WR Godwin likely out for 2 games due to hamstring
Evans, TEs could get more targets from Brady
TAMPA — Tom Brady came to Tampa Bay to throw passes to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. But it’s been hard to get them on the field healthy at the same time.
Godwin is likely to miss the next two games with a hamstring injury he sustained during Sunday’s 28-10 win over the Broncos.
It’s been a rough start to 2020 for Godwin. He suffered a concussion in the season opener at New Orleans after a helmet-to-helmet hit by Saints safety D.J. Swearinger and missed the Bucs’ Week 2 game against Carolina.
On Sunday at Denver, Godwin suffered a hamstring pull in the second half and did not return to the game. An MRI Monday revealed a mild pull.
Godwin will be out for Sunday’s game against the Chargers and most likely next Thursday night’s game at Chicago.
With Godwin out, it likely will mean more targets for Evans and perhaps tight ends Rob Gronkowski and O.J. Howard.
Evans played with a hamstring strain in the season opener at New Orleans and had one catch for 2 yards and a touchdown.
With Godwin out vs. Carolina, Evans responded with seven receptions for 104 yards and a touchdown.
But Godwin is also an integral part of the run game as a blocker. In addition, the Bucs have other injuries at receiver. Scotty Miller has been playing with a hip/ groin injury and Justin Watson missed Sunday’s game at Denver with a shoulder injury.
Winfield boost
As if the sacks, the pass breakups and open-field
tackles weren’t enough, rookie safety Antoine Winfield Jr. may save the Bucs’ defense with his versatility.
A hamstring/groin injury to defensive back Sean Murphy-Bunting forced Winfield to move to the vacated spot at slot cornerback against Denver.
The Bucs inserted Mike Edwards at safety, and he responded with a gamesealing interception in the end zone.
Winfield already has demonstrated he is well beyond his years in terms of understanding the defense and making plays. But his ability to understand all the positions in the secondary is key.
Until Sunday, he had not really taken many reps at slot corner for several weeks.
“I started studying that during training camp,” Winfield said. “You know, they used me both ways. When we had nickel packages, I was the second nickel, so I would get the nickel reps just in regular base and things like that, I would be at the free safety position. So I kind of learned that throughout training camp.”
Winfield has two sacks and a forced fumble already
this season. He credits defensive coordinator Todd Bowles with knowing when to dial up the right blitzes while disguising coverage.
“That’s our goal, just give the offense a picture to look at and after that, just rolling into whatever coverage we’re rolling or doing,” he said. “That’s a big part of getting home and making the sack. If you’re showing one thing, and the quarterback gets the call and slides protection one way, then we’re able to blitz from the opposite way.”
Block party
The biggest play from the Bucs’ win over the Broncos may have come on the first series of the game when defensive lineman Patrick O’Connor blocked a punt and recovered the loose ball at the Denver 10-yard line. Three plays later, Tom Brady connected on a 10-yard TD pass to Godwin.
Bucs special-teams coach Keith Armstrong said O’Connor was in the game in part because they were protecting against a possible fake.
“I was so happy for him. I would have loved for one of our guys off the edge to scoop and score, but you get
greedy,” Armstrong said. “It was a nice play [that was] well executed by him. [It brought] great energy and really got the guys going.”
Leap year
The Bucs had an extra point blocked when Broncos linebacker Joe Jones leaped over the long snapper and batted down the kick by Ryan Succop.
Leaping has been outlawed in the NFL unless you are on the line of scrimmage, which Jones was. What was supposed to happen?
“They came off and they pushed our guys down, which is legal,” Armstrong said. “What’s supposed to happen is first thing before the snap, we’re going to talk about, ‘Hey, leap alert. Leap alert.’ You can’t really put a lot of onus on the snapper doing anything. You try to tell him to bring his head back up, but you better make sure you get the snap squared away. What we’ve got to do is get an arm up and try to disrupt that guy’s leg — try to get him off balance. By the time he lands, if he’s off balance, he’s not going to get up to block it again. They timed it up well and they got us on that one.”