It was an ugly night of football in Tampa as the Ravens beat the Buccaneers 41-31 before a Monday Night Football audience at Raymond James Stadium.
What made this night even more ugly was that the Bucs lost their two starting wide receivers, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, to injuries.
Bucs Lose Mike Evans and Chris Godwin To Injuries
Evans went down in the end zone in the third quarter as Baker Mayfield tried to deliver a touchdown pass. The hamstring injury that Evans had battled all year re-aggravated, and it could cause him to miss a significant amount of time.
With under two minutes to go, Chris Godwin suffered a fractured ankle. This injury will undoubtedly cause Godwin to miss the remainder of the season, as he was scheduled for surgery today.
With 1:04 to play, Mayfield hit Godwin for 21 yards. Godwin was tackled by Roquan Smith and fractured his ankle on that play.
The bigger question is, with the Bucs trailing 41-31, why were Godwin and the starters still in the Game? Todd Bowles tried to answer that in his post-game press conference.
Bowles Defends Decision To Play Godwin
“He’s a player. We’re trying to win the ballgame,” Bowles said. “We’re still down 10. We’re trying to get extra points and kick another onside kick, and it just happened. With Mike going down, we didn’t have many receivers left, so we had to play with what we’ve got.”
The Buccaneers started quickly, and it looked like the Bucs could stay with the Ravens for a while. But that theory would prove to be false very quickly.
After building a 10-7 lead, it was all Ravens the rest of the half, as Baltimore built a 17-10 halftime lead.
The Ravens would extend the lead to 34-10 after three quarters before an 11-yard pass to Rachaad White would cut the lead to 34-18 after a two-point conversion.
The Ravens would go up 41-18 on a Lamar Jackson to Derrick Henry touchdown pass before the Buccaneers would get two garbage touchdowns to make the final 41-31.
Lamar Jackson torched the Bucs’ secondary all night, passing for 278 yards and five touchdowns.
But the real story of the night was the Chris Godwin injury that just sucked the life out of the Buccaneer’s locker room.
Godwin had 50 catches for 576 yards and five touchdowns this season through seven games
The Godwin Injury Devastated The Buccaneer Locker Rooms
Baker Mayfield talked about the devastating injury in his post-game presser. It absolutely sucks,” Mayfield said. “Yeah, it sucks for our team, but Chris deserves better than that. He’s an unbelievable guy, an unbelievable teammate. You guys have seen he’s been playing extraordinary this year. Yeah, I’ve got a heavy heart right now.”
Bowles added: “Our prayers are out for him. Chris is a hell of a player and a hell of a human being, even more so than that. There’s not much you can say. We feel bad for him, and unfortunately, they’re not going to cancel the games. We’ve got to step up and move forward, but our hearts are heavy. He was having a hell of a season. It’s unfortunate.”
Once again, the Buccaneers’ defense had trouble containing Jackson and running back Derrick Henry. Henry ran for 169 yards, while the Ravens averaged 8.1 yards on the ground.
Baker Mayfield couldn’t do much outside the first and late in the fourth quarters. Although Mayfield’s numbers looked good on paper, he threw two picks to Marlon Humphrey.
Buccaneers Will Be On The Lookout For A Wide Receiver
It’s now next man up for the Buccaneers. They will roll out Sterling Shepherd, Jalen McMillian, and Trey Palmer as the three wide receivers that strike fear in the heart of no defense.
Bowles said they would look around and see who might be available.
This loss is solely on the Buccaneers. The defense couldn’t make a stop when they needed to get and couldn’t stop the Ravens in the red zone, as Baltimore went 4/5.
The Buccaneers 4-3, have a division game at home against Atlanta this week, before going to Kansas City and then back home for a game against San Francisco.
All teams have injuries. It’s part of the game. But the Godwin injury and the Evans hamstring injury may have turned the lights out early on the Buccaneers season.