is impressive. I still think it’s way way to early for MVP talk but man what baker is doing is just down right dirty. I’m deff eating crow not liking him when we 1st signed him.
October 13th, 2025 at 1:57 pm
I’m very impressed with this team this season. All of the issues from the playoff game they’ve ironed out early in the season with all the injuries. Great job by Bowles and Baker. Next man up and get the young guys some reps.
October 13th, 2025 at 2:01 pm
It’s coming.
October 13th, 2025 at 2:02 pm
If we can get Morrison, Zyon and Evans back for Monday – holy hell that would be huge. Those of you scared of big bad Detroit need to remember who has 2 losses and who doesn’t, man up. We can go up there and kick their ass
October 13th, 2025 at 2:02 pm
I was really hoping Ebuka hamstring Injury was not that bad that he would need MRI.
Hope it is nothing to series we need anyone back that we can get at this point.
October 13th, 2025 at 2:06 pm
MRI on Tuesday is exactly what I mean with this training staff multi-billion dollar team but cant get it done today???
October 13th, 2025 at 2:07 pm
@Bee,
The defense still can’t get off the field when they need to. Good QB’s with a competent coordinator can beat this defense, pass defense NEEDS to improve. NO EXCUSES for this pass defense to be this bad EVERY year
October 13th, 2025 at 2:08 pm
I’m serious — they should have a machine figuratively in the basement, ready to go, with someone on staff who knows how to run it. This isn’t some broke high school team — it’s a professional NFL franchise!
October 13th, 2025 at 2:09 pm
Looks like a Ironlung free day. Just wait till Todd Bowels wins coach of the year his head will probably explode. Haha
October 13th, 2025 at 2:13 pm
Dr. Josh you are next Ironlung! Geesh idiot. Who named you team doctor?
October 13th, 2025 at 2:20 pm
Woodbrain. It’s kind of amazing that you can get a voice-to-text program to understand your babble enough to make a sentence. Good job.
October 13th, 2025 at 2:33 pm
Yeah we’re 5-1 but we could just as easily be 1-5 and oh yeah we held them to 19 points but look at all those passing yards we gave up. Yeah we had 6 sacks but did they ever come on back to back plays, I mean come on already! Get your head outta your behind Blowzo.
And don’t even get me started on this medical staff…they must be moonlighting as the 9ers medical staff too!
And what about JL and his wasted pick of Egbuka, already injured and off the field when coulda had Campbell instead…would probably be 6-0 sheesh, I am so done with this team!
October 13th, 2025 at 2:34 pm
Josh, I think Mondays are days off for most everyone, at least the players. I don’t think his hammy will change much between today and tomorrow. Deep breaths.
October 13th, 2025 at 2:42 pm
I wonder if Brian Branch could be facing a suspension?
October 13th, 2025 at 2:49 pm
Welp say goodbye to grizzard next season as he becomes a new head coach
October 13th, 2025 at 3:10 pm
Can anyone tell me a damn thing Miami has done right since losing Grizzard? All that talk about Mike McDaniel being an offensive savant.. was it really our boy Griz controlling those levers for the Fins?
October 13th, 2025 at 3:12 pm
Smarter than Joe is the kind of guy that isn’t happy unless he’s mad.
IDGAF at the end of the game if the Defense gave up 800 yards, and Smarter’s grandmammy, as long as the Bucs have one more point.
This ain’t figure skating.
October 13th, 2025 at 3:14 pm
Can the HC/Grizzard talk. Let the young guy learn all the OC ropes first. I’m trying to get up the courage to say Go Bucs, 6-1!! Geez, I just did it. LOL.
October 13th, 2025 at 3:16 pm
A decent MRI machine is $1-2 million. A tech team to run it adds $100k a year. Then the images still have to be interpreted by a radiologist.
I suspect they do them on Tuesday because of swelling and team scheduling.
I would expect they get results immediately. So Tuesday is a logical day.
October 13th, 2025 at 3:19 pm
Grizz has been great, especially with continuing to be creative with all of these injuries, and he’ll probably be the 3rd straight OC to be hired as a head coach somewhere.
