TAMPA - Compounding their third close loss in four home games, the Bucs finished Sunday with two more defensive starters sidelined with injuries.
Jermaine Phillips, who started at strong safety when John Lynch couldn't go for the second game in a row because of a shoulder stinger, will miss 4-6 weeks after fracturing his right forearm late in the third quarter. Ryan Nece, the starting strongside linebacker, left in the fourth quarter with a sprained ankle. The severity won't be known until today, but he was on crutches in the locker room and had swelling after the game.
The injuries hit two areas of the defense already thinned. Cornerback Brian Kelly is out for the season with a torn pectoral muscle, and with Lynch sidelined the Bucs have only Ronde Barber and Dwight Smith as experienced players in the secondary. When Tampa Bay stopped New Orleans on a key third down late in the fourth quarter, it did so with Travaris Robinson, signed off waivers from the Falcons last month, and David Gibson, picked up as a free agent Wednesday, lined up at safety.
If Lynch can return this week, Corey Ivy will stay as the nickel back. If Lynch can't play, Ivy and Gibson will fill out the secondary. John Howell, another reserve safety, was inactive after straining his left hamstring Wednesday.
As was the case Sunday, any change in personnel wouldn't change coaches' expectations.
"The standards don't change: If you're on the field, you're a starter," defensive backs coach Mike Tomlin said. "That's how we live. It's what we believe. The guys have to step up and play at our level of expectations."
At linebacker, the Bucs could be without Nece just as middle linebacker Shelton Quarles is fully recovered from his own stint on the sideline. Nece was replaced Sunday by Dwayne Rudd, whom he beat out for the starting job before the season.
