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Bucs to use week to heal

Injured Brooks, Lynch and Keyshawn should be ready Sunday; Dunn likely won't.

By RICK STROUD

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 9, 2001

TAMPA -- It's a typical Monday morning in the NFL when coaches look at film. Except at One Buc Place, that meant examining the X-rays.

Tampa Bay paid a price for its rugged 14-10 win over the Packers, but how much won't be determined until later in the week, when some of the injured players attempt to return to practice.

Linebacker Derrick Brooks, who sustained a left foot strain on the final play of the game and needed to be helped to the locker room, is expected to play Sunday at Tennessee. But he might not be able to practice until late in the week.

The same is true for safety John Lynch, who missed most of the first half with a hip strain but returned to finish the game.

Receiver Keyshawn Johnson, who collapsed on the field in the fourth quarter from fatigue and a right shoulder bruise but completed the game, had no lingering effects Monday.

The Bucs already are without running back Warrick Dunn, who is not expected to play against the Titans but may attempt to practice this week.

"We had to play a full game, play a lot of plays on both sides of the ball. We have a lot of guys injured," coach Tony Dungy said. "Fortunately, no one who looks like they'll miss next week. But we'll have some guys that will have a tough time practicing early in the week, and that will give some of our other guys a chance to get going. Fortunately, it looks like everybody should be able to go by the end of the week."

Brooks' injury appeared to be the most serious. But X-rays of his foot revealed no major damage, which was a relief to the Bucs, who cannot afford to be without their leading tackler Sunday against the Titans and Pro Bowl running back Eddie George, though George is questionable for the game with a high ankle sprain.

Bucs linebackers coach Joe Barry said he believed Brooks sustained the injury four plays before Lynch broke up the pass in the end zone to end the game.

"I was so excited after the ball got knocked down, I went right to find Derrick after the game," Barry said. "As I get about 5 yards away from him, I see that he's not laying down in exhaustion, he's laying down because he's in pain. He kept saying it was his ankle. It's a foot sprain and I think he's going to be okay.

"It's a scary feeling. I don't want to even think about going into a game without him. If we had to, we would. Someone would rise up. But I don't want to cross that bridge."

Offensively, the Bucs likely will have to play at least another game without Dunn.

Filling in at tailback, Mike Alstott provided the Bucs' only touchdown Sunday on a 39-yard run.

So again, the topic Monday that Dungy had to address was the failure of the offense. Quarterback Brad Johnson, despite completing 70.1 percent of his passes, has yet to throw a touchdown. And the Bucs' longest completion of the season is 35 yards.

Dungy said penalties limited the offense against the Packers, which entered as the NFL's No. 1 defense.

"I think we were coming on, doing some things well when we broke training camp and at the beginning of the regular season," Dungy said. "We had eight penalties (Sunday), all of them really in critical situations. Maybe one, you could question the validity of, but the other seven take you out of field position and scoring range. Little details on where you're supposed to be on assignments, where your help is. That's the difference of being where you should be and just being a little bit off, and we're just a little bit off."

Barry said the Bucs can expect more of the same bumps and bruises Sunday at Tennessee.

"We knew going in we'd better button up our chinstraps, put air in our helmets and have our mouthpieces fitted because it was going to be a physical game Sunday," he said. "Our guys answered the call and they were fired up. Now we've got Eddie George, we get Steve McNair and a great offensive line. But that's how it is in the NFL."

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