The Tampa Bay Buccaneers not only fell to the Baltimore Ravens in their Week 7 matchup on Monday night. But perhaps even worse, they lost star wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to significant injuries, which Baker Mayfield reacted to after the game.
After scoring a touchdown on the first drive of the game, Evans would attempt to make another big play in the endzone in the second quarter. However, the pass would fall incomplete, and Evans would grab at his recently injured hamstring.
Evans would leave the game and would not return after re-aggravating the injury. And things took a drastic turn in the game from there on out.
The Ravens would score an absurd 34 straight unanswered points after Evans left the game, largely putting the game out of reach. But the Buccaneers would attempt to claw back into the game in the final moments, which unfortunately led to an extremely significant injury to other star wide receiver Chris Godwin.
With just over a minute left in the game trailing by ten points, Godwin would haul in a catch from Mayfield. And instantly, players on the field knew that he had just suffered a significant injury in the process.
He would be carted off the field in an air-cast in an injury that is believed to be a dislocated ankle, which would end his season if that is confirmed.
The Buccaneers would go on to lose the game. But Mayfield was largely in no mood to talk about the game in his postgame press conference, instead dedicating most of the time to discuss Evans’ and Godwin’s impact on the team.
“Two of the guys that are the heartbeat of this team,” said Mayfield. “We’re going to be thinking about Chris and Mike for a while here.”
After these kinds of devastating injuries in one game, it will certainly be hard for the Buccaneers offense to operate as usual in Week 8. But that is exactly what they will try and do in their matchup this week against the Atlanta Falcons.