Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles made a terrible decision to keep Chris Godwin and other starters in the game on Monday night while the team was down by double digits.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost star wide receiver Chris Godwin to a season-ending ankle injury in the final minute of their loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Chris Godwin suffered a dislocated ankle with 59 seconds left in the game after being tackled short of midfield by Roquan Smith.
The veteran receiver was unable to get up and had to be carted off in an air cast. His injury was so bad that ESPN’s broadcast declined to show a replay of how he got hurt.
After the game, Bowles defended keeping Godwin and his other starters in the game.
“Well, he’s a player. We’re trying to win the ballgame,” Bowles said. “We were still down 10, we’re trying to get extra points and kick another onside kick. It just happened. With Mike [Evans] going down, we didn’t have that many receivers left as it was, so we play what we got.”
“I’m sick about it. Talk about great guys and great leaders, great players,” tight end Cade Otton added. “It sucks. It’s the terrible part of this job. But, we also have to come together for them.”
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This couldn’t have happened at a worse time, as Chris Godwin would be sorely needed for Sunday’s critical game against the Atlanta Falcons for first place in the NFC South.
Bowles scoffed at the notion that he had failed to protect Godwin by leaving him on the field for the team’s one-minute drill.
“I do protect my players all the time,” Bowles said. “That has nothing to do with why we left him in the ballgame. We still had a shot to score some points and win the ballgame. It happens. It happens in football.”
Chris Godwin was in the midst of a career-best season and ranked second in the NFL with 576 receiving yards through seven weeks.
Losing Chris Godwin Will Be Detrimental To The Bucs Season
Coming into the 2024 season, the Tampa Bay Bucs were hoping to improve on their playoff run last year, where they defeated the Eagles in the Wild card round before going down in the next round.
With 94 seconds left in the game, trailing by 10 points, and no timeouts left, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles kept his starters in the game.
The NFL’s leading receiver through six weeks, Chris Godwin, suffered a dislocated ankle, and now his year is over.
Tampa Bay had already lost Evans before halftime after aggravating a hamstring injury.
Whatever the Bucs had planned for this year just became exponentially harder, if not impossible.
