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The Bucs came out with a 21-15 win on Sunday over the Atlanta Falcons to improve to 3-2 on the season. It didn’t come easy in the second half, as Atlanta came back with 15 unanswered points. But part of that had to do with injuries sustained to key defensive players in the Tampa Bay secondary.
Following the game, Todd Bowles gave an injury update on cornerbacks Carlton Davis, Sean Murphy-Bunting and safety Mike Edwards. All three players exited the game in the second half as the defense had to play much more because the offense had three separate drives with short three-and-outs.
“Carlton’s got a hip and Sean’s got a quad right now, that I know of.” Bowles said. “Mike should be fine, I didn’t hear about him yet. They didn’t give me the full report on Mike.”
Bucs Short-Handed In The Secondary
With Davis out and his backup — Murphy-Bunting — also unavailable, the Bucs had to rely on rookie Zyon McCollum to play outside. McCollum had been dealing with a hamstring injury since the preseason. He hadn’t even practiced until Week 2 and was a gameday inactive every week prior to Sunday. The team’s Week 5 game marked the first time that McCollum was active in his career. He recorded two tackles in his first career game.
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