The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have shown some fight over the past couple of weeks, but ultimately are still struggling as they sit 1-5 on the season.
Despite their struggles, the Bucs can still make up for it, considering they haven't reached division play. That starts this week when they head to Carolina to take on the Panthers.
It will undoubtedly be an uphill battle for them, and things might be a bit tougher than usual as they had numerous players show up on the injury report midweek.
Bucs Bitten With Injury (& Illness) Bug
Per the Bucs' official injury report, the Bucs saw multiple key players miss Wednesday's practice, including wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (concussion/foot), Bucky Irving (illness), Zyon McCollum (illness), Luke Goedeke (calf) and Christian Rozeboom (finger).
The Bucs are dealing with injuries, but it also appears that some kind of sickness has made its rounds through the locker room. Outside of Irving and McCollum, Riley Dixon Calijah Kancey, and Chase McLaughlin all had illness designations but participated in some sort of fashion.
The hope is that the illness is able to subside as the week progresses towards game time, but the more serious concern is undoubtedly that of Egbuka and Goedeke's respective injuries.
The Tampa Bay offense has already been suspect to begin the season, and losing one of your top wideouts and starting right tackle would be detrimental to them trying to keep pace with the Panthers' offense, which has shown that they can put up points.
The Positives
On a positive note, however, Baker Mayfield appears ready to return from his dislocated thumb, and the likes of Sean Tucker and Benjamin Morrison have returned from their injuries that kept them out against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Antoine Winfield Jr. also logged a limited practice as he recovers from his rib injury.
It would be hard-pressed to say that Winfield Jr. would make his return even if he logs limited practices the rest of the week. However, I would fully expect to see Tucker and Morrison back in the fold for their respective sides of the ball.
The real question will come down to whether or not the Bucs and Mayfield are on the same page on him returning after logging his first full practice back. If Mayfield is able to continue logging full practices through the rest of the week, one would imagine he would be behind center come Sunday. If not, or if the medical staff doesn't give the full clearance, then we could see Jalon Daniels make his fourth consecutive start.
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