Immediately after Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin suffered what is likely a season-ending ankle injury in the waning moments of the team's 41-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night, one question lingered on the minds of fans and pundits.
Why was Godwin still in the game? After all, Tampa Bay was down by 10 points, had no timeouts left and there was under a minute-and-a-half remaining in the contest.
Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles was asked that exact question during his media availability after the loss.
"Well, he's a player, we're trying to win the ballgame," Bowles said. "We were still down 10. We're trying to get extra points and kick another onside kick. It just happened. With Mike going down, we didn't have that many receivers left as it was, so we played with what we got."
Evans, who was a gametime decision entering the contest as he dealt with a hamstring injury, tweaked the muscle on an attempted reception in the end zone and exited the game in the second quarter. It's unclear if he'll be available to play in Week 8.
When asked if Evans's injury was all the more reason to remove Godwin from the game late in the situation, Bowles again defended the decision to keep him in the contest, adding that the competitive wideout wanted to be out there on the field.
"You could say that because he got hurt," Bowles said. "We don't second guess. We got our guys, we're playing everybody we got. It's unfortunate he got hurt. We feel bad about that."
"But he's a football player. He wanted to be in the game, just like Baker and everybody else wanted to be in the game."
This is the second serious injury of Godwin's career. He suffered a torn ACL during a Week 15 game back in December of 2021 and missed the remainder of the season. He returned in '22 and rattled off back-to-back, 1000-yard receiving campaigns in that season and in '23.
Godwin was in the midst of a career year in '24, as he ranked second in the NFL in receiving yards and was tied for second in touchdown receptions. In a cruel twist of fate, Monday night may have been Godwin's last game with the Buccaneers, as he will become a free agent after the '24 season concludes.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Todd Bowles Gives Explanation for Why Chris Godwin Was Still in Game Late Before Injury.
