Several Bucs Ruled Out In Week 2

Injuries hit the Bucs hard after winning in Week 1. It has sustained long enough that Tampa Bay is going to be missing many important figures on their roster heading into Week 2 against the Lions on the road.

After Friday’s practice, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles addressed the media and informed the Bucs that defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, safety Antoine Winfield Jr, right tackle Luke Goedeke and defensive back Josh Hayes have all been ruled out for Sunday’s game. While many such as Kancey and Winfield were expected, it’s still a big loss missing out on three starters and an important special teamer in Hayes as well.

Christian Izien had a very important role for the Bucs’ last week coming in an emergency spot. Though naturally a safety, Izien had to play corner in the second half with almost every cornerback out. This time around he’ll get to play free safety, which he played often at Rutgers.

Just Skule Goes In At Right Tackle For Bucs

Likely the most important substitution the Bucs have going into Sunday is replacing Luke Goedeke at right tackle. They will go with Justin Skule at the position, who had some reps as a starting tackle in training camp while Tristan Wirfs was waiting for his contract extension to be finished. That was of course on the left side for Skule, but he at least was working with other starters.

Bucs OT Justin Skule – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Wirfs spoke about his teammate this week with what he’ll bring to the offensive line. He also shared a word of advice to him.

“Skulie (Justin Skule) knows what to do and how to do it better than anybody I know,” Wirfs said. “I’ll tell him just that. Go be a dog. Go do what you know how to do. Stay square, throw your outside hand and we’ll have a day.”

The matchup against Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson was already a big part of the game going into it. The importance of slowing him down is of the highest degree of importance, though the Bucs aren’t just going to ask Skule to play against him one-on-one all the time. Expect a lot of chips from tight ends and running backs throughout the game.

Offensive coordinator Liam Coen said that the game plan isn’t really going to change regardless of if Goedeke was available.

“I think not really, because we’ve got to be prepared for these defensive ends, right?” Coen said. “These defensive ends, they’re really good players, either way. We’ve got to have a plan to not let ‘97’ (Aidan Hutchinson) and ‘92’ (Marcus Davenport) wreck this game, right? We’ve got to have chips. We’ve got to have things in place in order to protect everybody – protect both tackles.

“It doesn’t matter who – we can’t walk out of the game Sunday and say, ‘Man, Aidan Hutchinson beat us because we didn’t have a chip on him on this play.’ That would be a little frustrating. We’ve got to go into it, regardless of who’s playing, with a really strong chip plan or plan to at least keep those guys on their toes.”

Three Important Bucs Are Questionable

Other injuries that had a lot of attention on them was Zyon McCollum with a concussion, Logan Hall trying to come back from a foot injury that cost him Week 1, and Tykee Smith who’s illness kept him out of practice on Thursday and Friday. Todd Bowles said they were all questionable for Sunday.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and DB Tykee Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Zyon [McCollum] has some tests to pass,” Bowles said. “We’ll see how he is. We’ll see how Logan [Hall] feels tomorrow.” Bowles also mentioned that have to wait on Smith as well.

Since Kancey was out last week, Hall returning would be an upgrade to Tampa Bay’s defensive line. That group could use a little help from the pass rush on the interior besides Vita Vea. Will Gholston, Greg Gaines and practice squad call ups Mike Greene and C.J. Brewer are more specialized in stopping the run.

It could be a big week for Tyreek Funderburk if McCollum doesn’t clear concussion protocol. An game day inactive last week, Funderburk may go from not even dressing to playing his first career game and making his first career start altogether.

The dicey situation is the availability of Smith in the slot. With Winfield out, Izien will likely to play at safety. But if Smith is out, too, the Bucs would have to juggle things around and put either Izien or Tavierre Thomas in the slot while having Kaevon Merriweather at safety. Funderburk can also play in the slot if needed.

It’s big game for the Bucs and unfortunately they are not 100 percent going into it. Tampa Bay is a resilient group, though and should not be an afterthought when it comes to the team’s chances of getting a road win.