The bad news is that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have lost five consecutive games to fall to 4-7, and are now on the brink of elimination in the NFC South and three games back of Detroit, Chicago and Atlanta in the wild card standings. The good news is that since 2004, at least one team with a losing record through 11 games has gone on to qualify for the playoffs. Could the Buccaneers keep that streak alive? Probably not, but they can keep hope alive for at least another week by taking care of the 3-8 Carolina Panthers this coming Sunday.
The Panthers, who the Bucs have yet to play this season, are in fairly good shape on the injury front however heading into Week 13. Here's the final end-of-week report for Carolina.
|
Status Report |
||
|
OUT |
LB Jason Phillips (calf) |
|
|
QUESTIONABLE |
LB Omar Gaither (knee), WR Kealoha Pilares (thigh) |
|
|
Practice Report |
||
|
OUT (DEFINITELY WILL NOT PLAY) |
||
|
Friday |
LB Jason Phillips (calf) |
|
|
DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN PRACTICE |
||
|
Wednesday |
LB Jason Phillips (calf), WR Kealoha Pilares (thigh) |
|
|
Thursday |
LB Jason Phillips (calf), WR Kealoha Pilares (thigh) |
|
|
Friday |
WR Kealoha Pilares (thigh) |
|
|
LIMITED PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE |
||
|
Wednesday |
LB Omar Gaither (knee) |
|
|
Thursday |
LB Omar Gaither (knee) |
|
|
FULL PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE |
||
|
Friday |
LB Omar Gaither (knee) |
|
If there ever were a week for the Bucs to get back to basics with the running game, it would be this week. Carolina is allowing 137.5 yards per game on the ground, the 28th worst mark in the league. And as you can see, they're thin at linebacker with Jason Phillips scratched and Omar Gaither's status up in the air with an ailing knee.
For more on the Buccaneers, visit Bucs Nation. For all things Panthers, head on over to Cat Scratch Reader.