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In a span of just a couple of hours, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have watched their entire season go up in flames on Monday night.
And head coach Todd Bowles is taking the brunt of the blame.
Tampa Bay, which entered the night at 4-2, led the Baltimore Ravens 10-7 mid-way through the second quarter when superstar wide receiver Mike Evans suffered what appears to be a significant hamstring injury while laying out to make a touchdown catch.
Evans was limited a week ago due to the same hamstring and entered Monday night’s game with his status in doubt. He was also seen limping off the field after an earlier touchdown catch.
That led to some serious questions about whether Evans should have even been in the game.
Why would the Bucs let Mike Evans play if the hamstring wasn’t healed (or at least non-restricting)? You just might have cost him extended missed playing time.
— Michael Fabiano (@Michael_Fabiano) October 22, 2024
But things only got worse from there.
Tampa Bay’s second-leading receiver Chris Godwin, who is one of the league’s best number two wideouts and was in the midst of a career year, suffered a significant ankle injury with under a minute left in the game.
With the result all but decided, both fans and media members wondered why Bowles even had Godwin in the game. Especially with Evans’ status in doubt for at least the weeks to come.
Todd Bowles when asked why Chris Godwin was still in the game down 10 with 43 seconds left pic.twitter.com/VKpFWNix8f
— Joey- Cade Smith enjoyer (@GuardsJoey) October 22, 2024
Major Injuries Could Cost Todd Bowles And Buccaneers Shot At Super Bowl
Tampa Bay boasts one of the league’s most dangerous offenses when everybody is healthy. Evans and Godwin are stars. Baker Mayfield is in the midst of the best year of his career. And running backs Bucky Irving and Sean Tucker form one of the league’s best tandems.
But now the catalysts for that offense are on the shelf and don’t appear to be coming back anytime soon.
ESPN analyst and former NFL safety Ryan Clark defended Bowles’ use of Godwin at the end of the game.
The fact that a reporter treated Todd Bowles as if he had set Chris Godwin up for injury was a ridiculous line of questioning. This isn’t little league where you pull your guys so other people can play for their parents to take pics.
Players and coaches practice all week for 60… pic.twitter.com/xgvU6luSoS
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) October 22, 2024
But it’s much harder to defend when you consider that any hopes of a deep playoff run for Tampa Bay probably just went out the window.