24-year old starting free safety Cody Grimm for a while due to a serious knee injury.  Grimm has played in all 3 games for the Bucs so far this year and he has 10 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  He played in 11 games as a rookie last year for the Bucs and he had 57 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 2 passes defensed and 2 interceptions (1 returned for a TD).  26-year old Corey Lynch and 23-year old Larry Asante will compete for the right to start in Grimm’s spot.  Lynch has played in 3 games for the Bucs so far this year and he has 3 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  Larry Asante has yet to play in a game this year for the Bucs.  He played in 2 games for the Bucs last year and he had 2 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception.  Losing Grimm is going to hurt the Buccaneers going forward.

UPDATE:  (9/29/2011) – Cody Grimm has a torn ACL and he is going to miss the rest of the season.

24-year old RB LeGarrette Blount had a solid rookie year for the Bucs last year.  He played in 13 games for the Bucs last year and he carried the ball 201 times for 1,007 yards (5.0 ypc) with 6 TD runs.  Blount also caught 5 passes for 14 yards (2.8 avg) last year.  Blount is not much of a receiver, so the Bucs replaced Blount for a huge part of the game as they were playing from behind.  Blount only carried the ball 5 times for 15 yards (3.0 ypc) against the Lions last Sunday.  Earnest Graham only carried the ball 6 times for 13 yards (2.2 ypc) but he caught 8 passes for 58 yards (7.3 avg) against the Lions.  Blount needs to either improve as a receiver out of the backfield in practice, or he needs to keep his trap shut.

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.

With the Buccaneers a surprising 7-5 on the season, they need 22-year old QB Josh Freeman to step up if they want to make the playoffs.  The Bucs are playing three of the softest defenses in the NFL (Redskins, Lions & Seahawks) the next three weeks.  The Bucs can’t afford to lose any of them games.  If they win their next three games it would set up a game against New Orleans in the final week of the season which might actually mean a playoff berth for the Bucs with a win.  It’s amazing how the team has improved right along with the QB as they were 3-13 last season.  Freeman has played in 12 games for the Bucs so far this year and he has completed 213 of 365 passes (58.4%) for 2,442 yards with 16 TD passes and 6 INTs (86.4 QB Rating).  Freeman has also carried the ball 49 times for 291 yards (5.9 ypc) so far this year.

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.

With Cody Grimm on I.R. and Sabby Piscitelli cut, the Bucs will turn to Corey Lynch as the new starting free safety.  Lynch has played in 11 games for the Bucs (mostly on special teams) and he has 6 tackles.  He has now played in 24 games in two years with the Bucs and he has 12 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  The Buccaneers have signed safety Vince Anderson off their practice squad and rookie Larry Asante off the Browns’ practice squad.  The Bucs better hope one of these three guys step up or they are going to be in big trouble at the back end of the defense.

28-year old running back Cadillac Williams has really sucked for the Buccaneers so far this year.  He has played in 5 games for the Bucs so far this year and he has carried the ball 76 times for 190 yards (2.5 ypc) with 0 TD runs.  He has also caught 15 passes for 127 yards (8.5 avg) so far this year.  Cadillac Williams is the Bucs’ RB version of WR Michael Clayton as each of them had good rookie years and have sucked since.  Clayton was released and I see the same exact thing happening to Williams unless he starts running the ball better.  Williams has now played in 59 games in his six years with the Bucs and he has carried the ball 919 times for 3,430 yards (3.7 ypc) with 18 TD runs.  He has also caught 103 passes for 681 yards (6.6 avg) with 3 TD grabs in his career.  I think his career has been hurt by all of the injuries he has had.  If the Buccaneers had a better alternative (Earnest Graham is one) I think they would have already cut Williams by now.

27-year old safety Sabby Piscitelli must officially still be in Raheem Morris’ dog house.  He has been passed up on the depth chart by rookie 7th round pick Cody Grimm out of Virginia Tech who has been named as Tanard Jackson’s replacement.  Piscitelli has played in 2 games so far for the Bucs this year and he has 2 tackles.  He has now played in 36 games in his four years with the Bucs and he has 133 tackles, 13 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles and 4 interceptions (113 return yards).  I thought for sure that the Bucs would turn to Piscitelli with Jackson out of action for the rest of the year.

The NFL has suspended 25-year old safety Tanard Jackson of the Buccaneers indefinitely for violating the league’s substance abuse policy once again.  He missed four games in 2009 for the same thing.  Jackson will likely miss at least one year this time.  He played in 2 games for the Bucs this year and he had 8 tackles and 2 tackles for a loss.  He has played in 4 years in his NFL career appearing in 46 games in which he has 204 tackles, 24 passes defensed, 6 forced fumbles and 8 interceptions (2 TD returns).  I’m not so sure that the Bucs are going to stick behind him this time around.  Bucs’ head coach Raheem Morris has named 23-year old rookie Cody Grimm to replace Jackson this weekend.  Grimm was a 7th round pick out of Virginia Tech last April.  He has played in both of the Buccaneers first two games and he has 2 tackles.