Bucs wide receiver Chris Godwin will be out indefinitely, likely for the entire season, after dislocating his ankle in Monday’s loss to the Ravens.
Coach Todd Bowles revealed the bad news, saying, “It doesn’t look good,” while answering questions about why Godwin was even in the game with 41 seconds left.
‘You could say [he shouldn’t have been in the game]because he got hurt. We have no doubts,” Bowles said. “We have our guys, and we’ll play everyone we have. It’s a shame he got hurt and we feel bad about that. But he’s a football player and he wanted to be in the game like Baker [Mayfield] and everyone else wanted to join in the game.”
The Bucs trailed by 10 points with less than a minute to go when Godwin caught a pass from Mayfield before being tackled by Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith. It was clear that the star receiver could not get up and was in a lot of pain.
ESPN refused to show a replay of the gruesome injury.
“Chris is a great player, and he’s a great person, even more than that,” Bowles said. “But you can’t say much. We feel sorry for him. Unfortunately, they are not going to cancel the matches. We have to step up and move on, but our hearts are heavy.”
The Bucs lost their other star receiver, Mike Evans, in the first half when he dropped a touchdown pass while aggravating his hamstring after a tackle by Ravens defensive end Brandon Stephens.
Godwin, who will become a free agent this offseason, entered the game with 43 catches for 511 yards and five touchdowns before catching seven passes for 65 yards against the Ravens.