October 13th, 2025 at 3:27 pm
Makes sense.
October 13th, 2025 at 3:32 pm
Makes you wonder of the real value of WR. Evans and Godwin are both all time greats but at this point in their careers we’ll be lucky to get half a season out them. They both are making between 20-25mil per season. I think we might be better served allocating that money towards a pass rusher next year. And what are these players doing or not doing that they pull hamstrings so easily?
October 13th, 2025 at 3:34 pm
Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Twilight Zone Twilight Zone. lol
October 13th, 2025 at 3:41 pm
Jodi brown – with the way the college game is played today, there IS an abundance of receivers and they’re more plug and play now more than ever. So I mostly agree. Evans however is a hall of famer and he’s earned the right to decide on his terms, and commands the kind of coverage only a handful of guys get in the league. To your point tho – if the Bucs found an absolute stud linebacker to replace lavonte and another stud linebacker to replace Dennis next year then that wouldnt hurt my feelings. Either way, I’ll worry about the offseason in the offseason – we’re number one said. A lot of fans would sell off their mothers to have our problems
October 13th, 2025 at 3:42 pm
SMARTER THAN NO ONE
the purpose of defense is to stop the other team from scoring!!!!!!!
not stopping a team from getting yardage!!!
who cares about yards!!!!!
darold and jones both threw for 300yards and STILL LOSE!!!!!!!…they both threw 2 picks!!!!…they both got beat up!!!!
dont you see!!!!!…opponents know they cant run the ball on us so they plan all week to go thru the air….they play right into Todds hands…its called: making a team one-dimensional!!!!!!!
Keep crying over yards….we’ll continue to beat quality teams and stack Ws!!!!
5-1!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
October 13th, 2025 at 4:00 pm
BucU … ‘I’m proud of all of them with the possible exception of Chris Braswell. He’s terrible. Even SVD contributed to the defensive performance.’
I don’t understand why you singled out Braswell from yesterday’s game, but a lot of others seem to also. He had a grand total of 14 def snaps yesterday … and in those made 5 tackles (2 solo & 3 assists). That’s a pretty decent ratio of being ‘around the ball’ & being involved in plays.
SVD on the other hand got 61 def snaps in yesterday’s game, right in the middle of our defense. He made 7 tackles (6 solo & 1 assist) plus had 1 TFL. And of those solo tackles, I can remember 3 of them, where the receiver he was nearest caught the ball in front of him & he made the tackle. I’ll be interested to see how many targets vs catches allowed he had when the Advanced Stats come out on Weds. Prior to yesterday’s game, SVD had allowed 17 catches in 19 targets (89.5%).
Oh & BTW, Braswell got more tackles than any of our other OLBs yesterday. Nelson got 4 (in 22 snaps), Diaby got 3 (in 44 snaps), Reddick got 3 (in 58 snaps) & Braswell got 5 (in 14 snaps). Granted that Braswell didn’t get any sacks like Diaby (2) or Reddick (0.5), but I’m gonna guess he does pretty well on containment.
October 13th, 2025 at 4:07 pm
No reason to spend so much on WRs when we clearly have capable backups that can fill those spots. Godwin’s contract was a mistake offset by the Emeka pick.
We need Emeka. Godwin should have an injury settlement. Love Chris but this should be his last season here.
October 13th, 2025 at 4:28 pm
It’s Monday, and Bowles is essentially offering up the Friday injury report.
Bucky and Godwin – DNP – Out
Evans, Zyon, Morrison- LP- Questionable
And we can’t even get a Luke will be a couple more weeks… I hate the not knowing anything when it comes to a player and injury. Even JMac is being called a December return.
October 13th, 2025 at 4:43 pm
Reddick gives up on plays-He is a loafer. If anyone records the games besides me look at the 2 plays where Jones fumbled and 49ers recovered both(one later ruled not a fumble) and you will see Reddick in the very immediate area , but he assumes Jones is corralled and stops rallying to the ball. You ALWAYS rally to the ball and not until you hear a whistle, but until you hear the echo of the whistle. When you rally to the ball and it pops free you are there and ready to recover it, but not if you are loafing.
