As if the Buccaneer's disheartening 24-28 loss to the Bears in London wasn't bad enough, the Bucs now have some bad news to deal with. Second string running back Earnest Graham was injured in Sunday's game, and after being examined, it appears Graham has torn his Achilles' tendon and will miss the remainder of the season.
Normally an injury to your second string back wouldn't be considered a big deal, but this is a bit of a blow to the Buccaneers at the moment. LeGarrette Blount has not yet practiced with the team after injuring himself two weeks ago -- although he is expected to be ready for the Bucs' next game on November 6th -- and the Buccaneers need all the help they can get from their running game as Josh Freeman is still struggling.
As Sander from Bucs Nation pointed out today, the Buccaneers are putting lots of pressure on Freeman and have not had much consistent running success this season:
The Bucs have had to rely on Josh Freeman to win games by himself this year. Combine that with being down by a few scores for large parts of games, and Freeman now has the second-most pass attempts in the NFL with 270. Only Drew Brees has thrown more passes. Last season Freeman threw fewer passes than any other 16-game starter with 470. This season he's on track to throw an incredible 617 passes.
Thankfully the Bucs have a bye week so Blount can continue to recover, and his return will definitely help the Bucs' running game. But the Buccaneers will still need to find a third down back that can block, and they may be forced to put even more pressure on Freeman if Blount gets injured again.
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