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With Jenkins, Walker to miss a month, players shift and Hochstein signs.
By ROGER MILLS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 25, 2002
TAMPA -- If the measure of a team's greatness is not in its stars but in its reserves, then the Bucs soon will find out where they stand.
With four days of practice before Sunday's game in Cincinnati, the Bucs are shuffling the offensive line, with serious injuries to starting left guard Kerry Jenkins (fractured left fibula) and starting right tackle Kenyatta Walker (severe left ankle sprain).
Both will miss about one month. Backup Todd Washington will start for Jenkins and Cornell Green for Walker. To add depth, the Bucs re-signed second-year guard Russ Hochstein, who was released Sept. 17 when tight end Rickey Dudley signed. To make room for Hochstein, the Bucs released Marco Battaglia, who signed a three-year, $3-million contract in the offseason.
The Bucs also traded safety David Gibson to Indianapolis for an undisclosed pick in a move that could be a prelude to another roster change.
The gloom also extended to the defense as Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Brooks, whose 39-yard touchdown sealed the win against the Rams on Monday, has a left hamstring strain. Brooks is questionable for Sunday.
But the immediate concern is the line of attack. What already had been a challenging month for the offensive line, with the benching of Walker for Green and the left knee injury to Cosey Coleman, got more challenging.
"I'm not going to say we're going to keep everybody in and curl up in a fetal position," coach Jon Gruden said. "We're not going to do that. We're going to keep playing. We like Cornell Green; we like Todd Washington. ... We're going to keep competing and do everything we can to continue to improve. But it's a challenge when you lose a couple starting players."
The Bucs could activate veteran Lomas Brown on Sunday. Brown, inactive the past two weeks, could play left tackle, which would move Roman Oben to right tackle if needed.
For now, the team's decision to bench Walker for Green against the Saints, then bring Walker in Week two, may prove more valuable than expected. It sparked the second-year player, and gave Green needed experience.
A journeyman in his fifth season, Green never played in a game until starting against the Saints. He did not play against the Ravens but relieved Walker on Monday.
"Kenyatta was our starting right tackle," Gruden said. "We just basically evened up the reps and let those guys have an open competition, and we played the guy that performed the best prior to the Ravens game. Kenyatta came on like we expected him to do. At the same time, now he's injured, and Cornell, though he is inexperienced, will get a lot more experience here in the next 72 hours."
Experience is one thing Washington doesn't lack. In the past two seasons, Washington has started at center and right guard and has played a lot at left guard. In the opener, he started for Coleman, who had not fully recovered from left knee surgery.
"How many years have I been doing this again, five years now?" Washington said. "Things happen quickly. I'm standing there watching the game and then suddenly I see Kerry limping off so I knew it was time to go to work. Time to do my job. I always have to be ready to do my job."
Gruden said the offensive line held up against the Rams, even with Jenkins and Walker on the sideline at the end.
"I thought they played well in the first half and did some things throughout the ballgame," Gruden said. "Obviously, when you lose a veteran player like a Kerry Jenkins and a guy that has shown promise in the last couple of ballgames like Kenyatta Walker, it's a serious blow to your team. It'll be challenging for us, and I know (offensive line coach) Bill Muir, myself and the rest of the team are looking forward to meeting that challenge this week."
The prospect of Brooks not playing Sunday seems unlikely. The 1995 first-round pick from Florida State has played every game of an eight-year career, which includes 99 consecutive starts. The last time Brooks did not start was Dec. 23, 1995 against the Lions.
"We'll wait and see," said Brooks said about his chances of playing Sunday. "All I know is that I feel better than I felt (Monday) night, so that's an improvement. We'll just see how it goes this week and make a decision, I guess, at the end of the week."
Gruden defers to Brooks.
"Hopefully, he can find a way to get ready to play this week," Gruden said. "He's got a little clout around here and if he feels like he's ready to go, that's good enough for all of us at One Buc Place."
-- Staff writer Darrell Fry contributed to this report.