October 13th, 2025 at 4:43 pm
So many silly comments. Chris will be fine. And people complaining about yardage are silly. It’s pretty difficult to stop Seattle’s and the 49’ers offenses back to back but we **did it **when it counted.
October 13th, 2025 at 5:21 pm
The ignorant Todd Bowles haters just really need to S T * U already.
6 sacks, 2 INTs, 1 FF, lots of pressure, 22 carries for 67 yards, only 1 TD, held to lots of FG attempts, gave up less than 20 points
If the defense does that every week, I do not care if the opposing QB throws for 600 yards, the Bucs will go undefeated the rest of the way.
They seriously nitpick every little thing. But they don’t do that with the offense. Baker missed a bunch of passes earlier, I suppose he sucks now and we should get rid of him?
Egbuka has had some drops – Bench the rookie!
Wirfs had a holding penalty- he’s a bum!!!
That’s literally the same mindset.
October 13th, 2025 at 5:21 pm
Yup Grizzz is cooking ,,, the way he designed that 3rd and 14 , he designed it specifically for Baker to bust out of 2 guys clutches and not get sacked , then designed Baker to juke out one guy right and then go left while busting through a late tackle and a dive to get the first down!!!! A well thought out , wonderful 3rd and long call!!! Great execution on Grizz’s play
October 13th, 2025 at 5:23 pm
As for hamstrings, I have a proposal-
All receivers should simulate 3 full games at the end of June and into July. That way they can go ahead get their hamstring pulled and let it mend throughout training camp to be ready for the season. I mean, it seems like it’s going to happen anyway
October 13th, 2025 at 5:52 pm
Didn’t we use to wrap them and play back when,, When did Hammy mean out for 3 to 4 weeks
October 13th, 2025 at 6:52 pm
The NFL Hamstring — That guy is running full-tilt, 20 miles per hour. His brain sends the signal, “STOP. NOW.” The hamstring’s job isn’t to pull his leg forward; it’s to slam on the brakes for a femur that weighs 40 pounds and is trying to keep moving at a terrifying speed. When it tears, it’s because the force applied exceeded the structural integrity of a tendon woven from a human being’s most dedicated efforts.
Compare that to the guy who thought he ran 20 mph in high school football — that hamstring and that tear happens during that sudden, shocked surprise of an all-out effort. The muscle, which has been happily maintaining a resting tension most days, is suddenly asked for 80 percent of its maximum output. It’s suddenly overstretched in an amateur, poorly-coordinated lunge. More like a clown tripping over shoes.
I don’t seem them the same at all.
October 13th, 2025 at 7:35 pm
@Geno
Now you’re using medical science and physiology when more than a few of these guys wish to write it off as a bad training staff or wimply modern players.
Can I add another bit of science. Momentum, the force the tackler delivers is measured by speed X mass. The players are obviously faster and larger and that combo creates incredible collisions! People ARE going to get hurt.
The NFL teams earn close to or in some cases more than one BILLION $$$ a year! The players are their major INVESTMENTS. Do we suppose that they shortchange the training staff? They earn about 250,000 a year. There are NO secrets in the tiny world of the NFL when it comes to player health. They share all that info. Again it’s their INVESTMENTS.
Some here even postulate that there’s not enough hitting in the preseason to toughen them up. Really? Trying to figure a way to survive very violent collisions is to simply make the players have more violent collisions. When does a concussion help protect you from the next hit? When does a torn ligament make your knee stronger. Some people here have not played football.
Do you not remember the “Oklahoma Drill”. I was very small and dreaded it.
Here’s AI’s take on that drill and how “roughness” may have diminished in practice.
“The “Oklahoma drill” is a football training exercise that involves a one-on-one collision between a ball carrier and a defender, often in a confined space, designed to test physicality and technique. It has been largely discontinued in modern football because of the HIGH RISK OF INJURY, especially concussions, though variations continue to exist and have been seen in less organized or non-football contexts.”