Don’t blame him, says Todd Bowles.

For the first couple of months of last season, it sure seemed the Bucs had dodged a brutal injury when Calijah Kancey tore a pec muscle in a win at Houston in Week 2. He didn’t return until the final game of the season.

The Bucs had a 6-2 record without Kancey and appeared to be in the running for the No. 1 seed. And then, the team collapsed and missed the playoffs, losing seven of their final nine games.

Yesterday, Bucs coach Todd Bowles was asked if Kancey’s injury eventually doomed the Bucs. Bowles sort of bristled at the suggestion, saying the Bucs did the losing all by themselves, and Kancey not playing was not a factor.

“That had no bearing on the games that we could have won,” Bowles said. “We could have used the energy and the talent [from Kancey], but there are going to be some injuries every year.

“We are not going to use that as excuses. We had guys out there that we had confidence in who could go out and play and help us win the ballgame.”

So that is a nice defense of Kancey. Still, how much better would the defense have been with Kancey? How many ways did other players have to play out of their comfort zone or asked to do things they are not skilled with to compensate for Kancey’s absence?

You can’t tell Joe that Kancey not being on the field was not a factor.

“This Joe” is not going to hang the “bust” label on Kancey. To “this Joe,” a bust is a guy who is fully inept and is totally over his head on the NFL level. Think Joe Tryon-Shoyinka.

Kancey has talent. A lot of talent. But that talent means nothing if a dude is watching games in street clothes. Kancey has missed significant time each of his three seasons in the NFL due to injuries. He’s got to find a way to stay on the field.