The Buccaneers have lost 22-year old WR Arrelious Benn for the rest of the season due to a serious knee injury.  He has been placed on the Injured Reserve List.  Benn played in 15 games for the Buccaneers this year and the rookie caught 25 passes for 395 yards (15.8 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Benn was a 2nd round pick (#39 overall) last April out of Illinois and he was playing his best football of the year when he got hurt.  Benn has a nice upside and his role will likely expand next season for the Bucs.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have lost 22-year old DT Gerald McCoy for the rest of the season due to a torn right triceps.  McCoy played in 12 games for the Bucs this year and he had 28 tackles, 3 sacks, 5 tackles for a loss, 4 passes defensed and 2 forced fumbles.  The Bucs will look to 23-year old rookie Al Woods or 25-year old Frank Okam to replace McCoy in the starting lineup.  Woods has played in 6 games for the Bucs so far this year and he has 10 tackles and 1/2 a sack.  Okam has yet to play in a game for the Bucs.  This is really going to hurt the Bucs’ run defense as McCoy was really starting to play well.

The Buccaneers will be without 26-year old linebacker Quincy Black for the rest of the year due to a fractured forearm.  Black played in 11 games for the Bucs so far this year and he had 60 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks, 3 passes defensed, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.  26-year old Adam Hayward and 22-year old Dekoda Watson will try to replace Black.  Hayward has played in 13 games for the Bucs so far this year and he has 18 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 pass defensed.  Watson has played in 12 games for the Bucs this year and he has 20 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 pass defensed.  The Bucs will miss Black a little bit but they are confident that either Hayward or Watson will step up.

The Buccaneers have lost 29-year old starting center Jeff Faine for the rest of the season due to a triceps injury.  Faine played in 8 games (all starts) for the Bucs this year.  He has now played in 36 games (all starts) in his three years for the Bucs and this is the second year in a row that his season ended with a serious injury.  Jeremy Zuttah will take over as the starting center for the Buccaneers and they think he will do a decent job.

The Buccaneers have suffered a serious blow to the defense as 24-year old cornerback Aqib Talib will miss the rest of the year after tearing a tendon off his hip bone.  Talib played in 11 games for the Buccaneers this year and he had 40 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 11 passes defensed and 6 interceptions (1 that he returned for a TD).  The Bucs will turn to 23-year old corner E.J. Biggers to replace Talib in the starting lineup.  Biggers was a 7th round pick out of Western Michigan in the 2009 NFL Draft and he didn’t get into any games as a rookie.  He has played in 12 games for the Bucs so far this year and he has 32 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 8 passes defensed and 1 interception.  Don’t look for teams to throw Ronde Barber’s way much now with Biggers starting on the other side.

The Buccaneers have placed 24-year old DE Kyle Moore on the Injured Reserve List ending his season due to a shoulder injury.  Moore played in 7 games for the Bucs this year and he had 18 tackles and 2 fumble recoveries.  Moore has now played in 15 games in two years with the Bucs and he has 28 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  The Buccaneers shouldn’t miss Moore too much.

The Buccaneers have lost starting RG Davin Joseph for the rest of the season due to a fractured foot.  Joseph started all 11 games for the Bucs this year and he has played in 68 games (67 starts) in his first five years in the NFL.  Joseph has been the best run blocker on the Bucs for quite some time so he’s going to be missed.  24-year old Jeremy Zuttah will replace Joseph in the starting lineup.  Zuttah has played in 10 games (4 starts) for the Bucs this year and he has played in 38 games (25 starts) in his first three years with the team.  Zuttah will do a decent job and the Bucs are lucky to have a backup lineman as good as him.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have placed rookie safety Cody Grimm on the Injured Reserve List ending his season due to a broken left fibula.  Grimm played in 11 games as a rookie for the Bucs and he had 57 tackles, 2 passes defensed, 1 forced fumble and 2 interceptions (0ne of which he returned for a TD).  The Bucs will now turn to 27-year old Sabby Piscitelli at free safety.  He has played in 11 games for the Bucs so far this year and he has 19 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception.  This is going to hurt the pass defense going forward as there is a reason Piscitelli was running with the 3rd team on D  when this season started.

The Buccaneers have placed 21-year old rookie DT Brian Price on the Injured Reserve List with a pelvic fracture.  Price played in 5 games for the Bucs this year and he had 3 whopping tackles.  The Bucs used a 2nd round pick (#35 overall) on Price so they have to be pretty disappointed with his rookie year.

The Buccaneers will be without 21-year old rookie DT Brian Price for the next several weeks due to inflammation in his hip.  Price has played in 5 games for the Buccaneers and he has a whopping 3 tackles so far this year.  He has been a huge disappointment for the Buccaneers who drafted him in the second round last April using the #35 overall pick on him.