Buccaneers Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. Will Miss Some Games
The Tampa Bay defense has sustained some injuries of late. And the injury bug struck again during their Week 14 game against the Las Vegas Raiders. So now it looks like Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. will miss some games. The Buccaneers banged-up secondary took another turn for the worse on Sunday when All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr. left the game with a knee injury six minutes into the second quarter and did not return. The defensive backfield had already lost their other starting safety, Jordan Whitehead, to injured reserve on November 29 and his immediate replacement, Mike Edwards sustained a hamstring injury in Week 13 against the Panthers’ sidelining him for Sunday’s game against the Raiders.
Losing Winfield to a knee injury after just 16 defensive snaps led to a lot of shuffling in the secondary. They were already without without safeties Jordan Whitehead (on injured reserve) and Mike Edwards. Therefore, abundant snaps were given to Christian Izien, Kaevon Merriweather, Tykee Smith and Tavierre Thomas.
Izien started the game as the slot corner but then moved to safety, with Smith taking over in the slot. Izien logged 65 of 67 defensive snaps, his highest total since Week Five. Merriweather, who just rejoined the team from Detroit’s practice squad last week, was pressed into 55 defensive snaps, or 82% of the total. He finished the game with seven tackles and a sack. Smith didn’t start the game but ended up with 43 snaps. One of which ended in his interception at the Bucs’ seven-yard line in the third quarter. Thomas got his playing time near the end of the game and logged 11 snaps.
Buccaneers Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. Will Miss Some Games
Despite the flexibility in making adjustments they can hardly afford to lose Winfield for any part of the upcoming four-week playoff stretch run. Head coach Todd Bowles offered a little information about Winfield’s status:
“He’s got a knee sprain,” said Bowles. “He’ll be out a little while.” When pressed as to whether that meant multiple weeks, Bowles responded affirmatively. “A couple weeks, yeah.”
The Buccaneers play the Los Angeles Chargers this coming Sunday in California, then travel to Dallas in Week 16. If Winfield can return after that, he could help the Bucs’ defense in what will likely be two critical home games. Against NFC South opponents: Carolina in Week 17 and New Orleans in Week 18. Otherwise the backups will have to continue to step up.
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